FAA Explains Air Scare | 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-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Fri, Jul 02, 2004

FAA Explains Air Scare

"Missed Signal" Caused Evacuation Of Capitol, Supreme Court Building

The FAA says it's found the answer in the wake of a huge air scare that forced the evacuation of the US Capitol and the Supreme Court June 9th. Someone was asleep at the switch.

Perhaps an explanation is in order. As Washington was preparing for President Ronald Reagan's state funeral that day, an aircraft without a transponder entered the Washington ADIZ. The King Air 200 was flying Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher to the somber proceedings lost its transponder shortly after take-off from Cincinnati-Kentucky International Airport on its way to Reagan National. Even though the flight crew was talking to the FAA, the agency says a civilian employee watching radar failed to pick up the on-screen indicator telling him the transponder was non-functional. He hit the panic button.

Jets were scrambled to intercept and loudspeaker announcements at the Capitol warned Reagan mourners, "You have one minute to impact!" The Capitol and the Supreme Court were evacuated before the whole mess was sorted out.

"While it took no more than five to seven minutes to sort that out, that was still time that this aircraft was speeding toward Reagan National," said FAA spokesman Greg Martin.

Two things changed as a result of the lessons learned in that fiasco, said Martin. First, the FAA will set up a direct radar feed to the regional coordination center so everyone is looking at the same picture. Second, no aircraft without a working transponder will be allowed into the ADIZ -- no matter who's on board.

FMI: www.faa.gov

Advertisement

More News

Airborne 07.02.25: TikToker Arrested, Vietnam A/L Ground Hit, ATC Modernization

Also: Outlaw Prop 4 Mooney, Ready 4 Duty, Ukrainian F-16 Pilot Lost, Blue Origin Flt On his journey to become the first pilot to land solo on all seven continents, 19-year-old Etha>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 07.03.25: Sonex HW, BlackShape Gabriel, PRA Fly-In 25

Also: DarkAero Update, Electric Aircraft Symposium, Updated Instructor Guide, OSH Homebuilts Celebrate The long-awaited Sonex High Wing prototype has flown... the Sonex gang tells >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.07.25): Discrete Code

Discrete Code As used in the Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System (ATCRBS), any one of the 4096 selectable Mode 3/A aircraft transponder codes except those ending in zero zero; >[...]

Classic Aero-TV: DeltaHawk Aero Engine Defies Convention

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Deviation from the Historical Mean Racine, Wisconsin-based DeltaHawk is a privately-held manufacturer of reciprocating engines for aircraft and hybrid >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.07.25)

Aero Linx: Formation and Safety Team (F.A.S.T.), USA The Formation and Safety Team (FAST) is a worldwide, educational organization dedicated to teaching safe formation flying in Wa>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

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