Two in Custody After Capitol Plane Scare

[fryguy]

following up on earlier LBNs

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050511/ap_on_go_pr_wh/capital

<snip>

Two men in the aircraft were later taken into custody at a Maryland airport where the plane landed after a military escort, said Capitol Police Chief Terence Gainer.

"This appears to be errant pilots," he said. He said officials were concerned because the plane appeared to be "on a straight-in shot toward the center of the Washington area."

<more>

By the way . . . since when are Blackhawks based at National Airport? Aren't there plenty of military reservations in the area in and around DC that they don't need to use a civilian airport?

[SmokingJacket]

1. Funny!

"The plane was registered to the Vintage Aero Club in the Lancaster County city of Smoketown, Pa."

Was it a biplane???

I would have loved to see that!!!

[Brotherjohn]

4. Oh NO!! Terra-ists!!

Don't worry. Bush and Co. are on the way!!



Isn't it ironic that Pennsylvania is the "keystone" state?

[u2spirit]

9. The smoketown six leader just "killed himself"

Makes you go "HMMMMMM!"

[uppityperson]

24. Seriously? I missed this.

bah. Do you have information on this or have I just missed it on DU? thanks.

[MGKrebs]

25. Link here.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Penn._Abu_Ghraib_protester_found_05_09_2005_1246pm.html

[uppityperson]

28. Thanks. Wow.

[lies and propaganda]

45. i cant fucking believe this

"suicided" from "depression" im sure from being such a bad American.

And nearly all eyes are closed, no one sees or hears dick.

[Megahurtz]

2. Duuhhh......

Oops.:dunce::dunce:

[OzarkDem]

3. Occurs hundreds of times a year

According to this recent CNN news report

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/04/15/laser.warn/


Why the big fuss?

Could it be more intimidation of Congressional Dems? More money for Homeland Security or are they worried about the Downing Street Iraq invasion memo?

[Tempest]

6. Why the big fuss?

Bush's approval rating is sinking, approval for his SS piratization is sinking and his ratings on the Iraq war are sinking.

And no one pays any attention to the terror warnings anymore.

[Rockholm]

15. Dropping Polls, exactly.

This is SSSSSSOOOOOOOOOO Transparent.

[warrens]

7. one from column A, two from column B

[Brotherjohn]

10. See my earlier post. It totally undercut the first WH press briefing...

... since the British memo leaked. You know, the one that shows, in black and white, that Bush cooked the books on Iraq?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3637061

Subsequently, we have seen that the press briefing has been about nothing but the Cessna. Allegedly (accdg. to another thread here), Scott McLellan even went so far as to say "I'm only taking questions about the Cessna."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3637339#3637349

[FemaleDemfromMass]

26. did you hear the blond woman

on CNN headlines saying this is so "frightening". :rofl:
She must be remembering the earlier one about the big bad cloud in the sky!! It's a dangerous world after all.

[FreedomAngel82]

30. I think it's the memo and their failure's

Interesting indeed. It's a "look over there not over here!"

[barbaraann]

5. Lancaster County - rightwing extremist activity

LANCASTER COUNTY
Lancaster County ACTION
185 Stanley Avenue
Landisville, PA 17538
President: Robert D. Kettering
Religious political extremist activity in Lancaster County has been conducted by Lancaster County ACTION (Americans for Christian Traditions In Our Nation), a political action committee which was formed at the time of Pat Robertson's 1987 presidential campaign. The agenda of the January 1990 Lancaster ACTION workshop featured elected local officials, state senator Gibson Armstrong, WDAC radio station owner Paul Hollinger and Commonwealth Foundation president Don Eberly.106
Kettering is the Manheim Central GOP chair. Other Republican officials connected to Lancaster ACTION are Sheryl Eberly, a member of Republican State Committee; former GOP state committee member Paul Hollinger; Charles Trupe, Eastern Lancaster County Republican Chairman; and GOP State Committee member James Bednar. The group made campaign contributions to Republican state and local candidates, including Representatives Katie True, Thomas Armstrong, Jere Strittmatter and John Barley.107
Another prominent Lancaster countian is James Clymer, who was the candidate for lieutenant governor on the Constitutional Party ticket in 1994. Clymer sits on the national board of the U.S. Taxpayers' Party (USTP), founded by Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus. Charles Trupe serves as treasurer for the USTP Pennsylvania organization. Speakers at a USTP meeting in Wisconsin in 1994 were videotaped urging the formation of militias and the arming of children.108 The USTP is holding a presidential nominating convention in San Diego, August 15 through 18, 1996. Pictured on the convention announcement are Clymer's 1994 running-mate Peg Luksik, as well as R.J. Rushdoony and Judie Brown, co-founder with Paul Weyrich of the American Life League.109
Clymer and Trupe have founded several organizations, including the political action committees United Pennsylvanians and Voters for Accountable Representation. In October 1992, Trupe was replaced by Peg Luksik as chairman of United Pennsylvanians. United Pennsylvanians has supported an anti-gay rights group, Citizens for Pittsburgh, and the Libertarian campaigns of Clymer for Auditor General against Republican Barbara Hafer, and John Perry for U.S. Senate against Republican Arlen Specter.110

http://www.padnet.org/mprr4a.html

[MGKrebs]

8. The Smoketown 6?

http://www.windmillsonline.us/pages/index.php?pageID=3225

Penn. Abu Ghraib protester found dead
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Penn._Abu_Ghraib_protester_found_05_09_2005_1246pm.html

[yellowcanine]

23. What is it about Smoketown, anyway? If you want to go there, there

are two hotels.


http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-479122-smoketown_hotels-i;_ylt=An5nyZ1jQ6eT69WURWZf_GDDT2oL

[OldLeftieLawyer]

11. Andrews AF Base is right here

Blackhawks at National? That doesn't even make sense.

Well, I guess this - coupled with the "attempt" on Fuckface's life (a hand grenade no one noticed?) - will be our new "Red Alert."

What a yawn. We were in a restaurant in DC, having lunch, when this whole thing appeared on CNN on the TV above the bar. A couple of people looked, and then went back to what they were doing.

What a joke this administration is.

[FreedomAngel82]

32. So they weren't fooled

Seemed to me it was because of all the leaked information coming out. They're running scared and it isn't fooling anybody.

[sundancekid]

12. yea, and where the hell were they on 9-11 -- Griffin is SOOO right

among many others to suggest more on the LIHOP/MIHOP stuff center on the 2 critical facts of:

1. no FAA alerts and military planes scrambling after seeing the AA and UA flights off course, AND

2. even ex-secret service agents are saying today (related to the Georgia "grenade") that chimp-in-chief SHOULD/WOULD have been yanked from that Pet Goat setting in a heart-beat

and, sure enough, here's more proof of how the FAA etc. do their thing in pure and simple STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES (so why not on 9-11?)


sorry for the rant, but our family sustained very painful losses that day ...

:rant: :rant:

[Straight Shooter]

33. Rant away.

You have the right. I'm sorry about your losses. I'm even sorrier that those responsible will never pay for their crimes.

[FreedomAngel82]

34. So true

It's very telling indeed. I told my mother about that and she said maybe they know more but this administration? No way. I think it was all bullshit. I think the shit is about to hit the fan and they're trying their damndest to stay in power. It's all about the power and who is in control.

[AndyTiedye]

43. Stand Down

This is what our air defenses were ordered to do on the morning of 9/11:

[PATRICK]

13. Deleted

Sorry, got stories mixed up. Some confusion and bad memory regarding the Gov of Kentucky buzzing Reagan's funeral.

Expect the small fry to sizzle. Evidently they overdid downplaying the first incident.

[earthboundmisfit]

16. Sorry. That was the intrusion at Reagan's funeral. (Self-deleted below)

[earthboundmisfit]

14. self-delete

[maddezmom]

17. that incident was during Reagan's funeral

However, it's rare for fighter jets to be scrambled.

In the most dramatic incident since the Sept. 11 attacks, thousands of people fled the Capitol, packed with members of Congress and other dignitaries, when a plane flew into the restricted air space just before the funeral procession for President Ronald Reagan last June.

A communications breakdown led federal officials to believe the plane might be targeting the Capitol, but it turned out to be carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who had been cleared to fly into the area.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050511/ap_on_go_pr_wh/capital

[Brotherjohn]

18. Read the story more clearly.

A similar incident in June of 2004 before the funeral of Reagan involved the governor's plane. Not this incident.

[catnhatnh]

20. Easy-Down boy....

...The Kentucky Gov was an earlier episode-not today...reread your link...

[ixion]

19. these war mongers sure are cowards

they're constantly flinching at shadows (or using them as a distraction) and yet still claim that they're the tough guys. I just don't get why people believe that.

[mmonk]

21. Run Away! Run Away!

[ixion]

22. exactly...

:hi:

[fryguy]

27. plane was 3 miles from WH when it turned away

would the military have opened fire on it and brought it down in the middle of DC had it not? i've lived in DC and know that, with the exception of park lands and the river, the entire 3 mile radius area around the WH is urban and well populated. so if the pilot had an intention to harm the WH or Capitol, and both buildings were evacuated and therefore no danger of loss of life in either, would the bushistas deemed it an acceptable trade-off to shoot the plane down over a populated area, causing the near certain loss of civilian life, to save buildings?
:puke:

[mhr]

29. Two To Three Incursions A Day

From the linked article.

"Incursions into the restricted space are common. NORAD officials said there are typically two or three incursions a day, usually by pilots not familiar with the restrictions or who stray from their intended flight paths."

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. Bolling AFB is right across the river from National

but I'm not sure what their runway accomodations are like. It's possible that they use National for some of their heavier craft.

[atreides1]

35. Helicopters don't need much runway space

They go up and down, and they're lighter then most fighters.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. I think that may be what Bolling is primarily used for....

I've seen choppers land and take off there, but never fighter jets.

I'm no expert on military weaponry, so I couldn't presume to know whether a helicopter is adequate to bring down whatever threat they perceived was encroaching on the city. I doubt these days that they take the time to identify the make of an aircraft before the military launches their defense.

It does make them look pretty silly...like when the cops come out in full force to a home where the burglar alarm was set off by some passing opossum. Still, as a resident of the area, I have to say that I'm glad the military is taking every precaution to keep us safe. As long as Dumbyass occupies the WH, our security is in jeopardy.

[fryguy]

40. i used to see "Marine One" types landing/lifting off there

Bolling, at least when I was down in the DC area, used to have H-3 Sea King's stationed there as well as some other helos used by officials to shuttle back and forth. Would imagine they could now station Blackhawks for protection if necessary, rather than placing them over at National. Don't think they had fixed-wing aircraft.

As for why a Blackhawk was called for this, I'd imagine it had to do with the type of aircraft violating the airspace. The fighters could have, if necessary, easily taken down the Cessna. But given the relative speed between the it and the F-16, it would have been difficult for the jets to provide escort to the airport. The Cessna's' top speed is pretty close to the stall speed of the F-16. The Blackhawk, on the other hand, could have maintained parity with the single engine plane.

Just my - moderately educated in military aircraft and procedure - assumptions.

[Doohickie]

36. So what was W doing at the time?

Riding his bicycle through the park. Jeez, does this guy EVER work?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. The tree pollen is terrible in the area where he was biking.

May he breathe deeply and often. :evilgrin:

[DebbieCDC]

39. Chickenhawks and chickenshits

More reasons why I'm glad I left that hellhole of a town in May of 2003 and moved to the Pac NW where people are sensible and civilized!

DC gets more like a Monty Python movie every day.

[AgadorSparticus]

41. good lord, could they overreact anymore???!?! this is so silly.

and it makes them look so desperate. but it does make me wonder what has them SOOOoo spooked. dropping poll #'s shouldn't have them this scared.

my gut feeling is that it is something big. i've had this feeling for months now and i don't know if it's just me waiting for the economy to crash or what, but i feel like something is coming down on us sometime this year. and their overreactions don't help make me feel any better about our future.

[Maat]

42. I agree.

[DearAbby]

44. And Just where was the Military escort on 9/11?

Two men in the aircraft were later taken into custody at a Maryland airport where the plane landed after a military escort, said Capitol Police Chief Terence Gainer.

"This appears to be errant pilots," he said. He said officials were concerned because the plane appeared to be "on a straight-in shot toward the center of the Washington area."
>snip<


Seems like they were up there in time to save the capitol...Yet there were no military planes in the air that morning...in time. Now suddenly they have their Shit together?

How much were the pilots paid to do this...B* polls are tanking, and the terror color alert chart is a joke...they needed the "real threat" to scare the American people back in line?

Pfffffft!

[Sequoia]

46. Oh, there two, eh? Thought so!