Talk About A Mismatch. NORAD Intercepts Ultralight With Two F-16s | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Mon, May 17, 2010

Talk About A Mismatch. NORAD Intercepts Ultralight With Two F-16s

Ultralight Entered Arizona From Mexico

It was probably the last thing the pilot of an untralight aircraft expected, or maybe wanted, to see when he crossed the U.S. Border from Mexico into Arizona early Sunday. Two NORAD F-16's were scrembled to intercept the ultralight, and shadowed it for about half an hour before it returned to Mexican airspace.

In a news release, NORAD said the F-16's launched form Davis Monthan AFB for the intercept early Sunday morning. "Upon intercepting the aircraft, the F-16s shadowed the aircraft for 30 minutes until it turned and flew back into Mexico," said NORAD Lt. Cmdr. Gary Ross. "The F-16s returned to base."

Television station KGUN reports that just the day before, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords told reporters in Tucson that she was co-sponsoring legislation that would focus specifically on ultralight aircraft, which she said are being used more frequently in the drug trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Should her bill become law, a smuggler using an ultralight to carry drugs would face a 20 year prison sentence and a quarter million dollar fine. "These smugglers use small, low-flying aircraft to deliver their illicit contraband into our country," she said. "But because of a legal loophole, they cannot be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. My legislation will fix this problem."

A local flight instructor says that not all of the planes being used to smuggle drugs are ultralights. Some, H.L. Cooper told the station, are actually LSAs or "unregistered experimental" aircraft. He said if it came to a court case, and the aircraft weighed in over 250 pounds, the case could be tossed out on a technicality.

FMI: http://giffords.house.gov, www.norad.mil

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Aviat A1

Airplane Bounced About 3 Ft Then Touched Back Down And Then, With No Brakes Applied, The Airplane Began Veering To The Left Analysis: The pilot entered the airport traffic pattern >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.08.25)

Aero Linx: British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) The primary focus within all aviation activity is SAFETY. In all aspects of our sport SAFETY must come first, whether it b>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Fly Corvair’s Reliable Engine Alternative

From SnF25 (YouTube Edition): William Wynne Builds Practical Aircraft Engines on the Corvair Platform Seeking an affordable alternative to the traditional aircraft engine options, >[...]

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

How To Get A Story On Aero-TV News/Feature Programming How do I submit a story idea or lead to Aero-TV? If you would like to submit a story idea or lead, please contact Jim Campbel>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: CiES Fuel-Quantity and e-Throttle Systems Praised

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Bridge of CiES CiES Inc. is a Bend, Oregon-based designer and manufacturer of modular embedded aircraft systems and sensors. The company’s fuel-l>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC