When? Oh when? will the Congress close the airplane loophole?
Now I'll never get to own a flying car!!!
Posted on 01/06/2002 1:39:15 PM PST by kattracks
It doesn't make me feel very safe if they can't get a poky little plane out of the sky before it hits a skyscraper; what about a large, swift jetliner? Am I wrong in wondering this?
Apparently there were fighters scrambled but they "didn't get there in time". Gee, I feel much better.
Shoot him down with what? I went through this last night, but I'll write it up again. Assuming that the Coast Guard Helo had been armed, it would have likely been with M-60s, 7.62 machine guns. Had they been armed, they could have opened up on him from almost any angle. Using short, controlled bursts, they could have hit the aircraft, but not all the rounds would have hit. Some would have gone into the city below, causing damage, injuries, and possibly death. The aircraft would have winged over, and tumbled into either a neighborhood or a business district, causing more damage, injuries and death.
Had the F-15s gotten on scene, they would have been hard pressed to maintain contact with the aircraft, because he can putt along at 70 miles an hour, and they would be falling out of the sky. Assuming they could get a radar lock against a low-visibility target, against the background clutter, maybe they could have launched an radar guided missile...and if it lost the lock, it would have gone into a populated area. If they could get an infrared lock against the aircraft, again, difficult against a small IR target, they could have launched a Sidewinder, but if they lost the lock, you'd have a missile in a populated area. If they managed to keep the lock at all, you'd have fragmentation from the warhead going into the neighborhoods below, followed by a shredded Cessna all over the landscape.
Let's assume they decide to use the 20MM cannons onboard. Again, because of the low speed and altitude of the target, they'd have a difficult time engaging the aircraft, and not all rounds would hit the Cessna. Now you have 20MM high explosive rounds impacting the ground below, again followed by a Cessna spreading itself all over the area.
None of the options are good. Had they arrived and engaged, how much heck would people raise because of the collateral damage caused by the intercept?
Sooo... then the question is begged: what is stopping an army of terrorists in puttering small aircraft from wreaking havoc on us? I grant that a small aircraft can't, say, topple the World Trade Centers, but I'm sure there is a goodly amount of terror and damage they can do, no? Do you have any ideas about this, is this a real threat?
Thanks
Consider this though, it's possible, although we'll likely never know, that the Coast Guard helo was armed, but they were told not to fire because they could inflict more damage in a shootdown than in letting the guy do himself in.
As well, it's likely that they knew it was a 15 year old kid, and that he had nothing on the aircraft that was dangerous (he was with the instructor shortly before he took off), which is why they didn't shoot. I'm sure that if the situation was different, that if they didn't know who the pilot was or what the cargo was, that they would shoot.
When? Oh when? will the Congress close the airplane loophole?
Now I'll never get to own a flying car!!!
What 'attempted murder aspect'?
If he'd wanted to kill people, he would have done it on a weekday. Instead, he wanted the notoriety of the big finale; nothing new there.
There's every chance the kid was gay.
Problems with sexual identity issues, in his approximate age range, prompts a horrible spike in the teen suicide stats.
Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no turning back
A flight of fancy on a windswept field
Standing alone my senses reeled
A fatal attraction holding me fast,
How can I escape this irresistible grasp?
~ Pink Floyd.
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