Alert Ended Fifteen Minutes Later

REAL TIME NEWS -- 1500 EDT: Two pilots -- a student and his instructor -- were being questioned by federal authorities Wednesday after their Cessna 150 made a deep incursion into the Washington ADIZ, coming within three miles of the White House before being turned away by military and DHS aircraft.

"This appears to be errant pilots," Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer told reporters shortly after the aircraft was finally diverted to Frederick Airport in Maryland. But the scare was taken seriously, he said, because the 150 was "on a straight-in shot toward the center of the Washington area."

REAL TIME NEWS -- 1417 EDT: Maryland State Police, on the scene at the airport in Frederick, MD, said two men aboard a Cessna 150 from Pennsylvania were taken into custody Wednesday and a bomb-sniffing dog had been requested at the airport. All this, in the wake of the 150's incursion into the Washington ADIZ. The White House said the aircraft came within three miles of the White House.

President Bush was on a bicycle ride in Waldorf, MD, at the time of the alert. Vice President Dick Cheney was in the West Wing at the time and was hustled off to an undisclosed location, as was First Lady Laura Bush and former First Lady Nancy Reagan, according to CNN.

Neither of the two men on board had been authorized to fly the aircraft, according to Washington, DC Police Chief Terry Gainer, who cited "very preliminary" information.

It was the first time a Red Alert had been declared at the White House since the color-coded system was instituted after 9/11.

The aircraft, N5826G, was finally diverted to Frederick Airport, where it came to a full-stop on the runway. The two men on board were taken from the aircraft and handcuffed. Later, they were taken away in cars belonging to the Maryland State Patrol.

A check of the FAA registry indicates the aircraft belongs to the Vintage Aero Club of Smoketown, PA.

A Secret Service team had been dispatched to Frederick from Washington to question those aboard the aircraft. Maryland State Troopers indicated the Secret Service had also asked for a bomb-sniffing dog to be sent to the airport in Frederick, but there was no immediate indication whether they suspected a bomb was on board or they were simply checking the aircraft as a precaution.

REAL TIME NEWS -- 1342 EDT: Secret Service and DHS agents have secured a Cessna 150 on the ground near Washington, DC, after the pilot reportedly ignored repeated attempts to contact him from helicopters and fighter aircraft as it came within three miles of the White House Wednesday afternoon.

President Bush was not at the White House when the incursion occurred.

The aircraft was escorted by a DHS Black Hawk and a pair of F-16 fighters to the airport in Frederick, MD -- headquarters of the AOPA. A spokesman for the association was unavailable for immediate comment.

Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw told the network he saw the two F-16s circling the 150, firing flares as a warning to the uncommunicative pilot.

Shortly after landing, the pilot, apparently a young white male from Pennsylvania, was seen being handcuffed alongside the runway and seated in a law enforcement vehicle. The aircraft was towed to parking.

REAL TIME NEWS -- 1225 EDT: The White and US Capitol were evacuated for eleven minutes Wednesday after a small aircraft apparently penetrated the ADIZ that extends outward from the nation's capital.

"Go down into the basement!" ordered guards in the White House press area.

"Leave, run!" shouted security officers to staff and reporters at the Capitol.

"Run, this is no joke, leave the grounds," a Secret Service agent told CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

Malveaux said a motorcade of six or seven limousines left the White House during the emergency. It was not clear whether President Bush was in the White House at the time. There was no immediate indication on the whereabouts of Vice President Cheney.

"It appears a small airplane may have penetrated restricted airspace," said an unnamed Homeland Security official quoted by the Associated Press.

The Senate was in session at the time of the alert. Lawmakers were quickly evacuated from the floor.

Justices and workers at the US Supreme Court were hustled into the basement of the building, across the street from the Capitol. Two F-16s were seen flying at a high rate of speed overhead in Washington.

There was no immediate indication of what type of small aircraft might have penetrated the ADIZ, nor of the pilot's fate.

FMI: www.dhs.gov