White House, Capitol Briefly Evacuated (Update) (moved from ATSNN)

The U.S. Capitol and White House were briefly evacuated Wednesday after a small plane entered restricted airspace over the city. Security officials in several other government buildings, including the Treasury Department and the U.S. Supreme Court, ordered people to safer locations. FAA officials stated repeated attempts to contact the plane failed and they then launched two fighters and one helicopter to intercept the plane. Radio contact with the aircraft was only established after the plane had left the no-fly zone according to authorities.

abcnews.go.com...
Timeline of White House Security Scare

Approximately 11:59 a.m. ET
Threat level at the White House is raised to yellow — a Cessna plane was traveling 15 miles north of the White House.

Noon
Fighter jets were scrambled.

12:01 p.m.
Threat level at White House raised to orange — plane was within 10 miles.
Evacuation and moving of people to secure locations began.
Cessna was traveling in restricted airspace toward the White House and Capitol and the pilot was not responding to efforts to communicate with the plane.

12:03 p.m.
Threat level raised to red — plane was within 3 miles of the White House.

12:11 p.m.
Threat level brought down to yellow — plane turned west and was traveling away from the White House.

12:14 p.m.
All clear was given.

This story seems to be getting very bizarre as it develops. According to new reports the plane belonged to a Club in Pennsylvania, and the owners of the club are now stating the plane was taken without authorization. Two men are now in custody in Maryland, where they are being questioned.

Two men in what appears to be a stolen plane is not laughing matter at all. What gets me is the fact that the plane flew into the no-fly zone when flares were fired by fighters at which time the plane turned around as if it was going to leave the area which was not the case. The plane then turned around and re-entered the no-fly zone.

This story only posted since the author of the original never gave a source other then to say turn on Foxnews with no link, and nothing on the story.

Edit to add there are now conflicting reports as to the number of people on board the aircraft, some are saying one while others say there were two.

More information will be furnished as the story develops.






[edit on 5/11/2005 by shots]

[edit on 5/11/2005 by shots]

I hope this turns out to be nothing, but it could also be an effort at "testing the waters." The only real way to determine what the US response to entering restricted airspace (repeatedly) is to give it a shot with a little plane which is not tasked with any sort of attack, then report back your findings to the strike-force.

I don't know exactly why, but my gut tells me that there is an effort afoot to coordinate and launch a multi-pronged attack against the US in the coming months/years.

This story clearly illustrates that our small airports are still not secure.

How on earth did the individual/indivudals even manage to get into an area where the planes where, let alone steal one?