It could have been worse. Another lady pilot once learned that.
Posted on 08/07/2011 5:01:32 AM PDT by stevie_d_64
CHICAGO (AP) — Myrtle Rose was taking a short flight over suburban Chicago when the 75-year-old aviation enthusiast looked out her cockpit window to see two F-16 fighter jets. She assumed the military pilots were just slowing down to get a closer look at her antique plane.
It wasn't until she landed her 1941 Piper J-3 Cub that friends and the police told her the attention was much more serious — for straying into restricted airspace during a visit by President Barack Obama.
Rose, who tries to fly every day when weather permits, said she had been itching to get back in the air Wednesday after a number of days on the ground. She normally uses her computer to check for airspace restrictions, but it wasn't working properly.
"I hadn't flown in over a week," she said. "It was a beautiful afternoon." After some guests departed her home, she "just climbed in the airplane and left."
To make matters worse, she said, "I didn't have my radio on. I was just flying around."
On any other day, the brief flight would never have attracted notice. But Obama was in Chicago for a fundraiser marking his 50th birthday.
"There's really no excuse for not knowing," said Lt. Col. Mike Humphreys, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which scrambled the two warplanes, a proposition that costs $9,000 an hour for each jet. "Anyone who flies an aircraft should know the restrictions."
Rose said she was about 30 miles from O'Hare Airport when her plane was intercepted. As the fighters appeared, she wasn't alarmed.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Rose, a Republican who said she did not vote for Obama, joked about mailing the president a note for his birthday.
“Oh, dear, maybe I should send him a belated birthday card and say, ‘You should have stayed home and Michelle baked you a birthday cake.’”
She is sooooooo screwed...
Ask Joe the Plumber about what happens next.
It could have been worse. Another lady pilot once learned that.
Now FedGov owns the air we breathe and fly in. You don't get to participate any more unless you're one of the chosen. Myrtle is white and a Republican. Double-whammy, she needs to just shut up and die already.
Oh, and since she's obviously a "private airplane" owner and has too much personal wealth, FedGov needs to confiscate her estate and redistribute to the poor yoots on the South Side. It's only fair, you know.
Can an F-16 fly slow enough to keep up with a 1941 Piper Cub?
No...There(F-16) stall speed is still way to high to maintain a station on a 60 mph Cub...
It really looks like the government wants to make as big a deal out of this as possible, just to ruin someones life...
I’d like to ruin someones life, but I gotta wait till next year to do it...
Of course the gubmit is going to send her the bill for this, plus a hefty fine. What did they think she was going to do? Pull out a bomb, like they do in the cartoons, and hand drop it on AF-1?
Remind me to go out and buy some more Rose brand Canadian bacon. It’s good stuff!
A cub cruises at about 90 mph. It would be a tricky proposition to shadow one in an F-16. They. Would more or less orbit it as if it were a stationary object.
If Obama can’t straighten up and fly right, he’s gonna be grounded...unless he augers it in himself.
At my airpark we have a 70 + year old gent who still teaches aerobatics.
Did the TSA grope him?
What a great looking airplane !
That’s certainly an interesting way to put it. lol
At least she didn’t have Air Force One buzz NYC for a photo op.
Gotta love it.
Bump for keeping track of this story, just in case O and his overreaching minions try to make an example of this awesomely cool customer of an American.
May God give us strength.
Tatt
What was she going to do, shout a question at the President?
Hey Lt. Colonel Jerkweed, these temporary flight restrictions are imposed on very short notice based on the whims of TOTUS and where wants to go to party and raise money.
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