"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:vzvuf.457464$084.400527@attbi_s22...
The current issue of AOPA Pilot has a fascinating article about the two pilots (one certificated, one student) who
penetrated the Washington ADIZ last spring, and brought the wrath of the government down upon us all.



Link is he http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pi...light0601.html
(may need to be an AOPA member)


What struck me was the entirely casual way in which it all happened. Troy Martin (the student) and Jim Sheaffer (the
70 year old pilot -- NOT a flight instructor, as some had reported) had met completely by chance at an airport
function, and become friends just a week before the flight. Martin had 30 hours of training, and was coming up on
his long cross-country flights -- so when he heard that Sheaffer was planning a long flight from their base in
Lancaster, PA to a North Carolina fly-in, he inquired about tagging along.



You fail to mention that they got together the evening before the flight to build a flight plan, and checked the on-line
references for weather, etc. Sheaffer is in process of rebuilding a C-172 and is active in the local EAA chapter. Martin
is an aeronautical engineer.


Thus began the most atrociously influential ADIZ bust since 9/11.

It truly was a comedy of errors in many ways. Thanks to the stupid AD against allowing cigarette lighters in Cessna
150s, the lighter had been disconnected in the rental plane they flew. Without on-board power, Sheaffer left his GPS
in the truck. They didn't get a weather briefing because of construction in the terminal building that prevented them
from getting into the lounge where the phone was located. The weather was CAVU, so they just skipped it.



They checked online weather the day of the flight; they did not contact FSS or file a flight plane however.


Then the helicopter that initially intercepted them could not communicate on civilian frequencies, so our wayward
pilots didn't know what they wanted them to do. A simple "Follow me" sign would have solved the problem almost
instantly -- but the crew in the Blackhawk had no such sign.



The helicopter had a 'well armed' person on board and presented a sign that said contact 121.5. When they dialed up
121.5 all they heard was and ELT beep-beep-beep swamping out the frequency.


Finally, the F-16s that intercepted them broke off in two different directions in front of the 150. If they had
broken in the *same* direction, Martin (who was flying) would have followed them. But they didn't, and he didn't know
what to do, or which way to turn.

Of course, the most incredible thing of all is that Sheaffer (the certificated one) simply didn't know there was an
ADIZ over Washington. He was clearly not an active pilot (among other things, he was busted for carrying a passenger
more than 90 days after his last flight, and it had been 20 years since his last cross-country flight), and he clearly
hadn't been following events since 9/11. It's hard to feel sorry for such ignorance -- especially when it harmed us
all so severely -- but I found myself thinking about all the 70 year-old pilots that hang out at my airport, and I
realized that it could have easily happened to many of them.



Sheaffer knew about the ADIZ, but he thought it followed the class B airspace configuration; in other words he thought
he could fly under it. He was 4 days beyond the 90 day 3 takeoff & landing requirement; not exactly inactive, but
certainly not current.


Strangely, when I was a student I made an almost identical flight with an older pilot. He was not a very active
pilot, and -- although we didn't manage to get *too* lost -- he clearly wasn't on the navigational ball, any more than
Sheaffer was. Of course, my flight took place in Wisconsin, in the pre-9/11 world, and the worst thing that happened
to us was "kissing" the edge of Class D before realizing where we were. No harm, no foul, for us.

Not so for these guys -- or all you folks back east.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

--
Dan DeVillers
http://www.ameritech.net/users/ddevillers/start.html


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