CNN: Man Held in Custody at Frederick, MD Airport, Re: D.C. Plane Scare

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

CNN's Kelly Arena reports that one man is being held by Maryland State Police at an airport in Frederick, MD. The police are waiting for federal authorities to arrive on the scene.

The man is said to be the pilot of the small aircraft that triggered an evacuation of government buildings in downtown Washington when he reportedly violated restricted airspace.

Frederick, MD. is located about an hour northwest of Washington, D.C. along the I-270 corridor.

[kinghorse]

If this thing gets passed along to us as a false alarm, rest assured it wasn't a false alarm. My two cents.

[Spktyr]

The 9B's been out of circulation for quite a while. We're at the AIM-9X for air to air and Stingers for ground-to-air.

[Spktyr]

He broke the glass and the unreinforced cement fascia on the building face, all cosmetic and not structural elements.

Fly a Cessna 150 into a structural member, all you do is scratch up the pillar and destroy the Cessna.

[flashbunny]

A 150 is kinda like the clown car of planes - but it only fits two clowns ;)

[hershey]

Fox news says the man's wife thinks he was probably heading for an air show in NC. Could be just your average Joe...but why not respond to radio warnings?

[RSmithOpt]

Thanks......been reading the weight specs from other posts. Maybe I was thinking about a 180 or is it a 182 Cessna? Anyway, never see bush pilots flying them in Alaska.

[Fudd Fan]

Hey, did he look like Algore? Or JFnKerry?

[RSmithOpt]

Come one man.....it was a 150.....no need to spend more money than necessary for the enema....the point is to get rid of the crap ASAP & efficiently. But hell, whatever is on / under the wing works for me....

[cake_crumb]

"Fly a Cessna 150 into a structural member, all you do is scratch up the pillar and destroy the Cessna."

Good point....though he should at the least face time for ignoring the warnings. Even if there's a reasonable explanation, like his radio stopped working, he was fiddling with the dial and looking for a good rap station or he went temporarily deaf, he ought to get 30 days.

I can think of a 100 pound payload that would be explosive enough to do more than mar a pillar. We've been far too lenient with all these jokers in small planes knowingly commit airspace violations.

[RSmithOpt]

An A-10 Warthog's nose gun would chew the Cessna up quickly, however, he'd (the A10) need to come up from underneath from the west, cause those 30 mm depleted uranium shells would probably do more damage on the ground stuff than we'd like to see.

[RSmithOpt]

Noted on the 9B....still a very good close-in missile. I was just trying to note that both were heat seekers in the post and the idiot(s) could have used one for either 'probing' the defenses or trying to make a statement to W or whoever.

[rdl6989]

I'm sure terrorists are taking note of the fact that the plane turned towards the White House a second time (paperclip move)and the plane still wasn't shot down.

[rdl6989]

The plane is registered to Vintage Aero Club in Smoketown, Pa. It was scheduled to be flown Wednesday by Jim Sheaffer of Lititz, Pa., and student pilot Troy Martin, of Akron, Pa., to an air show in Lumberton, N.C.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7817210/

[Feiny]

Well, I guess I should know never to believe the media....but this did cause our fearless leaders to run from the House & Senate.

[Dashing Dasher]

Could use a ping here... to potentially squelch the fearful.

[Redleg Duke]

I think I will just let my imagination take flight on that one! :-D

[Jotmo]

A compact car could carry a LOT more weight of whatever dangerous material you wanted to use than this little airplane. And, you could drive it VERY close to your target without raising any suspicions or alarms.

Using a small aircraft for a mass terror attack makes little to no sense at all in light of the damage you could do with a far more accessible, everyday vehicle.

[rabidralph]

You were there, too?!!

[Aeronaut]