Statement Released
Hayden ''Jim'' Sheaffer and Troy D. Martin released a statement
Friday evening explaining their side of the story about their May
11th incursion into restricted airspace near Washington, DC.
Sheaffer has retained Mark T. McDermott, a principal in the
Washington, DC law firm of Joseph, McDermott & Reiner, P.C., to
represent him in the FAA's investigation of this matter.
Here is the statement in its entirety:
We are mere private citizens from a small Pennsylvania town who
have found ourselves thrust into the national spotlight after an
unplanned and unintentional brush with local, state and federal
authorities, during what was meant to be an uneventful flight from
Lancaster to Lumberton, North Carolina. In an effort to help
everyone understand what happened during this incident, the
following is a recounting of those events associated with our
flight on Wednesday, May 11, 2005.
In preparation for our upcoming flight, on the evening before
departure, we consulted several current weather maps and sectional
maps of Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The morning of the flight, Jim as the pilot in command, once
again checked various weather websites on his home computer for the
flight area and consulted the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association (AOPA) website, looking for Temporary Flight
Restrictions (TFR). We were not required to file a flight plan
because we were going to be using visual flight rules (VFR) for our
journey.
Jim conducted a thorough pre-flight inspection of the airplane,
a Cessna 150, its communication devices and navigational devices
and filled it with fuel prior to departure.
We agreed that Jim, as the pilot in command, would supervise the
flight while Troy would fly the airplane, which he did during the
entire flight.
In an effort to be extra careful, and wishing to avoid the
restricted area of Camp David during our flight, we over
compensated by taking a more than anticipated southerly route,
which consequently caused us to infringe upon the Washington, D.C.,
restricted zones.
After an undetermined amount of time, a Blackhawk helicopter
appeared off to the right side of our airplane and attempted to
communicate with us using a hand-held sign indicating the emergency
radio frequency we were to use to receive instructions. Although
our radio had been working during the flight, which we know,
because we were able to monitor other aircraft communications, we
were unable to communicate with the Blackhawk helicopter on the
frequency indicated. A helicopter crew member used hand signals to
indicate a second frequency option. We tuned to that frequency,
identified our aircraft, and requested further instructions. We
received no response on either of the indicated frequencies despite
repeated attempts by both of us. The helicopter then disappeared
off to the right and within a short time thereafter, two F-16
fighter planes appeared and began making repeated passes. After
making several passes, the F-16 planes dropped warning flares.
In response to the dropped flares, we made a 90-degree turn to
the right to a westerly direction. At this point, for the first
time, we were able to visually identify our location as being in a
Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ). Once again, a helicopter appeared,
whereupon we were then able to establish two-way radio
communication on the original emergency frequency that we had been
instructed by placard to use by the first helicopter crew. We were
then instructed to stay on our current heading and proceed to the
Frederick, Md., airport, where we landed safely and were
subsequently met by representatives from civil, state and federal
authorities and agencies. We were treated exceptionally well and
proper, and with great courtesy after we explained what had
happened.
On a personal note, we would like to sincerely thank everyone
for their prayers and their expressions of concern for us with
regard to this incident. We very sincerely regret all of the
disruption that this event has caused for so many people in our
nation's capital.