FAA to revoke certificate of pilot in Washington, DC scare

[Eboy]

"The pilot who caused a midday panic in Washington on Wednesday failed to get briefings about the weather and restricted airspace and became lost minutes after leaving a Pennsylvania airport, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

Hayden "Jim" Sheaffer, 69, froze when he saw a Black Hawk helicopter appear near his right wing while flying toward the White House and had difficulty operating his small, single-engine aircraft, officials said yesterday. It took the valiant effort of Sheaffer's student-pilot companion, Troy D. Martin, who had only 30 logged hours of flight time, to take over the controls and land the plane at an airport in Frederick, officials said."

"New details are emerging about what took place in the cockpit of the Cessna 150 during the noontime drama that led to the evacuation of more than 35,000 people from the U.S. Capitol, White House and Supreme Court. A log prepared by federal security officials shows how tensions escalated to the point where a fighter jet was "about to use missiles" to shoot the plane down."


More at this link. I think registration is required (Sorry):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051301570.html

[shortstripper]

Blimey! :ooh:

SS

[stillin1]

Sounds like a fine idea to me!
If the idiot can't be ars@d to even do the basics of flight planning before getting aloft- pull the prat's license:mad:
Sadly shooting him down was liable to hurt innocent non-idiots, otherwise it could have been a favour to the gene pool (although as the plonka was aged 69 I suspect not!!!):yuk:

[Paul D.]

Respect for the actions of the student with 30 hrs. I suppose this demonstrates the importance of the stuff they tell us in the PPL groundschool about never being reluctant to take the controls, even if you have a more experienced pilot with you. By doing so, it sounds like he saved both their butts!

Paul.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Mike,

Maybe not entirely fair to expect teh low hours stude to be on top of this flight when he was flying with a qualified pilot?

FD

[englishal]

SHould've had a GPS....

In the USA, even when they impose these TFRs, as long as you're talking to ATC with a transponder code, you will either be cleared into them, or given avoiding instructions. I dunno why this bloke wasn't talking to ATC, seems pretty idiotic to me....

[mazzy1026]

I reckon Mike may have a valid point, but as the student was up with an experienced chap, he would have felt more relaxed and not felt the need to do such planning, as P1 should have done it anyway. :uhoh:

[Flyin'Dutch']

Mike,

Since you are so clever I take it that you were test ready by 30 hours and have in your life never have made or will make a mistake, let alone a biggie.

:ugh:

I have little sympathy for the commander of the ship but to come down like a ton of bricks on a stude seems a bit harsh.