Bush Criticised For Duping Air Traffic Control

Independent (UK) ^ | 12-13-2003 | Andrew Buncombe

[blam]

Bush criticised for duping air traffic control

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
13 December 2003

President Bush's secret Thanksgiving Day trip to Baghdad has been criticised by the British air traffic controllers' union for threatening the safety of other travellers and exposing a weakness in the system that could be exploited by terrorists.

David Luxton, the national secretary of Prospect, said that Mr Bush's surprise holiday flight to visit American troops serving in Iraq, during which his Boeing 747 was falsely identified to air traffic control as a Gulfstream 5 jet for security reasons, broke international regulations.

"The overriding concern is if the President's men could dupe the air traffic control, what's to stop a highly organised terrorist group from duping air traffic control?" he told The Washington Post.

Mr Bush's trip, designed to boost the morale of troops as well as his own ratings, has been a source of controversy ever since a White House spokesman claimed that the President's pilot identified himself to a passing British Airways pilot as flying a Gulfstream not a 747. British Airways has since denied there was any such conversation.

Mr Luxton said the journey was in breach of regulations against filing false flight plans set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, which apply to military plans using civilian airspace. He said that by identifying itself as a Gulfstream it endangered itself and other air traffic.

A Gulfstream is much nimbler than a 747 and can climb and manoeuvre away from a potential collision - something the air traffic controllers would have assumed of the President's plane even though it was not capable of such moves.

In addition, the "wake vortex" of a 747 is much larger than that of a Gulfstream and could have endangered smaller planes that might have been told by unsuspecting controllers to fly behind it.

[cajungirl]

Good grief,,will they never give it a rest for crying out loud!!

[Southack]

The *left* is in complete meltdown. Carping about such minor things just broadcast their "desperation" for all to plainly (or, planely, heh, heh, heh...) see.

[sinkspur]

Put some diapers on these guys.

And make them change each others'.

[Ramius]

Simply pathetic. Kinda fun to watch the meltdown, though, I gotta admit.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Bush is the President of the most powerful country in the history of the planet. He can do what he damn well pleases, and he does not have to eat broccoli either.

[CindyDawg]

Yawn. This is a dud. They are going to have to really come up with something more spectacular to beat the "turkey threat" The Dims really out did themselves with that one. lol

[prairiebreeze]

ROFL!

Prairie

[Calvin Locke]

I guess he could have just said he was on his way to get a haircut, thereby inconveniencing all sorts of scheduled
transits, and of course, the travellers.

[mattdono]

In addition, the "wake vortex" of a 747 is much larger than that of a Gulfstream and could have endangered smaller planes that might have been told by unsuspecting controllers to fly behind it.

Hey, libs...I got your "wake vortex" RIGHT HERE!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Leftists reach a new low!

Total Barf!!!

[ladyinred]

What next? Are there people in some Ivory tower somewhere trying to come up with stupid things to bash the President with? For God's sake, this is weak!

[BenLurkin]

Hey crybabies:

[okie01]

"In addition, the "wake vortex" of a 747 is much larger than that of a Gulfstream and could have endangered smaller planes that might have been told by unsuspecting controllers to fly behind it."

If I am not mistaken, AF-1 and other military traffic fly at assigned altitudes totally separated from commercial and charter traffic.

In other words, there was no measurable increment of risk. But we wouldn't expect a liberal journalist -- like the aptly named Buncombe -- to know that, would we?

Nor would we expect a leftist medium like the Independent to give a damn about the truth.

Such pettiness is really annoying. It serves as ample demonstration that the left has no substantive complaint about Bush's policies.

[cmsgop]

God, How Sad....Even if Clinton did this I could not find it in my heart to criticize..

POTUS Safety is Job #1

[somemoreequalthanothers]

A union criticises a Republican president. Yeah, that's news.....

[mfulstone]

Cry me a bleeping river!

Ya know what? For years our agents in the drug wars have been sneaking into the cartels' planes in central America and changing their IFF/SIF transponder codes on the sly.

That way we can tell who is who...

[Madame Dufarge]

This will pale by comparison when it's revealed that he wore brown shoes with a navy blue suit too.

Enough's enough, I'm voting Democrat next election.

[Cicero]

Ronald Reagan knew how to deal with air controllers.

[f7Oshawn]

Dear Mr. Luxton,

Get over it!