I saw the end part of the incident. The plane is tied down 10 spots away
from mine at Republic Airport in NY. Here's what I saw:

Driving to Republic, I saw what I thought was a tow plane and a glider
turning final on RWY 19. It struck me as odd since there are no glider ops
at FRG. When they're on final, it becomes apparent that it was a Mooney with
a Nassau County PD helicopter in close trail (like 50-100ft!). I watched as
long as I could without crashing my car and I was able to see another
helicopter hovering over the main ramp while the PD helo taxied with the
Mooney.

I had access to the Echo ramp (for those that are familiar with FRG) but
since the Orange Alert took place, car access was only through a maintenance
gate that neccessitated a trek across the main ramp and hence a good view of
what was going on. Basically, the guy's car was being searched and there was
a lot of people standing around. The other helo turned out to be an unmarked
souped-up Huey with about 5 different sensors protruding from various
locations. Could have been the Feds (anyone know? It wa a mettalic tan
color).

The whole thing was blown out of proportion as usual but maybe not as much
as I thought. According to a British newspaper, it had arrested two Saudi
nationals who were planning on crashing a small plane into an airliner
(http://www.todayonline.com/articles/12378.asp) The story could have been
total BS but we all know that's all that's needed to raise tensions. If that
Brit story played into this incident, then that's some pretty bad timing for
the Mooney pilot.

We'll never know.

Marco



"Rosspilot" wrote in message
...
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/14692.htm
www.Rosspilot.com





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