Posted on 05/25/2005 9:19:16 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
By Spencer S. Hsu and John Mintz Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, May 25, 2005; Page A01
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gave military officials the authority to shoot down, if necessary, a small plane that wandered into restricted airspace over the nation's capital May 11, according to two senior federal officials.
For 11 intense minutes, customs aircraft and military fighter jets tried to intercept the Cessna 150 and determine whether the pilots were confused and lost or were targeting Washington. Military officials never deemed the aircraft to be hostile, but White House and U.S. Capitol officials grew more concerned as it flew within three miles of the executive mansion.
The plane, one of the federal officials said, came within "15 to 20 seconds" of being downed before its pilots finally heeded repeated orders to turn away from the city.
The new details, also corroborated yesterday by a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on events, came as U.S. military and homeland security officials review the effectiveness of an air defense system established for the Washington area after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because much of the air defense system is classified.
As authorities piece together the lessons of the scare -- described by some officials as the closest the government has come to downing a civilian plane over Washington since Sept. 11, 2001 -- they are confronting sensitive issues involving split-second decisions, communications and the federal chain of command.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Yet it would not surprise me if they sue the government.
"...Yet it would not surprise me if they sue the government."
Of course they would, so would who ever the wreckage landed on. DC folks area always looking for that lawsuit that will have them set for life.
'I thought we were going to be shot out of the sky'
No kidding. I wonder what Einstein's first clue was.
I've got a problem with the SecDef approving this....it should be the President's call.
"In another story:
'I thought we were going to be shot out of the sky'"
The mere fact that he is still here to make the essence of this statement shows that intelligent men of character made the decision NOT to pull the trigger yet even when they had the authority to do so.
Sort of makes you wonder about reporters and editors, doesn't it?
The student pilot is not responsible for any of this. Only 30 hours? You have a lot of trust in an instructor at that point believe me. The Pilot in Command was not even current to carry passengers. You need 3 take offs and landings in the previous 90 days. He was violating federal aviation regulations the second they starting taxiing.
I dont know what this guys story is but he should never get his pilots certificate back. He has zero excuse for this. None.
Give him the boom-stick.
There should be clear ROE in place so that the GCI officer would give the order.
"Give him the boom-stick."
heh heh, hopefully the total humiliation as a pilot is worse.
"Woulda been their fault"... Yup, all their fault. The Blackhawk intercepting the 150 signaled them to switch to frequency 121.5, only that frequency was being blocked by an ELT going off. Then to another frequency, except there was nobody monitoring that one either. Kinda like the cops telling a suspect "flap your arms and fly or we'll shoot".
Everyone in America knows that it's not a good idea to fly close to national landmarks without permission.
"All their fault"...And, supposing they had shot it down, do you believe the frequency problems would ever have been revealed by the Feds? When pigs fly, maybe.
These were not highly experienced pilots, and I assume they were using hand-held GPS for navigation. Please tell me why shooting them down woulda been OK, but the Soviets shootdown of KAL (navigated by highly trained seasoned professionals using state-of-the-art avionics was not OK.
I don't. He is the Secretary of Defense.
KAL was a commercial airliner.
This was a Cessna which could well have contained a bomb intended for the WH.
BTW, I was unaware that KAL actually got within a few miles of the Kremlin. I thought it flew over sparsely-populated Sakhalin Island on the ouer edge of the Soviet Empire. Thanks for the info.
Sparsely populated Sakhalin Island? Well, yeah, most military bases are that way. Review the article, it clearly states the military did NOT consider the 150 a threat - that posture was pushed by WH & DHS functionaries on the ground. The no-fly zone around DC is busted twice a day, on average, so why is this piss-ant of an aircraft getting so many panties in a wad?
I suspect that nobody needs to make the call as it's probably a standing order to shooot down anything that gets within a certain distance of the WH.
Do not assume that. If they had been using GPS, they would have known where they were, and known to avoid DC altogether. They were using maps, and whatever navigation instruments the 150 had on board (VOR, NDB, but probably none).
As stated, the Military did not perceive them as a threat, which was the right call in this case. THey would have done their job, to be sure, but having permission to act and being ordered to act are two different things.
Given the incident and the fortunate outcome, I would not fly outside of the local area without my Garmin GPS and my ICOM A5.
Thank God for the professionalism of the military pilot. No shooting, no downed wreckage, no rounds going downrange, and no lifelong memory of blasting a couple of fools into oblilvion.
Does anybody else think some recognition is in order?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.