another one. NUTTIER!

New York Times
May 24, 2005

Jammed Radio Signal Cited in Capital Plane Incident

By Matthew L. Wald

WASHINGTON, May 23 - A Black Hawk helicopter dispatched to intercept a
private plane that entered forbidden airspace here on May 11 directed the
plane's pilots to tune to a frequency that was not usable at the time, the
Department of Homeland Security acknowledged on Monday.

A crewman on the helicopter, kneeling in the open doorway, held up a sign
instructing the men on an errant Cessna to tune to an emergency frequency.
But at the time the frequency was jammed by a device on an airplane on the
ground, an emergency locator transmitter, which broadcasts on that frequency
to alert rescuers in case of a crash. There was no crash, and officials are
not certain why or from where the transmitter was broadcasting.

The Cessna turned away from Washington after F-16's dropped warning flares.
By that time, thousands of people had been ordered to flee government
buildings.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday revoked the license of one of
the pilots, Hayden Sheaffer, 69, of Lititz, Pa., saying he lacked "the
fundamental technical skills required of a pilot."

Also on Monday, another Cessna, en route from Knoxville, Tenn., to
Gaithersburg, Md., entered the area within which private planes are required
to identify themselves, the F.A.A. said. That plane, which had no working
radio, was intercepted by two F-16's.

The agency said it was not taking action against the student pilot who was
at the controls during the May 11 incident, Troy Martin, 36. Under federal
regulations, Mr. Sheaffer was the "pilot in command" and thus responsible
for the errors. Mr. Sheaffer does not have an instructor's rating. But
letting Mr. Martin manipulate the controls would have been legal, F.A.A.
officials said, except that Mr. Sheaffer's certification was not valid
because he had not made at least three takeoffs and three landings in the
preceding 90 days.

The F.A.A.'s action can be appealed to the National Transportation Safety
Board, and Mr. Sheaffer's lawyer, Mark McDermott, said he would appeal. Mr.
McDermott said that the usual penalty for violating the airspace around
Washington was a 30- to 90-day suspension, and that the agency was
"grandstanding."

On Saturday, government officials commissioned a new system that uses
low-energy laser beam lights to warn pilots when they stray into forbidden
airspace.











"H.P." wrote in message
. ..
http://www.wnbc.com/print/4522068/detail.html

F-16s Intercept Cessna In Restricted D.C. Airspace

Authorities Question Pilot Of Small Plane

POSTED: 6:45 pm EDT May 23, 2005
UPDATED: 7:26 pm EDT May 23, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Federal air defense officials say a Cessna plane violated
airspace around Washington Monday evening.


Two F-16s were deployed to the area to intercept the plane, which was
diverted to Montgomery County, Md., where the pilot was
being interviewed by local authorities.


The pilot complied with the fighter jets. The plane was headed from
Knoxville, Tenn., to Gaithersburg, Md. This was the first time fighter
jets were scrambled since the new Visual Warning System was deployed. The
system was not used Monday due to the weather.