WP,pg1: Military Had OK To Down Cessna

Military Had OK To Down Cessna
Incursion's Depth Alarmed Officials

By Spencer S. Hsu and John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 25, 2005; Page A01


Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gave military officials the authority to shoot down, if necessary, a small plane that wandered into restricted airspace over the nation's capital May 11, according to two senior federal officials.

For 11 intense minutes, customs aircraft and military fighter jets tried to intercept the Cessna 150 and determine whether the pilots were confused and lost or were targeting Washington. Military officials never deemed the aircraft to be hostile, but White House and U.S. Capitol officials grew more concerned as it flew within three miles of the Executive Mansion.

The plane, one of the federal officials said, came within "15 to 20 seconds" of being downed before its pilots finally heeded repeated orders to turn away from the city.

The new details, also corroborated yesterday by a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on events, came as U.S. military and homeland security officials review the effectiveness of an air defense system established for the Washington area after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because much of the air defense system is classified.

As authorities piece together the lessons of the scare -- described by some officials as the closest the government has come to downing a civilian plane over Washington since Sept. 11, 2001 -- they are confronting sensitive issues involving split-second decisions, communications and the federal chain of command....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052400408.html

The "horror of horrors" awaits all of the poor innocents on that plane that accidentally strays into the wrong place.

:scared:

CIA plants. I will maintain that for the rest of my life.

Just another bullshit plan by rove to try and keep us from keeping our eye on the ball.

I can't believe this story is still being reported on.

Nothing here folks, move along.

I saw the parent of one of the student pilot who was a passenger on the plane. Even though you have to always be skeptical with Bush and Rove I would bet anything that they weren't CIA agents.

Next, shoot down plane.

Oblivious to all this???

This is really scary folks. The Prez didn't know anything about it and there were orders to shoot it down? Good grief!

Do you REALLY want Bush making a decision of this kind? I sure don't. Cheney and Rumsfeld may be slimy fascist bastards, but they are better equipped intellectually to deal with that kind of situation than Bush, who is neurologically impaired, not to mention a sociopath.

Yeah, we must start shooting down mystery planes in the name of safety and security. I just hope we don't shoot down any with actual terrorists on-board. Especially the ones who are carrying Anthrax or nuclear material. Sensationalist machismo, pure and simple.

Jay

Seems kind of stupid to me. "Oh, I KNOW where we are, don't worry..."
"Daddy, why is that helicopter flying next to us and is that a machine gun?"

If I flew, I wouldn't get close enough to make out the Capitol on the ground.

Is there a secret project by AOPA to FORCE an incident?

Carrying an armed law enforcement oficier along for the ride...Might scare the shit out of the cop...:7

crewmembers on the Blackhawk held up a sign with emergency radio frequency numbers but Cessna was not able to access the frequency because it was jammed by an emergency locator beacon located in an "unknown" aircraft on the ground in the D.C. area (New York Times, yesterday).
Homeland Security at its finest.

Another Cessna strayed into DC restricted air space and the fighter jets were scrambled.

The plane had been struck by lightening and it's radio and navigational system were not functioning. The pilot was lost and could not communicate. He was escorted to a small airport in Maryland. They say no charges will be pressed.