[StatesEnemy]

Wonder how many HUD's had that plane in their sites... living dangerously indeed.

[cheesebus]

Where the hell were the F-16s for that?

[TomGuy]

Air traffic controllers tried to make contact with the pilot, who continued down the East River.

Pilot ignores controller contact?

Authorities were looking into whether any other aircraft had been in its path,

[Sounds kind of ominous.]

Officials did not immediately release the pilot's identity.

Nah, surely not something like Mohammad or Achmed or Akbar. Probably a Smith or Jones.

[tubavil]

Under 1000 ft., no radio contact, airspace violation, all under orange+ alert!?!?!

[rageaholic]

That Mooney is a nice plane, a guy with the wherewithall to rent/own one shouldn't be making that kind of clown mistake, but you certainly don't have to be a genius to get a PPL.

[fso301]

Plane specifications if anyone's interested Click Here

[genefromjersey]

Probably some "superior" person who feels rules apply only to lesser beings.

We've all met somebody like that: someone with that rich combination of ignorance and arrogance that makes life such a joy.

[magslinger]

The plane was registered to a company with an address in Wilmington, Del., according to the FAA's online records. No telephone number for the company could be found.

Excerpt from original article.

How odd! I wonder if the address will check out? /sarc.

[ChefKeith]

For those concerned about no fighter aircraft doint an intercept on this, what We have running CAP would not even need to leave the CAP Station altitude to splash an aircraft like this.

There would be a visual I.D. by an aircraft that can fly closer to the same speed without stalling and if needed after that the pursuit would all be done by RADAR and FOX1 = SPLASH = The End.

[Cicero]

Just about half the corporations in the country are incorporated in Delaware, because the state has regulations that corporations like. For similar reasons, half the large yachts you see along the coast are registered in Dover, Delaware.

[Criminal Number 18F]

OK. Let's look at some facts here.

1. The Mooney M20 series was built in the 1950s and 60s. The M20C was built in the mid sixties and was one of the first Mooney models to have metal wings and tail (the M20B was actually the first).
2. Mooneys are popular because they are relatively fast - 150 knots - on relatively low horsepower - 180, these numbers for a new M20C... a 40 year old one might not make that speed.
3. They way they get more speed from less power is by being light and small. A Mooney is pretty tight inside -- some would say "claustrophobic." This is not a luxury machine.
4. While a new Mooney (which has a lot of upgrades over the older ones) is very expensive (in the $300s), an M20C is a $40- to $60,000 plane, depending on how much the instruments and avionics have been updated and the condition and hours of the motor. Some people spend that on a boat, or snowmobiles for the family... lots of people spend that much on a car or SUV. Point being, this guy isn't Rockefeller.
5. Because of insurance, this might be a flying club or partnership plane, but it is unlikely to be an ordinary rental.
6. There is a VFR corridor around the tip of Manhattan. Except for where it crosses Manhattan in Harlem, it is all over water. Altitude is below 1000' -- and the minimum altitude is >500' above "any person, vessel, vehicle or structure." It isn't unusual for someone flying in this corridor to get it wrong. It only gets noticed (by the press) in times of high alert. See here [nrg.org] for some pre-9/11 photos.
7. After 9/11, the VFR corridor was closed for a while, but later re-opened, with some changes. A good article with before and after charts, from 2002, is here [avWeb.com]. For current info see here [germaise.com].
8. Not answering LGA's calls would be consistent with an inadvertent violation of LGA's airspace -- he wouldn't have had LGA's or New York Center freqs dialled in. Your radio not only has to be working, it has to be tuned to the right frequency. When you're in the VFR corridor, you are supposed to be tuned to 123.075 on the East River side. If you're approaching LGA around there, you should long since have been talking to NY Center on 127.4 or LGA on 126.05!
9. A terrorist would probably turn his transponder off. This one stayed on, squawking VFR. (That's a setting of 1200 on a transponder).
10. The intercept was done by a police helicopter -- a nearer match to Mooney performance, which can get closer, safer, than a military jet. The cops have ways of making folks land, and they can always call Uncle Sam if they suspect terrorism and need back-up.

I understand that people feel creeped out when weird things happen with airplanes. Guys and gals, these weird things happen all the time, and they're usually not as big as the press (which also gets creeped out, and blows things up way larger than necesssary) makes them seem. Do you know what's probably going to happen? The pilot is going to have to talk to an Inspector from the FAA. Depending on his explanation, and his attitude in general, he is going to get one of the following:

• a severe tongue-lashing
• a written reprimand
• remedial training
• "certificate action": which itself can range from a 30 day, basically honor-system grounding, to complete cancellation of all ratings... if you want to fly again, you have to begin at square one, IF they let you.

Let's just say I wish I knew a lot less about how that all works.

It's always risky to predict what FAA will do, but I suspect that this guy will get remedial training, unless he mouths off, in which case he gets 30 days on the beach (maybe with the remedial training at the end). He would be well advised to get some dual with a local instructor -- ground and air -- before he tries the VFR corridor again.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Cindy]

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/14692.htm

"PILOT EXPOSES N.Y. ERR PATROL"
By BRIAN BLOMQUIST, LARRY CELONA & WILLIAM NEUMAN

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "December 29, 2003 -- Despite the city's high terror alert, a pleasure-tripping pilot who got lost on his way home was able to fly his small plane through restricted airspace around La Guardia Airport, down the East River and around the Statue of Liberty, authorities said yesterday.

The incident sparked investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security and had NYPD brass fuming over a dangerous gap in the city's terror-fighting capability.

But red-faced pilot Richard Langone, 47, insisted he was no terror threat in his single-engine Mooney plane."

[bootless]

Mooneys... (remember the Mooney pilots snagging our snacks at SMX?)