It's hard to believe two Bozos hopped in the plane and got lost

[spanone]

and wound up over THE FUCKING WHITE HOUSE???????????????????? Exuuuuuuuussssse Me. This story is just too hard to believe.

[Jacobin]

1. What was the weather like?

I haven't heard and don't watch the 'news' because it is utterly unreliable, full of absolutely uninformed conjecture and just plain silly.

I understand from reading on DU it was an instructor and a student pilot.

It is pretty weird. I'm sure they were VFR and could see the ground.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. 100% perfect flying weather

A few very small, very widely scattered popup storms. All in all, hard to get lost ... even for a bozo.

[wakeme2008]

2. This was an old airplane

and probably did not have any electronics other than the old VORs(1950s) in it.

[misanthrope]

4. It's against code...

...to build anything in DC city limits taller than the Washington Monument (that's why the taller buildings are on the other side of the Potomac). You gonna tell me they didn't see the Washington Monument out in the middle of the huge lawn that comprises the National Mall? If not, these guys don't deserve to be driving much less flying.

[wakeme2008]

5. Do not know where they ran into problems

the no fly zone around DC is very big and they could have thought they were on the outside of it.

[misanthrope]

8. Even if...

...the restricted air space is three miles away, I have pretty good confidence that a pilot at a decent altitude would be able to spot the Washington Monument at that distance. How did he not realize he was wandering into restricted air space and contact someone?

Didn't this pilot file a flight plan? If so, what went wrong? Why didn't anyone jump on the horn and let these guys know something was askew?

My point is that either this pilot is grossly incompetent, or there's more to this.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Electronics?????

All they needed today was a fucking road map and a wet finger from the Texaco down the corner.

It was a teensy little-ass 152. Clear skies and sunny. They were maybe at what .... 5,000 ft? 7,500 maaaaaaaybe. They left Pennsylvania, just about due north of DC. All they hadda do was follow the road map. This is truly not rocket science. More like grade school go-carting ..... you know ..... the airplane version of this:



Besides ... DC is pretty fucking obvious ..... even to a bozo.

Nah .... there might be more here than meets the .... uh .... flight plan.

[amazona]

3. actually i do believe it

I haven't followed the story but as a bozo with a talent for getting lost, I think it's pretty easy to do. My understanding is that on 9-11 the White House was thought to be a primary target, the plane flew over it and apparently didn't see it, so flew out to the Pentagon which presents a nice wide target from the air. I have long understood it is very hard to see the White House from the air.

If this is an honest mistake, I'd hate to see someone end up in Gitmo over it.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[wakeme2008]

9. Pic of the no fly zone

it is very large.