"Stop harassing GA," says AOPA; Congress "gets it"

[Salmo Trutta]

Members of the House aviation subcommittee led by Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) on Thursday took the FAA and Transportation Security Administration to task for communications failures that caused the evacuation of the U.S. Capitol as thousands gathered for President Ronald Reagan's funeral. Did anybody hear about this???

Some subcommittee members went so far as to question the effectiveness and need for the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) surrounding Washington, D.C., which has created operational nightmares for pilots and air traffic controllers alike.

The security agencies are "doing things that provide the illusion of security by harassing innocent people," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) remarked during the hearing.

The hearing came in response to the panic caused when a King Air carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher to Ronald Reagan's funeral suffered a transponder failure. Although the flight crew complied with its clearance and was talking to air traffic controllers, the FAA and security officials failed to talk to each other. The U.S. Capitol was evacuated, and according to an article in Thursday's Washington Post, military officials were moments away from shooting the governor's aircraft out of the sky.

"The pilots and the Air Traffic Organization followed all required in-flight procedures. But the communications breakdown within the federal government potentially imperiled the governor of Kentucky," Boyer said.

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2004/040708adiz.html

[redqueen]

1. So *that's* why people were running scared

Thanks! Mystery solved. :)

on edit: there's a picture of people running like mad away from the Capitol that was posted on here... it was discussed at the time.

[Salmo Trutta]

2. You wouldn't by any chance be able to search for that

discussion?

[redqueen]

3. At the moment, no

Archive search function is down... will check the net, though.

on edit: here's one article from that day from CNN. Not the same picture I saw here, though.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/09/capitol.evacuation/

[Salmo Trutta]

5. Thanks!

Our gubment is a freaking joke.

[Selwynn]

4. Wow I totally missed that - prolly because I boycotted TV that week

[MrBenchley]

6. Hilariously

Crazy Peggy Noonan wrote a column at the time this happened where she cursed whoever it was that had caused the fuss..."About halfway down the steps I suddenly wanted to share some thoughts on history. I slowed a little. I was very angry to be driven from our Capitol by terror scum."

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110005264

And now it turns out to have been the Governor of Kentucky that made nutsy Peggy run...

"I thought of the scene in "Empire of the Sun"--I did not want to lose my son in the melee, and if it came to it I didn't want him to die alone. People were running and yelling and sometimes screaming."

Run for your life! Ernie Fletcher's inbound!

[sandnsea]

7. Worse,

No, it wasn't the governor, it was a failure in our own security system... AGAIN.

"the FAA and security officials failed to talk to each other."

They almost killed a Governor for chrissake. And they want to claim they're better at fighting the "war on terror"?