Why hasn't 'Media' interviewed two Cessna pilots????

I find it very curious that all of America knows who the Runaway Bride is and her name....No One has any idea who caused 30,000 people to be evacuated in Washington DC. Put the city on alert and put the Veep and First Lady in bunkers. One would think that the press would have a certain curiosity....who are those guys???

:shrug:

You would think that an instructor would know the flight patterns around the Capitol?

As soon as we get our stories straight, we'll let you know.

Move on now.

Diversionary tactic??????/

I still maintain this was some BS stunt by rove.

eom

...There have been interviews with their neghbors, at least:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/national/13pilots.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.pilot12may12,1,5159228.story?coll=chi-news-hed

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It's better for the conspiracy if we believe he was working for the CIA...don't muddy the waters with reality.

Welcome to DU.

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I'm talking about the freakin' media.

jumping right in with both feet, telling us what's wrong with our thinking after 10 posts!

but seriously, the point is they can't have it both ways:

either they were a threat or they weren't. If they were a threat, then the "protocols" make absolutely no sense not to alert the president.
If they were not a threat, it makes no sense to evacuate some buildings.

either way, if they were a threat or weren't, it makes no sense to let them go with a slap on the wrist. I know locally, if the police and rescue teams have to look for you, or you incite a panic, you are liable for the costs of that operation if it proves you did it because of dunderheadedness.

Look at it this way; we have people detained indefinitely without counsel in this country for no other crime than having a similar name or ethnicity to a terrorist watch list. Some have been detained for years, for no action on their own.
Here you have two pilots violated restricted air space, and they are immediately released. AT THE VERY LEAST, they should have been questioned for 48 hours, as authorities have always had the right to do, in order to MAKE SURE they weren't part of some larger plan...riiiight?

can you post any links to your 'facts' please. Thanks. :)

The 67 year old pilot (and Bush campaigner) was such an infrequent pilot that he had to be shown how to operate the fuel pumps to fill the plane before the flight.

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What does granny have to do with this situation? Granny ain't flying planes into the White House!!!!

Can't figure out where you are coming from....

The guy was a forshit pilot, he caused the evacuation of 30K people, and untold expense to the taxpayers. The fact that he is a Bushfan is just icing on the cake, and if he gets off easy, we'll be quite sane, given this maladministration, to wonder if his fundraising skills may have ended up a factor in mitigation.

I personally wouldn't give a damn if he supported Captain Kangaroo, he needs to be fined up the ass and stripped of his license. This guy was not born yesterday (he is 69, fyi), he even got an award from the Flying Farmers!

As long as it helps the cause.

But--since the student was NOT at fault & "heroically" took over the controls, one wonders why he has not been kept out of the spotlight.

He was a flight instructor. He has to take a pretty rigorous physical exam every year to maintain his 2nd class medical certificate.

There's nothing wrong with a student landing a plane with 30 hours experience. I soloed in 11 hours and was doing solo cross countries (more than 90 miles) in 30 hours.

We'd like to see a media account of your information, could you post a link to your source.

:hi:

Tons of news reports...the two guys are hiding out, though. The younger one saved both their asses, the 69 year old needs his license stripped and a MASSIVE fine...MASSIVE. He cost the Cap and Metro cops in DC a bundle, a bundle they could ill afford to spend, to say nothing of all of those work hours that were wasted. A ten K fine doesn't even pay for the fuel the fighters and helo expended, when all is said and done.

Our tax dollars at play!!! They sure as hell aren't WORKING for us!

We have learned that it doesn't take much to get a prize from your fellow aviators, based on this guy who was named Flying Farmers' Man of the Year!

"Sheaffer, a Lititz resident, had been named Pennsylvania Flying Farmers' man of the year last year, said organization president Aileen Homan." http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-26/111585547658100.xml&storylist=penn

Wayward pilot disregarded basic steps
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002275515_capital15.html

The pilot who caused a midday panic in Washington on Wednesday failed to obtain briefings about the weather and restricted airspace and became lost minutes after leaving a Pennsylvania airport, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records show.

Hayden "Jim" Sheaffer, 69, froze when he saw a Black Hawk helicopter appear on his right wing while he was flying toward the White House and had difficulty operating his small, single-engine aircraft, officials said Friday. It took the valiant effort of Sheaffer's student-pilot companion, Troy Martin, who had only 30 logged hours of flight time, to take over the controls and land the plane at an airport in Frederick, Md., officials said.

The FAA plans to take the most extreme action against a pilot since new airspace rules were put in place in 2003 and will revoke Sheaffer's pilot certificate, according to aviation officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the order had not been completed. The FAA does not plan to take similar action against Martin, 36, because he is a student pilot and does not have a pilot certificate, sources said.

New details are emerging about what took place in the cockpit of the Cessna turboprop during the noontime drama that led to the evacuation of more than 35,000 people from Capitol Hill and the White House. A log prepared by federal security officials shows how tensions escalated to the point where a fighter jet was "about to use missiles" to shoot the plane down.


"Clearly had no idea" .....

Cessna 150 is not a turboprop. 4 cylinder reciprocating engine.

Claiming it was a "drill"? Kudos to DUers for calling BULLSHIT on that the instant it became public.

At no time did he ever say it was a drill. Someone wrote a bit of satire and skimmer-readers picked it up as real.

I don't know what's sadder - how quick we are to fall for stuff, or the fact that Scotty making up a lie like that is entirely UNSURPRISING with this administration.

...from Pennsylvania.

But hey, according to this article, they're "good Christian people" so we should just give them a pass! http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-26/111585547658100.xml&storylist=penn

These guys must have cost the govt. millions. Those jets don't scramble for free. Jet fuel costs money. Where is the 'media' outrage????

and Michael Jackson 24/7. I would think that the pilots story and prosecution should be of some interest.

Gitmo Koran in the toilet story. Still feels like something is fishy. Wagging the dog thing. Bush not being told. Total take over of the press coverage for the day.