Do you buy this story on the plane incident?

[FreedomAngel82]

Earlier this evening my mother told me she heard on the news a reason for the plane incident that happened earlier today. She didn't say from which news organization she heard it from but I'm guessing either the local news or CNN since that's usually what gets aired around here news wise. According to what she heard the reason for the plane incident earlier today was because it was a student learning how to fly. I personally don't buy it. Why? Here's why. When I was first learning how to drive my dad signed my brother and I up for a driving class at the local community college. Whenever I got in the car I (and the other's) weren't allowed to do ANYTHING without the teacher's approval. Even on the last day when we did our test we weren't allowed to do ANYTHING without his approval. So why did the teacher let the student go where he did? He KNEW he wasn't supposed to for sercurity purposes but yet it still happened. Why?

[knowbody0]

1. teacher was on board

[FreedomAngel82]

3. I know

but when I took the driving class the teacher was with me too but I still wasn't allowed to do anything without him saying so.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. He was flying visual

It's some little flying club from Lancaster County in PA, and they were just flying around. It's a simple case of a couple of country guys not having a clue as to the worthless paranoia around here.

Without a radio, he couldn't hear what was going on, and didn't have a clue. I'm the most cynical Washington lawyer you could ever find, but I believe it.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. With this administration

it's so hard to know when the truth is there or not. :crazy:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. I think it's a safe bet

with these bastards to assume - every time - that there's a lie in anything they put out.

Somewhere, someone is digging into the flight instructor's background, and I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a big Bush supporter.

Anything to keep Iraq out of the news, eh?

[RoyGBiv]

9. That scenario ...

...is, unfortunately, all too possible.

[punpirate]

5. I tend to agree...

... it's likely accidental. What I do find interesting, though, is that there's been very little talk in most news venues about the speed of response today as compared to that on 9/11.... :shrug:

[karlrschneider]

15. I can guarantee you that plane has COM radios. I have instructed in dozen

dozens of C150/C152s. From what I've been able to see, there was a student pilot (which can only fly solo... or with a licensed instructor
while being 'instructed', or of course with a licensed pilot, but he cannot be the PIC (pilot in command) in those cases. It seems really odd to me that they weren't in contact with -some- part of ATC. I knew to do that 45 years ago when I first learned to fly. There is still missing information (to me, at least) in this story

[RoyGBiv]

7. Radio ...

The problem apparently escalated due to the radio problems they were having. Wandering into forbidden airspace, especially when it's rather wide, can be fairly easy to do when you're flying visually, even with a pro at your side directing you. You can't turn a plane on a dime, and small errors can be magnified to the point you're quite a distance away from your intended position and have crossed some line you know is there but has a precise location of which you're not precisely certain. I mean, there's no road sign or anything. It's an imaginary line in space you identify with navigation. He wasn't bearing down on the White House. He just crossed that line.

Anyway, it all got weird when the pilot didn't answer ATC. Otherwise, it likely would not have gone beyond a "get out of here" command and a "I'll do that immediately" answer. The response to what took place was, I think, appropriate even if the media coverage of the incident is blown out of all proportion. The lack of such a response on 9/11 is in fact one of the things many of us criticize about Shrub and that leads to suspicion.

[havocmom]

8. The part that stinks to me is that shit like this only happens when the

junta is getting bad press and needs to divert attention from:
Bolton + NPT 'the dog ate my homework'
The British memo
Body count in Iraq
DeLay
Hand holding with Saudi prince+ price of oil+ reports of Big Oil profits
Bolton + first wife bail out due to group sex club
US $ spend on show of affection for bush* in Georgia
Just WHY was a hooker posing as a reporter in the WH
The Nuclear Option and why they want it

And the #1 reason:
The need for the junta to scare Congress Critters back into line about
all of the above

edited for typo

[fishnfla]

10. Ever get lost in your car?

same thing can happen in the sky, on the water, etc.

[jojo54]

11. I agree with where you're coming from Freedom Angel

It's fishy, I say.

[Daphne08]

12. I honestly think this was a case of a pilot being a bit lost

which can happen when flying VFR (visual flight rules) in an area unfamiliar to the pilot, but it IS coincidental that action is underway to reopen Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to general aviation.

I doubt the government really wants that, but the bill is below. I also don't know what's going on with it, but I do know that private pilots want it to pass.

But, no, I don't think was planned today.

http://www.theorator.com/bills109/s433.html

[havocmom]

13. Report in LBN about local D.C. news reporting Capital fire

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1464455

Wow, tough day. They sure wanna bury the memo

[Jara sang]

14. No I don't by it, it was a counter-terrorism training excersise.

Mr. Arkin, in the online supplement to his book (codenames.org/documents.html), says the contingency plan, called JCS Conplan 0300-97, calls for "special-mission units in extra-legal missions to combat terrorism in the United States" based on top-secret orders that are managed by the military's Joint Staff and coordinated with the military's Special Operations Command and Northern Command, which is the lead military headquarters for domestic defense.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0125/dailyUpdate.html

[theboss]

16. Easy thing to do in DC

The airspace is extremely complicated here. This sort of thing happens, well, not regularly but often enough. Prior to 9/11, it got little notice.