Show Unidentified Cessna flies over Washington Kyle Ford Globe Weekly News High above Washington DC D.C. in Restricted Airspace flew an unidentified Cessna Unbeknownst to the pilot of that plane the nations nation's capitol capitol capitol capi- capi tol went on immediate high F 16 fighter fight fight- alert scrambling er jets to investigate what soon became just a sky-high sky misunderstanding Lt Co Col Tim Lehmann had just finished lunch when and alert had gone off he his pilot co-pilot ran to their F 16 and were in the air at 1157 am a.m. on Wednesday May 11 The FAA air traffic control control control con con- in Washington had directed them perfectly to the unidentified aircraft for immediate interception How do you not realize you are flying over Washington DC D.C. You would think that the huge monuments would tip you off asked a confused Abby Brass When the F 16 fighter jets Cessna Continued on Page 9 Cessna Continued from front arrived at the aircraft they began the proper procedures they waived off some customs aircraft that had already intercepted intercepted intercepted inter inter- the plane They then commenced the firing of flares to get the pilots pilot's attention and after about the third pass of flar flares s the pilot had finally realized realized realized real real- that something was wrong and changed course I had heard that it was a training flight and they were trying to train the student to use instruments only and not the guidance of any sort of air traffic control tower said Ladeane Koukoulias Whether that was the case or not the pilot then finally made contact on a VHF guard frequency frequency frequency fre fre- fre- fre quency and he was then instructed to land at Frederick airport Another F 16 pilot Major said that the Cessna pilot was very shaken up and was very compliant with what he had asked which lead to believe he wasn't wasn't wasn't was was- nt any sort of terrorist I think that he was either a complete moron or he was for sure up to something stated a weary Jon Gaudia The area in which the nations nation's capital resides is protected protected protected pro pro- by a layered defense which means that when an unidentified track of interest comes on the radar there are already decisions being made by many chains of command on whether or not it is a major threat The Air National Guard Guardis is not the only ones who can decide to shoot down the plane as it passes into una unauthorized t territory The plane was too small to tobe tobe tobe I be considered a huge threat The order was never given to shoot the plane down but the thet thes s t pilots of F do train to shoot down unidentified air- air f f craft Also the White House stating th that t has record f gone on 4 1 this incident was the closest it has ever been to shooting down downa a civilian aircraft r I |