Capitol Evacuated due to False Airplane Scare

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 9:01 pm

Wow, take a look at this. Apparently, the US Capitol building was evacuated due to reports of an incoming plane. Apparently, the plane that was carrying the Kentucky governor had a radio malfunction when it entered the restricted airspace over Washington. Must have been some pretty scary stuff.

Gammaray · Post by **Gammaray** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 2:45 am

I'm surprised they didn't shoot it down right off the bat. Especially since 9/11 and all.

*edit*
if radio contact was made to ID the craft, why did the pilot not make attempts to notify about a malfunction prior to entering restricted airspace?
*/edit*

T-Bone · Post by **T-Bone** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:09 am

Because the piece of equipment that was malfuncitoning was his transponder. Its pretty passive from the pilot's point of view so he's not really gonna know if it's working or not. He just dials in a number which then allows ATC to identify him on the radar screen.

Probably more info than you wanted, but oh well.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:55 am

I heard this AM on CNN it was a TEST Terrorist drill.

Cougar · Post by **Cougar** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:01 am

What a load of ★■◆●. The US government is scaring the living hell outta me. Totally un-called for scare tactics.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:15 am

Either you're very bad at sarcasm, Coug, or you seriously need a reality check.

The senator's plane was flying unidentified through highly restricted airspace above the capital of the United States of America (though the pilot was given clearance to do so, the transponder was broken and not transmitting an ID tag so ATC had no idea what plane it was). The pilot didn't (can can't) notice that the transponder malfunction occurred. What would you expect the ground people to do? Just leave it alone?!

Cougar · Post by **Cougar** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 12:13 pm

A transponder malfunctions and large scale evacuation is put in order. Tell me that's not just a little paranoid.

It's ridiculous.

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:15 pm

Its offical Coug, you're an idiot.

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:25 pm

Heh! Scare tactics! Paranoia after 9/11. Gotta love it! If only sigs were enabled.

Careful Cougar, the MIB are after you.

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:31 pm

Cougar wrote:Tell me that's not just a little paranoid.

That's paranoid alright. Paranoid of being held accountable after the fact for not doing "anything possible to prevent another terrorist attack". If you were in charge, would you want to risk a lynching for not doing anything in that situation, even if you knew that the likelyhood of something happening was nil?

bash · Post by **bash** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:40 pm

What Arch said.

How could anyone find fault in a successful evacuation responding to an alarm, even if it was a false alarm? Frankly, I believe there should be a few more drills to get everyone on the same page as far as what to expect and how to react. That's what saves lives in the event of a real attack. This isn't circa 1950s bomb shelters feeding on peoples fears, this is real to us in the USA after 9/11 and I'm glad to see folks are still taking it seriously.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:44 pm

i agree with Tetrad. id rather evacuate instead of getting my arse shot for not doing anything.

Cougar · Post by **Cougar** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:35 pm

Time to pull out the big guns.

bash · Post by **bash** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:37 pm

That could have gone better. Thank goodness you're not in charge of any emergency procedures.

Cougar · Post by **Cougar** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 1:22 pm

D'oh. Had to go to work before I could get that working properly. Anyway. The only thing I have a real problem with is the bull-★■◆● the US people have had to deal with over the past few years. My venting was a bit misdirected, obviously.

Arch wrote:Its offical Coug, you're an idiot.

I'll give that a big 'meh'.