Major 'Oh, Heck' Moment Over Maryland Traffic

The way Angela Owens of NBC station WRC, News 4, told us, "At about 10:15 Wednesday, our pilot left Tipton Field (MD). At some point between Baltimore and Potomac, the communication was somehow mixed up; it's a routine handoff." This time, though, the handoff didn't work as planned, and the FAA was watching a radar blip that wasn't talking to them. As Ms Owens said, "There was some problem with the communication."

The traffic 'copter pilot was out, trying to give some relief to the snowbound traffic, doing pretty much what he does every day.

What happened next was every pilot's nightmare: an F-15 on patrol was told to have a look; and a US Customs Service helo also went to intercept the traffic pilot. (It's just amazing how fast an F-15 at altitude can intercept a low-flying helicopter.) The good news for the traffic pilot was, he never saw the Eagle. He never saw what could have spoiled his whole day.

The rest of the good news is, the Air Force has a lot of sense, and the traffic got reported, as usual. Angela said, "the F-15 saw that we posed no danger, and went away."

We understand that the station acquired this new A-Star 350 (pictured) in just the past couple weeks, replacing their venerable Jet Ranger. While there is no evidence that any such thing actually happened, might it be possible that the new equipment's ergonomics may have had something to do with the lack of response from the 'copter pilot? Maybe a button wasn't in the usual place, or there are more "clicks" required to get from one freq to another? As the station's Ms Owens said, "We're looking into it."

One other report said that, coincidentally, General John Jumper (USAF Chief of Staff) and Dr. James Roche (Secretary of the Air Force) were on a live call-in radio show, and received at least one call from a cell-phone-toting driver, reporting "strange movements" of aircraft overhead. That's some pretty high-level notification...

FMI: www.nbc4.com, www.af.mil