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Cessna Spooks Security: F16s Scramble Over White House
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-05-11
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F16s scrambled over Washington today when a small Cessna aircraft flew within 3 miles of the White House, Capitol, and Supreme Court buildings. While President Bush was not in town today, Vice-president Cheney and first lady Laura Bush with her special guest, former first lady Nancy Reagan were taken to secure locations.
The small plane was escorted to a nearby airport in Frederick, MD. and the pilot was taken into custody. If the plane had stayed in the restricted airspace the F16s could've shot it down. Fortunately for the pilot, he headed toward Maryland.
The only planes allowed to move through the airspace must have special identification codes. Commercial jets coming out of Reagan usually give these. The restrictions happened as a result of the 9/11 nightmare in which one of the four captured jetliners ended up in the Pentagon but it was suggested it might have been aimed for the White House or the Capitol building.
The last time the capital had airspace problems was last summer during the funeral proceedings for President Ronald Reagan. Governor Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky had transponder problems with the state's older model plane.
9/11 had been the cause for many other annoyances for legislators and others. The capitol has been evacuated multiple times for anthrax scare and other issues.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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