Shoot Already!!!!!
Shoot and set an example, maybe they could aim for a tire ;)
I'm sorry, but they should have shot it down. 3 miles is nothing. If this had been a terrorist attack, we'd be trying to figure out who was 23rd in line to succeed the late President Bush.
The Airforce Pilot was interviewed on (i think it was Fox) and said he was two switch throws away from splashing the clown.
The big problem is nothing the Airforce flys on those missions can fly that slow, so they would have had to make a turn and come back on the cessna. That takes time.
The Cuban airforce used a tactic against international rescue flights, of flying under, popping up in front and punching the afterburners. Usually puts the Cessna inverted in point zero two seconds. They should have done that 10 miles out.
Couldn't a good pilot give the intruder a "bump"?
You creep up behind it, then blast the afterburn on top of it. They used it once, I forget where, to force down a plane.
Poor attempt at damage control - like Ridge's interview this morning on the subject.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said that a review of how the situation was handled was being conducted. But he said Bush was not upset that he was not filled in.
"The president has a great amount of trust in his security detail," McClellan said. "If there are any improvements that need to be made, they will be made."
you know , what I don't get is why do 'they' think all the people in the Capitol's buildings are safer , or better off,
running scared out in the open , in the streets?
Seems to me like it makes everyone sitting ducks !
Better to start to create (if they haven't already) making
a variety of hardened spots and bunkers in DC . If Saddam could do it , why can't or why shouldn't we? I think it's essential. Our enemies must be laughing at all the scared Americans scrambling chaotically through the streets at even the most minor threats. (that turn out to be minor)
Of course, the American royalty ruling over us doesn't care about the little folks who must die to protect royalty but it makes for some very ugly public relations.
The little people might correctly conclude they are all expendable to protect the elites of Washington D.C.
| Officials Weighed Shooting at Errant Plane
It's sad, but there are just enough goofballs out there who will read about this and decide it would be a Fun Story to Know and Tell that they'll do it just to get their name in the paper. |
We have two small town airports near our home. To think that imbeciles like these two are above our home is not reassuring at all.
In an unrelated story the Senate unanimously passed an appropriations bill providing money to purchase personal .50 caliber BMGs.
The problem with shooting something down over a city is that is does in fact come down on something. Not only does the airplane come down, so does what you are shooting at it come down. I doubt if any weapon system on the F16 had a self destruct device that could have functioned before the expended munition hit the ground. Had they fired, several people on the ground might have been killed. With the masses of people you saw running around, what do you think a few rounds of 20mm or a AIM would have done to the crowd.
They played this one right.
1 Does anybody know if they want to sell the plane, I might be looking for a Cessna 150 in about two to three months?
2. Had it happened to me, my first impulse would have been was to smile and wave back at the F16 pilots.
3. My next move would be to turn my earphones up so I could hear Rush L over the noice of the F16.
4. My next move would be to check my calender for the correct date and wonder why they were having a fireworks show, then circle and try to find the source of the pretty pyro display.
5. At some point I would be trying to get my camera out to take pictures of the F16's next to me.
6. Since my camera is one of the cheapest I could buy and I had just figured out I was near the White House, I would try an get a little closer so I could get some decent pictures.
7. Next I would try to get a little lower so I could figure out where all the people were running to in such a hurry. There must be something real exciting going on and I would hate to miss it.
8. After I took all the pictures my camera would take, I would try and figure out exactly where I was and head on home hopeing some of the pictures would come out and I wouldn't screw up the connection to the computer like I did last time.
9. After I got home, I would check the news and FreeRepublic to see why all the people in DC were running around during the day time fireworks show.
10. If the pictures came out and I didn't delete them, I would check with the Freepers who go after the Code Pink Commies and see if they wanted a copy. Who knows they might be in one or two of them.
They have to say this. Think of it as a 'notice to airmen'. "This guy got lucky, but if you try it, be prepared to die."