Posted on 10/23/2004 2:43:45 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather
Fighters Escort Two Small Planes Away From Bush Rally
POSTED: 3:48 pm EDT October 23, 2004 UPDATED: 5:31 pm EDT October 23, 2004
MELBOURNE, Fla. -- Federal authorities said Saturday two small private planes violated restricted air space over a campaign rally by President George W. Bush at a Melbourne baseball stadium.
Fighter jets escorted the plane to Merritt Island Airport near Cocoa Beach, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Secret Service has interviewed the pilot. FAA spokesman Greg Martin said further action is possible.
Reporters covering Bush's campaign event said the military jets drowned out Bush's words at Space Coast Stadium.
Earlier at a Lakeland event, a plane was escorted to an airport in nearby Winter Haven after it violated the president's airspace.
The activity in the sky repeatedly distracted the crowd from Bush's speechs.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Moved out of position? How so?
Beautiful, just beautiful!!!
Here is how it works.
Any pilot going anywhere has the responsibility to know the current airspace classifications they intend to fly through.
To do this all one needs is a route briefing from Flight Service (just before you take off) or there is a fabulous on line service called DUATS that you can get all the info you ever wanted at your pace.
Contrary to some of the less than well thought out first dozen or so posts here (do you people not occasionally relish the glory of the unwritten/unspoken thought??, you might want to try it sometime you're giving us a bad name here) no pilot willfully disregards these restrictions. (even a 500 hour pilot has about $40 to $50 thousand wrapped up in his license).
But when they (TFR - Temporary Flight Restrictions) pop up according to Bush's campaign schedule it does turn out to be a random, quickly occuring event and previously unrestricted airspace now becomes severely restricted. A student buddy of mine was avoiding Bush just in the past few days here in the Denver area for example. Everywhere Bush goes, a TFR is published. You don't get a lot of warning.
Florida has more general aviation traffic than any other state with the possible exception of California sometimes.
The real miracle is that only two pilots out of thousands did not get the info.
Nothing will be done to them. The general aviation community has not been a problem of any kind since 9/11.
Just wondering... How does a fighter intercept a small plane? Isn't there a great disparity in speed capabilities of a fighter jet (at the low end of the dial, so to speak) and a small single-engine prop-driven airplane? Or, can the fighters simply adopt a landing approach wing profile and slow down to match speed with the offending plane?
"I think the President is in THE HANDS OF GOD"...
As was our first great president, George Washington.
Thank you, Lord.
Regrettably, this is one of the very few times I do not have the intelligence nor knowledge required to answer such a question! hahaha!
Given the rise in 'Rat violence, the Don now keeps me company in my vehicle at all times.
Don Benelli, that is.
Never underestimate the persuasive power of Brenneke slugs and 000 buck.
Now that sounds like a really great idea!!!
There were two separate incidents in two separate locations.
I don't know which was the one with the crop duster.
Thanks for the firsthand report.
From what you say, they should go and investigate this guy further and find out if he had any connections to terrorists or Democrats.
I hope further action is taken. Two planes together?
My understanding is that there were two planes, one each on separate appearances of Bush, but both on the same day.
They should investingate this seriously, not just in a cursory fashion.
Also see post 90 for a firsthand report.
If he was being a deliberate pain in the butt, why not put him in jail to boot?
With what were the civilian aircraft on 9/11 armed??
Since we already have GPS/map guidance in cars (my wife's friend has it in her SUV, it's nice), I would be surprised if it was not already available at a very affordable price for planes.
Have the box also have a receiver, and digitally broadcast TRF updates, and you have a box that will keep you out of a lot of trouble.
Was there TWO planes or ONE plane??? It says TWO small planes...then it say PILOT! That is some trick!
A couple of agents moved, it looked like they may have been creating different escape routes if the plane came down.
It IS written in a manner which confuses! There were two rallies and each rally had one plane. I can only assume that there were also two seperate pilots as well!
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