Posted on 01/28/2010 11:11:09 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The eight-seat recreational airplane, a single-engine Gippsland Airvan, is cruising peacefully over southern Maryland on a hazy June afternoon, pilot and passengers enjoying the view from 4,000 feet, where the Nanticoke River runs into the swamplands at the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. Suddenly—whoosh! A trademark shape most of us encounter only in the movies or at airshows darts underneath the 100-knot pleasure craft, then carves a semi-circle in the sky in front of it. A voice crackles in the pilot’s headset: “This is a United States Air Force armed F-16. You are in violation of restricted airspace. Do you require any assistance?”
No response from the Airvan. A minute or two later, the fighter is back, aiming for a more dramatic impression. It executes the “head butt,” soaring up vertically within 500 feet of the intruder’s nose. The voice in the earphones sounds less helpful this time: “This is a United States Air Force armed F-16. You have been intercepted. Please acknowledge or rock your wings.”
The jet and an unseen wingman have scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base, just east of Washington, D.C. But their controllers sit 400 miles north, outside the faded Erie Canal town of Rome, New York, amid a forest of glowing monitors at the headquarters of the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS). Yellow blips track every aircraft aloft east of the Mississippi River, several thousand on a typical weekday afternoon like this.
A general aviation airplane without a flight plan, chugging into restricted airspace, does not take long to stick out from the herd. If the Airvan continues to ignore the fighters in its face, EADS will pass an alert up a chain of command, where unspecified persons will have to decide what to do about it, perhaps within minutes
(Excerpt) Read more at airspacemag.com ...
Welcome to Jihad.
When 9/11 happened I was doing aerial photography in Pa. Months later, after we (general aviation) were given clearence to fly close to nuke plants I was flying near Harrisburg, Pa. I had a job just to the south of Three Mile Island. As we circled the photo site, just out of Harrisburg’s controlled airspace, and less than 10 miles from TMI, the controller told us that a Cesna 172, single engine 4 seater, was headed our way from the south.
We saw the plane at our altitude of about 2000’ fly by, headed roughly towards TMI. As the plane flew by the controller repeatedly tried to contact it. With no response from the 172 the controller became more and more anxious. The plane was headed right for TMI, and was now within 5 miles.
The controller’s voice was pleading for a response from the plane as it closed to within a few miles of TMI. I looked at the guy I was flying with and we were both thinking the same thing. This plane may actually fly into TMI. Fearing that if this was going to happen, then we did not want to be in the equation. We told the controller that we were heading away from TMI and pushed the throttle forward.
The other plane was way too close to TMI for comfort when we heard the pilot, in a very shaken voice, call the controller and said, Sorry, I had the wrong frequency dialed in. This time a different voice from the tower told the pilot to turn to heading such and such and land at Capital City, which is a smaller aiport just to the west.
The other pilot replied that he was headed somewhere 100 miles to the north. The controller in a very firm voice said, no you’re not. You will land at Capital City. That is when we saw a military helicopter heading towards the other plane.
Turned out to be just an incredibly stupid pilot using the steam plume from TMI as a visual navigation aid that did not change to the proper frequency. But man, seeing this happen from our perspective, it was kinda scary. I never heard the slightest mention of this in the news though.
When 9/11 happened I was doing aerial photography in Pa. Months later, after we (general aviation) were given clearence to fly close to nuke plants I was flying near Harrisburg, Pa. I had a job just to the south of Three Mile Island. As we circled the photo site, just out of Harrisburg’s controlled airspace, and less than 10 miles from TMI, the controller told us that a Cesna 172, single engine 4 seater, was headed our way from the south.
We saw the plane at our altitude of about 2000’ fly by, headed roughly towards TMI. As the plane flew by the controller repeatedly tried to contact it. With no response from the 172 the controller became more and more anxious. The plane was headed right for TMI, and was now within 5 miles.
The controller’s voice was pleading for a response from the plane as it closed to within a few miles of TMI. I looked at the guy I was flying with and we were both thinking the same thing. This plane may actually fly into TMI. Fearing that if this was going to happen, then we did not want to be in the equation. We told the controller that we were heading away from TMI and pushed the throttle forward.
The other plane was way too close to TMI for comfort when we heard the pilot, in a very shaken voice, call the controller and said, Sorry, I had the wrong frequency dialed in. This time a different voice from the tower told the pilot to turn to heading such and such and land at Capital City, which is a smaller aiport just to the west.
The other pilot replied that he was headed somewhere 100 miles to the north. The controller in a very firm voice said, no you’re not. You will land at Capital City. That is when we saw a military helicopter heading towards the other plane.
Turned out to be just an incredibly stupid pilot using the steam plume from TMI as a visual navigation aid that did not change to the proper frequency. But man, seeing this happen from our perspective, it was kinda scary. I never heard the slightest mention of this in the news though.
Why did you find that scary?
Sorry bout the double post.
Why did we find that a bit scary you ask? Ok, it is just after 9/11. The airspace around nuke plants was just re-opened. A plane, yes a small, single engine plane that would not even really scratch the paint on a nuke plant, is heading right for the most notourious nuke plant in America. And, we are in the same type of plane close enough to be watching it all go down. The plane flies to within a mile of the nuke plant,totally ignoring the controler’s calls and we are about 7 miles away. If the other plane did fly into TMI do you think that just maybe someone could think that we may be involved?
Even if that plane was loaded with explosives, it would have only been a symbolic hit. But, just think what that kind of attack would have done to America then.
Okay. Just wanted to ascertain that you knew an airplane hitting the containment of a nuke plant would have been like a splattered bug on a windshield.
Containments have been tested and can withstand the direct hit of a jet airplane.
I know that there could never have been a real danger of structural damage, just the symbolism involved. It did cross our minds though, given that the HIA is an ANG base that if the plane did fly into TMI that we could have been in danger of being taken out since we had been circling the photo sight for over twenty minutes prior to this lost idiot coming along.
Okay. Just wanted to ascertain that you knew an airplane hitting the containment of a nuke plant would have been like a splattered bug on a windshield.
Containments have been tested and can withstand the direct hit of a jet airplane.
~~~
FWIW :
That test was done with an F-4,,,1 aircraft,,,
Two aircraft loaded with PETN or other HE will blast a
hole in that dome,,,
Mtdrake acted correctly,,,
Turn away from the ADIZ and get on the radio...
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