Good News On The Homeland Security Front
By Wyatt Earp | October 1, 2009
Remember all that talk about people forgetting 9-11? You know, the talk primarily initiated by yours truly? Well, here is some good news:
Apparently, we are still paying attention to pilots who exhibit suspicious behavior. Especially behavior that has them ignore hails from air traffic control. Yeah, that’ll get some fighters a-scramblin’.
A small plane crashed outside Muncie, Indiana, as military F-16s trailed it Wednesday after its pilot failed to respond to radio calls, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.
The plane crashed into a farm field in Randolph County, Indiana, near the town of Winchester, about 12:40 p.m. ET, NORAD said in a statement. There were no reports that anyone on the ground was hurt.
The pilot was the only one on board the single-propeller, four-seater plane. His fate was not immediately known. The incident was not believed to be terrorism-related and may be a medical situation, officials said.
The F-16s, from the Indiana Air National Guard, intercepted the aircraft near Muncie about 11:30 a.m. ET, NORAD said in a statement. (H/T – CNN)
Probably just a medical issue or a mechanical malfunction, but it’s good to know that our military is still taking notice of such things. The average American may fall into complacency, but our military does not.
Topics: War On Terror | 6 Comments »
October 1st, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Wow, that’s a little scary and reason why pilots should not be allow to fly alone.
October 1st, 2009 at 4:01 pm
The Girl – I’m glad they scrambled jets, even for a little plane. It’s the common sense thing to do.
October 1st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
My guess is that it was a medical issue. For him not to be able to communicate via radio he would have to have a complete loss of electrical power, including his battery. Even if that happened, he would have been able to land rather than crash as all of the flight controls on a small aircraft like that would be purely mechanical.
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:01 am
Robert – Good point. That – a medical issue – sounds like it could have been the case here.
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Could you imagine the absolute horror of losing your radio and then all of the sudden seeing F-16s?
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I don’t mean anything in a bad way but do you realize that the F-16 in the picture is from a foreign air force and that AMRAAM it’s carrying is not a live missle? In that configuration, I doubt his gun is even hot.