Capitol Hill Threat Level Raised Over Airspace Violation
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — A single-engine airplane violated restricted airspace around the nation’s capital today and got to within six miles of the U.S. Capitol building before being diverted, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The airspace violation prompted security officials to temporarily raise the threat level from yellow to orange and order personnel in the Capitol building to prepare to evacuate, but the incident was resolved before an evacuation was ordered.
A propeller-driven Cessna 177, which had taken off from Carroll County airport in north-central Maryland, entered restricted airspace 30 miles north of Washington at 12:12 p.m. at 1,800 feet with no radio, an FAA spokesman, Hank Price, said.
The intruding aircraft reached a point six miles northwest of the Capitol building before being diverted and escorted by interceptor aircraft to Leesburg, Va., airport where it landed at 12:44 p.m., Mr. Price added.
Capitol Police Sergeant Kimberly Schneider said the pilot was being interviewed at the Leesburg facility.
A spokesman with North American Aerospace Defense Command, Michael Kucharek, or NORAD, said two F-16s were scrambled to intercept the plane as it headed south from Maryland.
A Coast Guard helicopter also was involved in the intercept and escort of the Cessna, according to a spokesman for the guard’s Mid-Atlantic region, Lieutenant Gene Maestas.
NORAD also used a laser system that visually warns pilots they are in a restricted area, Lieutenant Kucharek said. The pilot turned west and landed at an airport in suburban Leesburg, Va., while under escort from the fighter jets.
The Capitol was not evacuated, but tourists were turned away for a time. The threat level was soon returned to yellow, or elevated and later, green — or low threat — according to police and other officials.
A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said the White House was notified.
“There was an aircraft that entered into the airspace that there was some concern about, but the aircraft turned around,” she said. “We are at normal security levels here at the White House.”
