random observations

[lagilman]

Has anyone noticed that, in all of the recent brouhahas over pilots flying into the no-fly zone over D.C, the offenders have all been male?

(waits while everyone makes the obvious 'asking for directions' joke)


But seriously. How far across the demarcation line do you have to be before it twinges that 'ooops, I screwed the pooch'? According to an interview this morning with the most recent offender, it was when the military 'coptor came alongside and threatened to open fire on him.


Mind you, he wasn't flying over unmarked territory. He was waaaaay into town. Dude, seriously. When you could see the Dome? Something should have twigged...

("and when you landed, and discovered that you had caused the evacuation of the Senate...?"
"I was even more scared.")


I know at least one reader out there has experience with small planes. Isn't it sort of Highly Recommended that all pilots be aware and updated on things like this, and pay attention to DNF zones? Or is it the aerial version of the speed limit -- it only matters it they nail you?

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm not a flyer, but it boggles me that a small plane could be over DC and not notice that they're over D-frickin'-C and not realized that Someone Might Be Nervous About That.

However, since I've got inside-the-beltway brain, I'm more confused by the notion that nobody informed the President that there was a Situation - a Situation that involved his family until it was all over.

What, nobody on the SS had a copy of My Pet Goat to give him?

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Isn't it sort of Highly Recommended that all pilots be aware and updated on things like this, and pay attention to DNF zones? Or is it the aerial version of the speed limit -- it only matters it they nail you?

It's not just highly recommended, it's required. That's the sort of thing that's drilled into private pilots, starting in ground school (many, many hours before ever sitting in the left seat). I find it bizarre that when (if?) dipshit filed his flight plan, no one questioned it. They flew out of Harrisburg, right? We've flown into and out of there. It's a controlled airport, i.e. it's got a tower, so someone should've noticed what they were up to. (Unless they did file a flight plan and then deviated from it?) Worst of all.... this was a student/instructor pair, with the instructor as "pilot in command." But get this--this PiC didn't actually HAVE an instructor's rating! This whole thing is so screwed up.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

According to media reports the pilot made a large number of errors, and wasn't even supposed to have a passenger in the plane. Definitely not the type of guy you want to trust your life to.

But as a scary aside, Homeland Security is now acknowledging that when the military was finally able to contact the pilot he was instructed to reply on a frequency that wasn't available...

[lizbetann]

*boggle* My dad's a pilot (currently retired and flying his homebuilt aircraft). He's described the process by which you navigate in exacting detail, everything from when he was training in the Air Force in the early fifties to flying big corporate jets overseas to his current status as a retired plane-is-too-small-to-swing-a-proverbial-cat-in (seriously; he flew up to see my sister in Napa and could bring two bottles of wine back -- but not three).

So my understanding from years of learning at his feet? Dude had to be seriously braindead. He had to be ignoring any and all radio communications from any and all towers (presumably, he was in National's airspace, but I don't know if there might be special monitoring over a no fly zone). I think there's also a beeping alarm. Plus he would have been given coordinantes and he would have had to have strayed seriously off course.

So... yeah. Stoooopid.

[lizbetann]

Plus he would have been given coordinantes and he would have had to have strayed seriously off course.

Or, as someone said above, filed a flight plan that would have taken him over the no fly zone and then no one in the tower caught it.