Wed, Sep 20, 2006
Remember -- Check The NOTAMs!
Two USAF fighter jets escorted a what appeared to be a wayward
pilot from restricted airspace Tuesday morning, during President
Bush's visit to the United Nations in New York.
NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said the unidentified pilot got
the message, when he saw one of the military planes flying towards
him. "As soon as the F-16 started coming toward his location, he
vacated the airspace," Kucharek said. The pilot landed at Old
Bridge Airport in Middlesex County, according to the Associated
Press.
As reported in Aero-News,
NOTAM 69195 is in effect over New York from September 15 through
September 29, part of the heightened security surrounding the 61st
UN General Conference.
FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray said the agency has not determined
what action, if any, would be taken against the pilot. Such
violations of restricted airspace -- there have been more than
2,200 such incidents since 9/11, according to NORAD -- can result
in fines and, in extreme cases, the loss of the pilot's ticket.
The incident did not cause any disruption to the General
Conference, where President Bush was giving a speech at the time
the plane was intercepted. The scene did cause those in Monroe
Township, NJ to raise their heads to the skies, however -- drawn by
the sound of low-flying fighter jets overhead.
"You could see the guy in the Cessna and the guy in the jet
flying close to him in a big circle ... they couldn't have been
more than a few hundred feet up. It was kind of neat," said
resident John Buchinski to the Newark Star-Ledger. "My 5-year-old
loved it."
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