I don't know why people are carping about the "response time."
I thought the evacuation looked like it went blisteringly fast, especially when we now know several buildings were emptied.
"There are protocals in place to handle this." -- McClellan.
Obviously this pilot was seconds away from being vaporized. And authorities probably prefer to keep this guy alive in order to learn what's behind his actions.
My guess is that he (they? there's been a suggestion of two) was not shot down because of the debris that would have fallen. The pilot may have thought that the flares were real fire...I sure would have!