The Aircraft Belonged To US Military Academy At West Point

Talk about a bad lesson… A small plane flown by a US Army Soldier was escorted out of restricted air space last week by US fighter jets over NYC after violating temporary flight restrictions that were put in place for the duration of the United Nations General Assembly.

The US Army instructor pilot flew a Cessna 182 that was owned by the US Military Academy at West Point momentarily into the TFR area over the Hudson River around 2pm.

The flight restrictions for the TFR area were put in place from 4:45 pm. that Monday until 3:45 pm. The fighter jets were deployed following the initial radio calls to the pilot going unanswered. Officials state there was no threat.

F-16 aircraft from the 187th Fighter Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard, which were on temporary duty providing air patrols for the event, intercepted the Cessna.

The fighter aircraft flew above the Cessna and signaled to the plane to land by dropping its gear. 

“NORAD fighter aircraft responded to an incident involving a small single-engine general aviation aircraft near New York City at approximately 2:00 pm,” a North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman said. “The small single-engine general aviation landed safely at approximately 2:30 pm.”

The Cessna took off from and landed at Stewart Airbase in Orange County. West Point spokesman Lt. Col. Beth Smith confirmed the encounter. "A West Point fixed wing aircraft flown by an Army instructor pilot conducting a cadet flight lab in support of ME481, a civil and mechanical engineering class, briefly violated temporarily restricted airspace this afternoon near the George Washington Bridge," Smith said.

FMI: https://www.westpoint.edu