Another pilot violates DC Airspace

[AV8TOR]

How sad another one looses the license

Police Briefly Evacuate the U.S. Capitol
Wednesday, June 29, 2005 11:10 PM EDT
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush was hurried from his residence to a safer location Wednesday evening and people were evacuated from the White House and U.S. Capitol when a private plane ventured into restricted airspace.

The all-clear came within minutes when two fighter jets intercepted the small twin-engine propeller-driven plane eight miles northeast of the Capitol. The alert ended before evacuations were complete at the White House.

The White House briefly went to red alert — its highest level, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The private turboprop entered restricted airspace northeast of Reagan National Airport, according to federal aviation officials. Jets scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., intercepted the plane and, as of 6:45 p.m. EDT, escorted the plane to Winchester, Va., where it landed without incident.

An aircraft could be heard overhead at the Capitol, in an area customarily closed to aircraft.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Capitol Police notified senators' offices: "This is an emergency message ... Capitol Police are tracking unidentified aircraft."

At the White House, Bush had left the Oval Office for the day and was in the residence when the alert sounded. "The president was temporarily relocated," McClellan said. Some senior staff also were seen hurrying from the West Wing to the residence area where a bomb shelter is located.

"We started to relocate some staff," McClellan said. "Officers were prepared to activate the (White House-wide) alert system but we received notification from the jets that were scrambled that the plane had turned away from the White House."

Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer said the Capitol was ordered evacuated when the plane was about 5 minutes away. It was traveling southwest, then turned south toward the Capitol, but headed away a minute and a half later, Gainer said.

The plane originated in Delaware and was headed to Ohio, said Gary Bracken, a spokesman for the Bureau of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bracken said the pilot wrote a flight plan but did not file it with federal officials.

The House and Senate were both voting when the alarm sounded. In a virtual replay of a scare earlier this summer, members of Congress, staff, visitors and others were told to leave the building quickly.

Agents ran out of the gate from the White House compound onto Pennsylvania Avenue and began clearing pedestrians from the street. At first, officers did not seem hurried, and pedestrians were walking casually. "It's in your best interest to hurry along," an agent said.

The scare lasted about 10 minutes at the White House before officers gave the all-clear and Pennsylvania Avenue was reopened.

The offending plane was a King Air 350, said Michael D. Kucharek, a spokesman for North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado.

After it was detected, two Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons scrambled from Andrews and it, Kucharek said.

The fighters "got the pilot's attention pretty quick," Kucharek said. Because of that, the fighters did not need to drop flares, and the laser warning system was not employed.

[Doug Taylor]

I guess he didn't see the zillion-dollar nifty laser light that miraculously is only discernable in night VMC!

[drl5555]

Unbelievable, I would have thought someone experienced enough to fly a KingAir would be experienced enough to navigate around or get a clearance through restriced airspace. I can almost understand a 152, but a KingAir?!? Must have been the guys in AV8TOR's avatar!

[Tokyo007]

I would have shot him down for being dumb....if Putin was president...

"stuuupid pilot BORIS! shoot down that tineee plane - teach these pilots flying in this area a lesson they will never forget muuuhahahahah"

(sorry late night doing homework and I went off there)

[Kristie]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess he didn't see the zillion-dollar nifty laser light that miraculously is only discernable in night VMC!

[/ QUOTE ]SA Taylor!

"The fighters "got the pilot's attention pretty quick," Kucharek said. Because of that, the fighters did not need to drop flares, and the laser warning system was not employed. "

but here's a question... i thought the laser light system was supposed to be used FIRST and if that didn't do the trick - THEN fighters come into play??? if not, what's the point of the lasers if the fighters are going to get attention first???

[FlyNavy]

If you were standing strip alert in the ANG, you'd get bored too!

[EatSleepFly]

Oh...my...God...what...a...dumb...#$^%.

I'm sorry, but after ALL of this hoopola over this stupid area, when are people going to stop flying through it?

There is NO excuse.

I would like to volunteer to sit on one edge of the prohibited area, and shoot down offending idiots without warning. Not because I give a hoot about defending our sorry excuse for a president, but because this is getting rediculous, not to mention embarrasing for all of aviation.

Now we all get to put up with another barrage of, "so, fly through any prohibited areas yesterday?" questions. How special.

[Screaming_Emu]

and this is why when I fly around the DC area, it will always be on an IFR flight plan. At least until I get more familiar with the area again.

[NJA_Capt]

Let me see if I have this straight.
A King Air 350
Didn't file a flight plan between DEL and OH?

What the heck was he thinking? Flying turbo prop VFR to OH???? (BE350s typically fly in the upper 20s-low 30s.)

[jrh]

[ QUOTE ]
Let me see if I have this straight.
A King Air 350
Didn't file a flight plan between DEL and OH?

What the heck was he thinking? Flying turbo prop VFR to OH???? (BE350s typically fly in the upper 20s-low 30s.)

[/ QUOTE ]

I've talked to a few Part 91 corporate guys that think going IFR just slows them down. They'll only file if they absolutely have to. Seems like those guys don't do much planning either...type in their destination, punch "direct" and see where it takes them. I can't understand how that's smart, but that's what they do.

Maybe this pilot was planning on getting a pop-up clearance direct to his destination before reaching the flight levels?

Not that this is any excuse whatsoever, but I can see how it could have happened.

[Screaming_Emu]

[ QUOTE ]
Let me see if I have this straight.
A King Air 350
Didn't file a flight plan between DEL and OH?

What the heck was he thinking? Flying turbo prop VFR to OH???? (BE350s typically fly in the upper 20s-low 30s.)

[/ QUOTE ]

he must not be paying for gas.

[SteveC]

[ QUOTE ]
I've talked to a few Part 91 corporate guys that think going IFR just slows them down. They'll only file if they absolutely have to. Seems like those guys don't do much planning either...type in their destination, punch "direct" and see where it takes them. I can't understand how that's smart, but that's what they do.

Maybe this pilot was planning on getting a pop-up clearance direct to his destination before reaching the flight levels?

Not that this is any excuse whatsoever, but I can see how it could have happened.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's a Washington Post article that sheds a little more light on the subject:
Stray Plane Sets Off Evacuation Of Capitol

A couple of pertinent paragraphs:

[ QUOTE ]
The pilot of the Beech King had filed a flight plan to fly from Wilmington, Del., to Defiance, Ohio, the Federal Aviation Administration said. But after takeoff at 6:06 p.m., the pilot canceled the plan and switched the plane's transponder code to indicate that he was flying under "visual flight rules," which require less interaction with air traffic control. The plane was flying about 310 mph at times, FAA officials said.

[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A federal official said radio communication between the pilot and authorities indicated that the pilot ended up in the restricted area while trying to avoid bad weather.

[/ QUOTE ]

[tonyw]

Yeah, there were some nasty boomers last night around here. I can see how someone might have tried to dance around them and gotten himself in trouble.

Two words for people who want to fly VFR around DC:

Flight following.

Get that, and you're good to go. The rules are that you've got to have a squawk and be talking to ATC. That's it.

And guess what you've got if you have flight following?

[AV8TOR]

here's another follow up, the pilot's wife said "He was at the wrong altitude" Oh Yeah, what alt was he? He still broke the Restricted Airspace...

U.S. Capitol evacuated briefly
Private turboprop plane ventured into restricted airspace

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 11:58 p.m. ET June 29, 2005
WASHINGTON - Police briefly ordered evacuation of the U.S. Capitol and the White House and President Bush was moved from his residence to a safer location Wednesday evening when a private plane ventured into restricted airspace. The all-clear came within minutes — well before the White House was fully evacuated. The White House briefly went to red alert — its highest level, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.
A private turboprop entered restricted airspace northeast of Reagan National Airport, according to a federal aviation official. Jets scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base and intercepted the plane eight miles northeast of the Capitol. As of 6:45 p.m. EST, the fighters escorted the plane to the Winchester Regional Airport in Winchester, Va., where it landed without incident.
An aircraft could be heard overhead at the Capitol, in an area customarily closed to aircraft.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Capitol Police notified senators’ offices: “This is an emergency message ... Capitol Police are tracking unidentified aircraft.”

<font color="red"> </font> The pilot of the plane was Scott Murwin of Athens, Ga., a longtime pilot for Standridge Color Corp., a plastics products company based in Social Circle, Ga., his wife confirmed. “He was at the wrong altitude,” Debbie Murwin said in a brief telephone interview from her home.Standridge Color Corp. Bob Standridge said that he had not talked to Murwin but that Murwin had dropped off some Standridge employees to attend a seminar in Wilmington, Del., and was heading for Ohio when the flight was intercepted.
“I assume it’s a simple mistake, the gentleman’s been a pilot for several years,” said Standridge, who said federal authorities planned to talk with company officials Thursday morning.
Senate had been in session
The Senate was in the process of three roll calls and had finished the third, an amendment to an appropriation to a bill for veterans’ health benefits, when the alert sounded, NBC's congressional correspondent Chip Reid reported.


Reid reported that the evacuation began in an “extremely orderly” fashion and ended uneventfully.
“It was orderly to the point where people were rolling their eyes,” Reid said. “Each time this happens it’s more orderly, and hopefully it will not get to the point where people will not get complacent about it.”
Scott McClellan, White House spokesman, said the alert system at the White House did not go off. The Capitol runs on a separate system. McClellan said that senior staff were beginning to move as the all-clear sounded.

[tonyw]

[ QUOTE ]
it will not get to the point where people will not get complacent about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I dunna. You can only scream the sky is falling so many times before people say, shut up, I'm staying right here.

And this guy has an explanation. If you're dodging the nasty boomers that we had here last night, you may let your SA slip a little and cross into the ADIZ.

[SteveC]

[ QUOTE ]
it will not get to the point where people will not get complacent about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

So.....he wants people to get complacent about it???

[NJA_Capt]

[ QUOTE ]
.......his wife confirmed. “He was at the wrong altitude,” ....in a brief telephone interview from her home.

[/ QUOTE ]
I really dislike the media. Now we have to brief our spouses too?!?!?