Aircraft radio communications lost in California when Airforce One was in the area

It is interesting that this happenned when Airforce One was within a few hundred miles. Was a mistake made in protection protocol or a failed attempt to divert Airforce One?

"Hundreds of flights were disrupted, but no safety incidents were reported during the communication outage, which began at about 4:40 p.m. PDT at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center in Palmdale, California, a Federal Aviation Administration official said.
FAA officials did not explain the cause of the problem, Nancy Castles, spokeswoman for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), said.
''We can see the planes, we just don't have radio contact with them. We can't talk to them. It's not a problem with power, it's a problem with radio,'' FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown in Washington had said.
The FAA turned over control of the Palmdale airspace, about a 200-mile radius, to other air traffic control facilities. Controllers at the Palmdale center direct traffic above 13,000 feet and there can be thousands of aircraft in flight at any moment.
Palmdale is 39 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Castles said the airport began operating again at about 50 percent capacity and was expected to resume normal operations by 3 a.m. PDT Wednesday.
About 400 flights were delayed, rerouted or canceled at LAX as a result of the outage, Castles said.
The FAA said controllers in Palmdale were directing high-altitude traffic when the communications outage occurred, but they continued to monitor the flights on radar.
Some 800 flights nationwide were affected, including passenger jets and private aircraft, but authorities said they all landed safely at their destinations or were diverted.
Other planes were stopped from taking off from Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas, while flights that had not yet departed for the region from other cities were grounded.
President Bush was in Las Vegas Wednesday on a campaign stop, but he left the city on Air Force One before the trouble started."


[edit on 15-9-2004 by RealFlight]

Originally posted by RealFlight President Bush was in Las Vegas Wednesday on a campaign stop, but he left the city on Air Force One before the trouble started."

Maybe there was a secret meeting between Bush and a few mother ships somewhere between Edwards and Area 51?
Coordinating the fall of civilization according to Alien demands?
Handing over a new book titled 'How To Serve Cheney'?