Jets force down plane near Bush ranch

SteveC

SteveC

"Laconic"
Staff member
[ QUOTE ]

The Associated Press, AP Online
Published April 9, 2004
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - Fighter jets forced down a small plane that flew too close to President Bush's ranch Friday. Secret Service spokeswoman Ann Roman said it wasn't clear how close the plane came to the central Texas ranch, but it flew into a restricted area.

Bush is spending a long Easter weekend at the ranch.

The unidentified pilot was being questioned after landing in San Marcos, Texas, Roman said. Inadvertent violations happen "routinely," she said.

The pilot and his passenger, who also was questioned, were released Friday evening, and no charges were filed, said Johnny James, assistant chief for the San Marcos Police Department.

[/ QUOTE ]
doh.gif
 
That's what he gets for not checking the TRFs before he leaves the ground. Some pilots are so inresponsible
mad.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
That's what he gets for not checking the TRFs before he leaves the ground. Some pilots are so inresponsible
mad.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Well...lets not jump to conclusions here
 
Well, I was gonna go on a rant about how the Crawford TFR pops up with little notice (usually b/w 12-24 hours), but in this case, it had been in effect for four days before this incident... err, oops.

I'm more impressed with the fact that he got as far as San Marcos before landing: it's about 40 min. south of the TFR (Austin is ~20 min). I'm hoping they agreed on a landing location and the response wasn't that slow.
 
Well even in a 12-24 hours notice. Shouldn't a pilot check it just a few hours before he flies?
 
Actually, yes, but realistically "maybe".

Far easier said than done, but it still is the pilot's responsibility.
 
Yeah, we get the pop up expansion of P-40 a lot around here. If you're not paying attention, it can jump up and bite you.

Since I am required to file an ADIZ flight plan, I just ask what the status of P40 is. I figure if I already have the briefer on the line, why not ask about NOTAMs and so on to make sure I cover my butt.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Actually, yes, but realistically "maybe".

Far easier said than done, but it still is the pilot's responsibility.

[/ QUOTE ] Far easier said than done? All it takes is one short phone call on your way to the airport. It's not that hard, really.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Actually, yes, but realistically "maybe".

Far easier said than done, but it still is the pilot's responsibility.

[/ QUOTE ] Far easier said than done? All it takes is one short phone call on your way to the airport. It's not that hard, really.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't say it's never hard. It can be difficult to even obtain weather sometimes!! Ever miss a NOTAM? I know that I have. Once somebody has flown for a while, they'll undoubtedly have gotten themselves into a situation that potentially get them into trouble....

I'd have to agree that it is sometimes easier said than done!
 
I talked to an Austin approach controller the day of the incident....said the aircraft (a commanche) actually skirted the edge of austin class C at about 500 AGL, 5 miles east of the airport. He was never in contact with ATC and never had a transponder turned on. The F-16's couldn't even read an N-number off the side of the plane....it was bare metal and not painted (not sure if it had an N-number at all).

After he landed, the cops questioned the pilot about wether or not he saw the F-16's that had been following him for the last 45 minutes or the flares they shot at him. "Yeah, I saw them" he said. Of course, he didn't seem to pay much attention and went right along on his merry way to his ultimate destiation, san marcos. There were 5 squad cars waiting to arrest him on the ground.
 
He must've thought "damn hot-doggin fighter jocks think they own the sky around here!!!!"
laugh.gif
 
To summarzie, he busted the TFR, never talked to ATC or the F-16's, and violated several other regs along the way. To say the F-16's "forced him down" is inaccurate....he completely ignored them. San Marcos (KHYI) was where he wanted to go and he kept flying until he got there. I'd hate to be the CFI who signed him off for his last BFR, if he even had a current one. I think it's safe to say this guy will not be flying again for a while. There were two people on board the aircraft. I still haven't found out which airport the flight originated from.
 
[ QUOTE ]
To summarzie, he busted the TFR, never talked to ATC or the F-16's, and violated several other regs along the way. To say the F-16's "forced him down" is inaccurate....he completely ignored them. San Marcos (KHYI) was where he wanted to go and he kept flying until he got there. I'd hate to be the CFI who signed him off for his last BFR, if he even had a current one. I think it's safe to say this guy will not be flying again for a while. There were two people on board the aircraft. I still haven't found out which airport the flight originated from.

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't read the full case, but was he ever considered "threat" enough to consider shoot down?
 
Dunno, but they probably weren't going to do that after they saw that he was going to depart the TFR area and not return. The rest of the flight didn't go near any "national security areas" so a shoot-down probably wasn't necessary.
 
I don't know what that guy was thinking. Even when I'm doing nothing wrong, when I see military aircraft near me, I wonder what's up. When I used to fly out of Potomac, I saw a few Blackhawks from Customs shadowing me and it got me wondering, uh, did I do something wrong?

Now, if I saw F16s shooting flares, I'd be like, holy cow, what the hell did I do wrong? I just don't think it's a good idea to be doing something that might tempt those folks to switch from flares to live ammunition.

But that's just me.
 
To me, living or flying in Central Texas is just like flying in the DC ADIZ. You know the President lives there, is around a lot, and the restrictions in the airspace are often changing. Personally I wouldn't leave the ground without filing IFR, but if I were VFR I would make sure my last phone call before engine start was to flight service for a NOTAM check, and my first call after takeoff would be to the TRACON for flight following. Seems simple enough to me.

An inadvertent penetration of a pop-up TFR in Keokuk, Iowa is one thing. Busting the airspace that everyone knows pops up all the time in places like Crawford or Camp David ... there's just no excuse for that.

</soapbox>
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Actually, yes, but realistically "maybe".

Far easier said than done, but it still is the pilot's responsibility.

[/ QUOTE ] Far easier said than done? All it takes is one short phone call on your way to the airport. It's not that hard, really.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually it can be much more involved than "just one phone call." case in point. Herr Bush came to PHX a month or so back. I was supposed to do my checkride that day. I called FSS the day before and they had no clue as to what was going on. The SS kept the FAA in the dark "for security reasons." It's not always as simple as picking up the phone ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top