A Cheney close call

[Judi Lynn]

A Cheney close call
Collision-avoidance alarm sounds, forcing Air Force Two pilot to suddenly climb to avoid another plane


BY SYLVIA ADCOCK
STAFF WRITER

August 27, 2004


Air Force Two, the military plane carrying Vice President Dick Cheney, was forced to make an evasive maneuver to avoid another aircraft in the skies over Bridgeport, Conn., earlier this month, federal officials said yesterday.

As Cheney headed to Westchester County Airport in White Plains on Aug. 7, a collision-avoidance system in the cockpit of the Gulfstream jet designated as Air Force Two sounded an alarm and commanded the pilot to climb to avoid another plane, officials said.

The two planes came within 0.44 miles horizontally and 700 feet vertically, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which immediately pulled the radar and voice tapes from the New York TRACON in Westbury and has since issued a report to the Air Force.

The FAA said the incident is not technically classified as a near-midair collision or a mistake on the part of the controller or pilot. But pilots say it's extremely unusual for the collision-avoidance system -- a computerized device mandated on all commercial passenger planes -- to sound the alarm to command an evasive maneuver.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-linear2708,0,3949679.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

[drhilarius]

1. Cheney=lois; Rove=Stewie...

He's got to figure out a way to kill the old man in order to get McCain on the ticket.

[Lovecrafty]

2. "By the Dawn's Early Light" ALMOST?!!

There is a movie starring Powers Boothe and James Earl Jones called "By The Dawn's Early Light" that is eerily familiar to this close call. In the movie, there was a terrorist attack on the US(I believe DC was nuked). The Russians are immediately blamed and the US prepares for all out nuclear war. The bombers are sent in to attack Russia. However, it is discovered that the attack was not the Russians, but some other rebel faction(I forget which one). Anyway, rather than call off the planes and abort the attack on Russia, the President decides to go through with the attack! Some of the generals begin to dissent and soon all hell starts to break loose within the ranks of the US Military. The President takes off in Air Force One and decides to ride out the coming apocalypse in the air. Eventually a small group of insiders decides the President must be stopped to avoid World War 3. So James Earl Jones gets in his plane, I believe its Air Force 2, and proceeds to fly towards Air Force One. The pilot of Air Force One, realizing what lies at stake, knows what has to be done. The pilot heads directly into the oncoming Air Force 2. Just as the planes collide, the pilot of Air Force One salutes the pilot of Air Force Two, together sacrificing themselves to stop the now insane President. It is a very poingant moment, indeed!

I wonder if we have men who would sacrifice themselves to stop a President from destroying the world imbedded deep within our Government?

[lapfog_1]

3. Hmmm, in air collision avoidance warning

for Crashcart? Induce another heart attack and it's easy to
dump him from the ticket.

[Spinzonner]

4. That'll teach Cheney

to wander off the reservation on the Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment.

[sventvkg]

5. SHIT !!! We almost got rid of that bastard.

Bummer.

[ClintonTyree]

6. Don't worry................

there's another bastard understudy waiting in the wings to replace him. There's a never ending supply of GOP assholes.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Yes, and they NEVER seem to die either.

Why do these hateful, evil bastards live so damn long anyway?

[Child_Of_Isis]

7. A most interesting quote...

"The aircraft that Cheney's plane was trying to avoid was an unidentified plane that was not talking to air traffic controllers".


hhhmmmm...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. Cheney stepped out of the NeoCon political line recently...

...when he talked about his gay daughter and how he didn't support an amendment that would essentially ban gays from marriage. Whether or not he actually believes it and was not simply courting the gay vote is another matter entirely...the fact that he actually stated his opinion in public was enough.

He was being sent a message, pure and simple...get back in line and shut the heck up. Either that, or they were trying to clear the way to nominate McCain as VP.

[DS1]

9. Hey, wasn't it a Gulfstream that shot down the airliner over PA?

Air Force 2 must carry missiles

:tinfoilhat:

[colonel odis]

10. when i saw "close call" i thought perhaps cheney almost told the truth

in a speech or something.

[Francine Frensky]

11. Wow, Rove really wants go*yourself off the ticket

they were trying to carnahan him.

[tom_paine]

13. This worries me as a Rove stunt for different reasons

The Busheviks, I've noticed, have taken to covering the tracks of their assassins by staging phony "attacks" or scenarios (invariably no harm comes to the Bushevik Stooges in question, naturally) to cover their own REAL TARGETED assassinations.

For instance, shortly after the Wellstone Assassination, the Busheviks staged a "scary" air trouble event with Santorum, Delay, and one other Imperial Senators.

Naturally, the plane trouble was averted and no harm came to the Imperial Darlings.

Or the way that, after the Bushevik Anthrax assassin had hit his media and Democratic Targets, almost as an afterthought (because questions about why the targets were ALL Demcrats were starting to come out?), some anthrax was found. Of course "it was unclear how the anthrax was brought into the office" (no letters full of spores for this one, and HOW did it get there? Porter Goss, a Hazmat suit, and a cotton swab?)

Gosh, that's so SHOCKING, isn't it?

This worries me because this feels like it could be Uncle Karl getting out in front of things for a change, preconditioning us for a midair collision of a Key Democratic Senator/Senatorial Candidate in a State Trending Bushevik.

(like Wellstone & Carnahan)

It used to be they stop after three (JFK, RFK, MLK), but now, with Imperial Unchecked Power so close to their grasp, I could easily see them whacking someone else this year.

This is more worrisome because we are being set up to not be concerned about the next "accidental Democratic airplane fatality".

[babylon_system]

14. Cheney lives to kill another day

But at least Bush isn't president.

[area51]

15. Tricky Dick F'n Cheney to pilot in other plane:

"Out of my way, @sshole!" </lame joke>