Posted on 04/29/2015 12:02:51 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A small gyrocopter that flew through miles of the nation’s most restricted airspace before landing at the U.S. Capitol was “indistinguishable” on radar from non-aircraft such as a flock of birds, a kite or a balloon, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told a House committee that the slow-moving gyrocopter appeared as an “irregular symbol” on radar monitored by air traffic controllers. Huerta and other officials said the small, unidentified object did not pose an apparent threat before landing on the Capitol’s West Lawn April 15.
Forensic analysis conducted later identified a slow-moving object that traveled about 70 miles from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to the U.S. Capitol. Officials now believe that was the gyrocopter. A dot representing the gyrocopter “appeared only intermittently throughout the flight,” Huerta said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Signed,
ISIS.
These freaking idiots need to shut up....they are telling our enemies how to take out the Capitol.
These freaking idiots need to shut up....they are telling our enemies how to take out the Capitol.
Wow double post...sorry.
Yeah, boy, nothing more intimidating than an invasion of gyrocopters.
You say that like it would be a bad thing?
Biggest bunch of BS I ever heard. The motor, the frame, most everything except the rotor(which could be carbon graphite) reflects radar. They were just asleep at the wheel.
Ah, I see you're a security state aficionado, ‘loose lips sink ships’ and all that. Well said sir, we certainly need to shut those idiots up lest our enemies learn from our errors.
In 1987 2 fedayeen from Palestine infiltrated Israel using hang gliders. One was immediately neutralized. The second,unfortunately, was able to kill several Israelis before getting getting killed by IDF troops. This is not a new tactic. I hope the DoD takes notice.
Not necessarily. Most ATC radar are not able to see something the size of a bicycle going 40-50 MPH.
And it sounds like he was flying in between the buildings. A return like that would probably be filtered out as ‘ground clutter’.
How about if 20 of these gyrocopters showed up at treetop level at the White House or Capitol in a coordinated attack coming from different directions, each one being piloted by a heavily armed man?
Do you think the FAA would let us know?
If ISIS never thought about it before, they will now...
I once lived in a house about 500 yards from the runway of the local airport. There was a guy who had a gyro copter who practiced “touch and go’s” all day on Saturdays and Sunday’s. That was the loudest and most irritating noise you ever heard. I could even hear it over the din of my lawnmower when cutting grass.
He went up and down that runway for months before having the nerve to lift off more than a foot or two.
When he finally did, I never confused it with a bird.
I really wonder what has happened to the FR I once knew.
So Americans dead works for you....?
Radar isn’t going to be very useful for small things flying at, or even below, tree level. Everything down there is ground clutter. It’s odd that people seem to just assume that there are sensor systems that can just capture anything and everything. There aren’t. At sea they might have a chance to pick it up but even then they might not. Ashore... Not likely at all.
My impression is, most ATC radar can't see anything that isn't squawking (unless the radar is configured to show primary echoes, which it usually isn't, because the extra detail annoys the controllers). You need military radar for that. At least in Malaysia.
Washington DC is covered by a redundant array fixed radar system. All ground clutter is mapped and eliminated from scan. If this Gyro wasn’t seen it was because of improper reading of the scan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.