Every King Air I've flown had two electrical busses and two
transponders. I guess the Kentucky governor's plane was not
as well equipped.

Years ago, the Congress was considering a bill to allow the
Air Force to shoot down any NORDO flying at night, without a
flight plan, in from the Caribbean as a means to "fight the
war on drugs." I helped stop that lunacy by advising
several congressmen that congressmen and senators often go
to the warm islands to fish and sun, maybe drink and other
things to, and would be flying back on a week-end, at night.
That if the plane they were in had an electrical failure it
would have no lights, no radio, no transponder and if it had
a flight plan, would not likely be on time or course. They
would look like a drug smuggler and there would be a need
for some special elections to replace some junketing
congress persons.

The problem with the FAA/TSA approach to security is that it
presumes that terrorists will follow the rules, get a
license, file a flight plan and may be radio ahead. It also
presumes that an airplane would be the "weapon" rather than
a truck, boat or remote control device. Who is guarding our
sewers, to keep the IED out of the cities?
Who is guarding the California aqueducts in the desert? Who
is guarding the borders, north and south?

But the airplanes are easy to see and the news reports make
it look as though they are doing something.

BTW, about wire tapping and warrants...if they find a
terrorist doing a wire tap or by other means, they can not
tell the terrorist that his home was searched or his
phones/was tapped because that will break the cell and the
other dozen or hundreds will get away. The Patriot Act
needs to have a provision that only terrorism is the target
and that if the government finds that you are cheating on
your taxes or even have child porn on your computer, they
cannot prosecute or even give the IRS or cops the hint.
Just my thought, if you like that, call your Congressman and
Senator because the bill will be back in a few weeks.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm





"GS" wrote in message
et...
| Wiz wrote:
| Actually, I believe the ADIZ procedure in case of
communications
| failure, as Michelle stated, is to exit the ADIZ by the
shortest
| possible route. I once was asked by Potomac to try to
help communicate
| with a guy who discovered after takeoff that he wasn't
receiving. The
| other pilot kep declaring his intention to return to the
airport (he
| was able to transmit) and the controller kept
frantically trying to
| tell him not to land but to exit the ADIZ.
|
| I don't live near 'thee' ADIZ but of course have heard a
ton against
| it. Now I fully understand the problems. If this pilot
only
| had a failed radio that shouldn't be a big deal. I've had
that.
| I'm sure we've all had that at one time or another. The
complete
| electrical failure is a much bigger problem where
something on a
| system-wide basis has failed. Now with this ADIZ,
basically they
| are saying, "we know you can dead stick your crippled
plane into
| the airport below you but don't. Just make sure when you
crash,
| your plane is pointed away from the ADIZ."
|
| How far was this pilot from the departure airport? If he
was
| less than 5 miles, I'd say turn around. I can't
| imagine flying 20 miles through an ADIZ with tons of air
traffic
| NORAD rather than flying 2 minutes. But rules are rules.
|
| Sometimes I wish they had shot down that King Air with the
governor
| on board when their transponder failed. The loss of life
would
| be a shame but I really wonder what the hell all the
government
| agencies would have said. I can imagine George W saying,
"Yes, the
| pilots did everything like he should have but we did not
have
| his altitude encoder and therefore were justified in
shooting
| them down to protect this country. Democracy has worked."
|
| Gerald