DC Incursion Pilots Issue Statement

Avweb ^ | 5/22/05 | Jim Sheaffer and Troy Martin

[Patti_ORiley]

Now that's funny!

[Moose4]

Honestly, as much of a Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 addict as I am, I'd love to see it. :) As soon as I heard about this incident, I thought seriously about finding their departure and destination airports in FS2004, and seeing whether a straight-line flight path cut through the Washington airspace or not. I should do that tonight.

}:-)4

[DoctorMichael]

Duffuses.

Duffeye.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

That sounds cool!
I have flit sim 04 also, the forced-feed joystick makes all the difference. I was thinking back to the days of flight sim'98, it really is a day/night difference.

[expatpat]

Yeah, the PIC is going to take the hit for this one. How could he let the aircraft get into Bravo airspace without contacting ATC, never mind getting into the ADIZ (which he may not be too familiar with). THe PIC instructor failed to show the student how to track his progress against expected landmarks, which is the main point of such a trip.

[MoodyBlu]

I'm guessing that their Mode-C was working properly as they approached the veil for the D.C. area. Now, I'm not sure if the ADIZ lines up with the veil or not.

My point is that ATC obviously saw a slow moving target, probably indicating at or below 3,000', and since it was an unknown target, took appropriate action of notifying authorities. Here's my problem; the authorities OVER reacted.

The evacuation of buildings and scrambling of F16s seems to be way over the type when the intruder was identified as a small civil. It's hard to imagine a terrorist effort approaching the D.C. area in a small civil with Mode-C blazing away.

The pilots were weak (run into them everyday) but to go to the links the authorities did seems a bit over blown to me.

MoodyBlu
Air Traffic Controller

[steveo]

Heh heh... good one!

[reagan_fanatic]

The helicopter then disappeared off to the right and within a short time thereafter, two F-16 fighter planes appeared and began making repeated passes. After making several passes, the F-16 planes dropped warning flares. At this point, the stench of urine-soaked pants permeated the cabin, causing our eyes to water and an uncomfortable rash to appear on our buttocks...

[TYVets]

" The PIC instructor failed to show the student how to track his progress against expected landmarks, which is the main point of such a trip."

Note to self: Do not fly with these people !

[upchuck]

In response to the dropped flares, we made a 90-degree turn to the right to a westerly direction. At this point, for the first time, we were able to visually identify our location as being in a Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ). Once again, a helicopter appeared, whereupon we were then able to establish two-way radio communication on the original emergency frequency that we had been instructed by placard to use by the first helicopter crew.

I'm not a pilot, but that second sentence makes no sense to me.

IMHO, this statement creates more questions than answers.

[An.American.Expatriate]

What strikes me as being VERY odd about this is:

1.) Radio didn't work, then mysteriously worked.
2.) While heading "south" they were unable to notice that the were flying in the DC area, but, upon turing west, suddenly the landmarks where familiar??

Who was the pilot, Wrong Way Feldman??

[Moose4]

Translation: "When we turned to the west, we suddenly saw the Washington Monument, at which point we crapped ourselves because we knew we were toast."

}:-)4

[af_vet_1981]

Once again, a helicopter appeared, whereupon we were then able to establish two-way radio communication on the original emergency frequency that we had been instructed by placard to use by the first helicopter crew

after we turned it on.

For certain the senior should lose his pilot's license for life.