Alert Given, But No Mandatory Evacuations

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 03.12.08 1605 EDT: For the second time in seven days, news of a small aircraft entering restricted airspace over Washington, DC is making headlines.

According to news reports, the alleged violation of the DC Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) occurred early Wednesday afternoon, and prompted some evacuations on Capitol Hill, although an official order was never given.

Representative Bart Stupak, speaking at a House Energy subcommittee hearing at 1225 EDT, told committee participants the alert had been issued. "We have an air code yellow, meaning a plane is in our airspace," he said, reports CNN.

Two F-16s intercepted the small plane, reportedly a Cessna, and directed its pilot to land in Leesburg, VA and wait to speak with officials.

Other news reports state the plane's pilot was directed away from the ADIZ by the Visual Warning System in place around the Capitol. VWS is a ground-based system that uses safety-tested low-level beams of alternating green and red lights to alert pilots that they are flying without approval in designated airspace.

Only aircraft that are unauthorized or unidentified and unresponsive are visually warned, according to the US Air Force.

As ANN reported, last Wednesday F-16s intercepted a twin-engine Beechcraft that also strayed into the ADIZ, and ordered that plane's pilot to land in Richmond.

Such incursions are not uncommon. Pilots often skirt the fringes of the ADIZ when transitioning near its outer edges, according to officials, despite last year's reduction in the size of the no-fly zone (as shown above).

FMI: www.faasafety.gov/visualWarningSystem/Visualwarning.htm