WP: Plane That Caused Capitol Evacuation Nearly Shot Down

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35440-2004Jul7?language=printer

The top general at the North American Aerospace Defense Command was on the telephone and prepared to order an F-16 fighter to shoot down an unidentified plane that turned out to be carrying the governor of Kentucky to President Ronald Reagan's funeral last month, according to two federal security officials briefed separately about the incident.

The tense incident June 9 ended after the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air carrying Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) turned to land at Reagan National Airport. But the close call caused officials to reassess safeguards for the airspace around Washington and prompted calls to expand the no-fly zone beyond its current 16-mile radius.

Although many planes have violated restrictions imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the June 9 episode was extraordinary because the aircraft penetrated so deeply into the no-fly zone during a high-security event and remained unidentified to air defense officials for several critical minutes. Current and former homeland security officials said the incident was a significant security breakdown.

The episode, described by some officials as the closest the government has come to downing a civilian plane over Washington since Sept. 11, 2001, will be the subject of two hearings on Capitol Hill today. Civil aviation officials will testify before a House subcommittee on aviation, and military officials have been invited to a classified briefing before the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees.

[BattyDem]

1. Hmmm ...

The plane must have shut off its transponder, which allowed it to go into stealth mode. :eyes:

:wtf: This is ridiculous! A twin-engine plane gets by US Air Defense during a high-security event. Three years after 9/11 and we are not one bit safer! So where did all that Homeland Security money go? :shrug:

[RamboLiberal]

2. The pilot radioed after takeoff his transponder wasn't working

Someone forgot to inform the military.

But IMHO, if I was a pilot there's no way in hell I'd have flown in to DC without a working transponder. Especially during a high security event!

[BattyDem]

5. Are you serious?

LOL! I was being sarcastic ... because the transponder thing was the 9/11 excuse.

So why was a plane without a working transponder allowed to fly into DC during a high-security event? That sounds like a tragedy waiting to happen!

[Gman]

3. Halliburton

[whistle]

6. The HLS money has gone toward purchasing all those....

,,,great color dies and paints that are used across the country, you know, green (practically none used), blue (that's been used a couple of times), yellow (used for special occasions, but used a lot), orange (big time reuse on this one as this color is the one most likely to fade) and red (we have had some red alerts, but the warehouse is loaded with this color because we know they are coming). Oh, the other big expense are all those travel trips that Tom Ridge is always taking to calm people down after John Ashcroft does his tsunami chicken little act. Does the expression, pissed it away, sound like it might apply here?

[PartyPooper]

4. If they had shot this plane down, how many innocent folks would have died?

The people on the plane as well as an unknown number of people on the ground would have been killed or seriously injured. This was a prop plane, not a jet filled with people and lots of fuel!

I don't excuse the lack of communication between the aircraft and the ground...but, gee whiz, we can't be so 'trigger happy' as to want to shoot down everything just to protect the fatherland, er...the homeland from "possible attack", or do we?

[BattyDem]

7. No, I don't think it should've been immediately shot down ...

All I meant was that after 9/11 you'd think they'd have measures in place to deal with something like this ... a way to identify a plane quickly or at least establish some kind of communication. Didn't they learn anything from that day? :shrug: