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.