Fear of Flying and FAA Failure

Wow, what a drama in DC yesterday. In minutes the alert level goes from yellow to orange to red. Cops are running into the legislative chambers waking up the congress-critters. Nancy Pelosi loses her shoes, Frank Lautenberg loses his bearings, Ted Kennedy loses his lunch, John Kerry puts himself in for a Purple Heart for stubbing his toe on an errant intern that got in his way.

In seconds, there are cameras everywhere recording people running through the streets and intersections in a macabre replay of New York City 9/11. What are the odds that there would be so many TV cameras already in place and providing feeds to the major media within seconds of the event? Are there cameras everywhere in the Capitol waiting for disaster? Do I need to be extra careful at the end of the month when I’m in Washington for a little reunion business?

But, there overhead are a pair of F-16s and a Blackhawk helicopter. In literally minutes, they’ve launched, vectored and intercepted the errant aircraft. (By the way those were JET Fighters, NOT fighter JETS—remember in WW II, we didn’t call them fighter PROPS did we?) In short order the Cessna 152 was nudged away from the center of the nation, the waffle butts of Congress were saved to go about their business of disassembling the Constitution and the flap was over.

So, what’s the story here? Well, from the point of view of a career aviator and not a media talking head, let me make a few observations. What do we know? We have a light airplane. It is a two seater with a student pilot and an instructor pilot. They are purportedly enroute from Pennsylvania to North Carolina to attend an airshow. Did they do anything wrong? Is there something to learn?

First, let us note that there are various kinds of airspace. No one, not private pilots nor airliners nor military planes can simply fly wherever they wish. You can fly under visual rules and you don’t always need to file a flight plan. But, there are certain chunks of airspace where you can’t go without proper authorization and some place where you can’t go under any circumstances ever. The space needing authorization is usually labeled “Restricted” and the no way/no how space is called “Prohibited”. There isn’t very much of that prohibited space in our free country, but the White House and the Capital are in the center of one of the few chunks with that designation.

Second, every licensed pilot learns what the various airspace types are. Every single one. Every map used for flying shows the space, so you can’t forget what is where. Even if you didn’t bring a map, few are so ignorant in aviation (at least I thought so until now,) that they don’t recognize the center of the capitol as not a place to go wandering.

Third, if you are going for a 400 mile trip in a two-seat tiny plane, you PLAN. You draw a line on a map. You measure courses and distances. You make a list of navigation aid frequencies to help you. You make a list of radio frequencies of agencies like Flight Service Stations, Air Traffic Control Centers, airport control towers, etc. You figure your fuel consumption and consider the weather. You write the plan down and you fly the plan.

Fourth, if you are an instructor with a student pilot you teach the student these things which are not already habit. That’s what you get paid for. You don’t simply hop in the airplane and head south looking for North Carolina.

Fifth, you look out the window and if you are an American you can recognize the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Pentagon, etc. If you see them, you know you aren’t where you are supposed to be. Period.

Sixth, as you fly you continue to look out the window. If you see F-16s closing on you, you acknowledge their presence so they don’t have to resort to flaring to attract your attention. What the hell were these fools looking at?

Now the media says no charges to be filed. FAA action is undetermined so far. Let me suggest that FAA inaction that certified this fool to be an instructor is the first cause. License should be suspended. For life! Student pilot should know better. License suspended for at least a year. Fines should be considered. FAA evaluator that certified the instructor should be suspended indefinitely. Club that owned the airplane and let these two dimwits take off for a weekend should have their charter revoked.

Ahh, but you say, “no harm, no foul.” What if the F-16s or the Blackhawk had been forced to fire at the aircraft? Where would the airplane have fallen? Where would the 20MM shells have hit in Washington DC? How many lives could have been endangered?

Yes, there was no terrorist threat. No one was loaded with C-4 and headed for the dome of the Capital. There were no chemical or biological agents to be disseminated. Just a couple of fools out for a fun week-end. And, thousands of dollars were spent. Thousands of people were frightened and unnecessarily endangered. And now we need to assess what is wrong with the system that allowed it to happen. The terror response was great, the pilot training and certification system is what needs first-aid.

As a final note, let us also recognize that the DC cops and the Capitol police did a fantastic job and responded very quickly. The AF guys in the Vipers did a great job safely and showed that response is up to the task. The Blackhawk guys were equally professional. And the local forces that responded all the way to the touchdown of the intruder were damn good.