Bush's Baghdad-Bound Plane WAS Spotted [View All]

Washington (AP)- The sighting occurred Thursday morning, just after daybreak, off the western coast of England, said White House communications director Dan Bartlett. If it had led to public disclosure of Bush's trip, the mission would have been scrapped, Bartlett said.

He said the pilot of the British Airways plane radioed the tower in London and reported the apparent sighting of Air Force One. The tower, apparently relying on phony flight-plan information filed to protect Air Force One's identity, radioed back that it was a Gulfstream Five, a much smaller plane.

Bartlett said he had left the wrong impression Thursday that the conversation had taken place between the British Airways pilot and the pilot of Air Force One, Col. Mark Tillman.

British Airways spokesman Jeff Angel said the airline has hundreds of planes in the air in the United Kingdom and around London and none of their pilots had come forward indicating they made the comments or overheard them. ``We are not going to be asking every single one of our pilots'' about the exchange, he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3456051,00.html


Interesting, I was sure the WH response to BA would come out today. Funny how they tried to spin the whole story earlier during the actual trip. I'm not sure (and neither, it seems, is BA) that this event even occured.