Posted on 07/02/2011 7:08:30 AM PDT by SandRat
Former state lawmaker Peter Goudinoff set off in his experimental airplane Friday hoping to give his friend a bird's-eye view of the Monument Fire damage near Sierra Vista.
Instead, they received an F-16 escort back to Tucson after he said he apparently flew into Mexican airspace and then returned back into the United States.
The retired University of Arizona professor's Lancair Legacy single-engine airplane was intercepted by the two fighter jets for flying without a flight plan near the Arizona-Mexico border, authorities said.
The F-16s, scrambled from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, escorted Goudinoff's plane to Tucson International Airport, where he was questioned by authorities, according to a news release from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD.
He and his friend were later released.
Goudinoff served in the Legislature from 1976 to 1996 and taught political science at the UA for more than 30 years.
He retired from teaching in 2002 so he could finish building the plane, he said.
Goudinoff took off from Ryan Airfield, southwest of Tucson, with his friend about 10 a.m.
When he reached the Sierra Vista area, he established communication with Libby Army Airfield at Fort Huachuca after previously talking with personnel at Ryan, he said.
Goudinoff lost contact with personnel at Libby before possibly venturing into Mexico, he said.
"The radar on the ground lost track of me," he said.
Goudinoff said he may have inadvertently flown into Mexico. He said he looked at his handheld GPS, which indicated that the border town of Douglas was 25 miles north of his location, he said.
He turned his plane around and headed north, flying over Mount Graham near Safford, and then San Carlos Lake, he said.
The F-16s intercepted his plane while he was flying over the lake, which is southeast of Globe.
"I didn't know I penetrated Mexican airspace, but I was fearful I had," he said.
Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Aviation Administration interviewed him and his female passenger after they landed at the airport, he said.
Officials questioned them for about an hour and a half before releasing them, Goudinoff said.
Authorities told his friend that they watch for smuggling planes crossing the border, he said.
NORAD works closely with Homeland Security and law enforcement to prevent air attacks, and unwanted or unauthorized air activity.
Goudinoff must now wait for the FAA to decide if it will suspend his pilot's license.
The incident wasn't the only disappointment of the day for Goudinoff.
"We never saw the fire damage," he said.
If you are purchasing it from the U.S. gub mint that sounds like a perfect transaction.
Neighbor here recently let a friend fly his old perfectly restored super cub to his hunting tract in Georgia.
The field is only 800 feet with pine trees on either approach. Plane stalled and took the landing gear off and bent the fuselage in to a U shape. Broke off the prop etc.
Chuck went out and just got a carbon cub that is real nice.
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