[frankiep]

Stopped reading after this:

Shame On The Security Establishment ..in the first place, for being unable to distinguish between a real threat and a bogus one. The physics of the Cessna 150 make it an improbable terror weapon.

And I wonder what his reaction would have been if security personnel didn't "overreact" and we found out too late that the improbable terror weapon was filled with something like anthrax (which is a very real possibility). Some people are just never satisfied; you take precautions against a catastrophe and you are being silly, don't take precautions and a catastrophe happens and you are at incompetent.

The security personnel in this situation acted very reasonably and should be commended, not ridiculed.

[OldFriend]

Imagine the media rant if they noticed a plane flying inside the NO FLY ZONE with no reaction at all.

Am sick of all the second guessers.

I suppose we can say that since hundreds of thousands of planes have flown over NY, PA, and D.C. without incident, then there will be NO incident in the future.

Kind of like the Michael Jackson defense. Look at all the boys he didn't molest, therefore......

[Americanexpat]

"Stopped reading after this..."

Me too. The guy is a dumb**s. I may not be an explosives expert, and don't claim to be one. But if you load 100 - 300 pounds of explosives into an airplane and crash it into a building, or the white house, your going to cause damage and death or injury. And if you don't, your still going to cause major embarrassment to the government.

The same people who WOO HAW this incident would be crying for blood then. There was an infiltration into the air space around the capital and decisions were made without a lot of time to spare, they may not have been the right ones, but they were made.

I agree with most here that these two yahhoos were not a threat and glad they were not shot down, but what of next time.

[Kozak]

And I wonder what his reaction would have been if security personnel didn't "overreact" and we found out too late that the improbable terror weapon was filled with something like anthrax (which is a very real possibility).

Or I could drive a panel truck around DC scattering about 10 to 20 times as much around town. I agree with a strict no fly area around DC. I think intercepting this idiot was fine, actually a great live exercise. I just think some common sense should apply when it comes to panicking the capitol. Unfortunately it's no win for the authorities, if they DON'T sound the alarm, they will get critisized by the exact same people whinning now about how it was handled.

[corlorde]

And I wonder what his reaction would have been if security personnel didn't "overreact" and we found out too late that the improbable terror weapon was filled with something like anthrax (which is a very real possibility). Some people are just never satisfied; you take precautions against a catastrophe and you are being silly, don't take precautions and a catastrophe happens and you are at incompetent.

The security personnel in this situation acted very reasonably and should be commended, not ridiculed.

Exactly.

What would people be saying right now if a Cessna, packed with explosives, even a small amount set to detonate on impact, slammed into the White house? It probably wouldn't destroy it or harm the President (who knows) but the symbolic value would embolden our enemy and perhaps encourage other attacks.

I don't believe we overreacted at all. Warning flares were fired and the plane landed...no charges filed.

Protocol prevailed, this time.

~Corey

[xone]

'The security personnel in this situation acted very reasonably and should be commended, not ridiculed.'

Read the last paragraph again. I think the security guys he is ridiculing are the executive protection type squirreling their charges out of the Congress. Why is anthrax in the open less of a threat than anthrax smashed up against a govt building?

[Flightdeck]

I agree with you. This journalist doesn't know anything about physics, yet he makes himself an authority, as journalists seem to do on everything, nowadays.

[RobRoy]

Let's say, for a moment, that it WAS filled with anthrax. What would have been the proper response, and what would have happened to the anthrax if that had been the response.

I worry about anthrax even LESS than I worry about getting struck by lightning. It is not a WMD and not very effective, relative to the cost and risk of doing any real damage. Has the number of people killed in anthrax attacks in the us since 911 hit double digits yet? And of those who were killed, how many were under 60?