[ RadSafe ] Run! Tiny terror over D.C.

[Gerry Blackwood]

[This picture in the NY Sun wwww.nysun.com does not
help us at all. The article below is just mind
boggling. After spending millions on drills. Millions
on  planning and billions on counter-terrorism
measures it all boils down to what? RUN LIKE HELL? I
certainly hope that this is not what the suits at DHS
consider a orderly evacuation during a crisis.....What
a poor message this sends]


Run! Tiny terror over D.C.

Laura, veep, top judges flee for safety in noon mayhem

BY JAMES GORDON MEEK and KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Capitol workers are evacuated after two-seater Cessna
flew into restricted air space 3 miles from the White
House, sparking a red alert in D.C.
WASHINGTON - A pair of bumbling pilots stampeded
Washington and triggered a red alert yesterday when
they wandered into restricted air space.

Their single-engine Cessna 150 puttered to within 3
miles of the White House - the deepest penetration of
Washington's air space since 9/11 - as radio trouble
prevented their reception of urgent warnings.

They also flew past two Black Hawk helicopters that
tried to head them off, and didn't veer away until a
pair of F-16 fighter jets roared past and dropped
warning flares in front of them.

For eight tense minutes beginning at 12:03 p.m., the
capital was on red alert - the highest threat level
since the days immediately after 9/11.

Once the misguided fliers were guided to a landing in
Frederick, Md., they were put on the ground and
handcuffed. The pair, identified as Hayden (Jim)
Sheaffer, 69, of Lititz, Pa., and the student pilot,
Troy Martin, 36, of Akron, Pa., won't be charged and
were later released.

They could, however, faced thousands of dollars in
fines for violating aviation regulations.

"I was on the job and I heard it on the radio and I
didn't think about it being him," said Martin's
father, Mel. "Then I heard them say the pilot was from
Smoketown and I was laughing because he flies out of
there. I called my wife to tell her the guys were from
Smoketown and she said, 'That was Troy.' Then I quit
laughing."

Mel Martin, 63, was relieved to hear that the plane
landed safely.

"The Lord protects him every minute - and the Lord is
amusing at times. I thank the good Lord they didn't
shoot him down," he said.

A shootdown was a possibility.

"If he wouldn't have responded, intentionally or not,
he could have been shot down," said Master Sgt. John
Tomassi of the North American Aerospace Defense
Command in Colorado Springs.

As the plane slowly zeroed in on Washington, the
capital went into full terror mode.

Vice President Cheney was whisked off to a secure
location along with the leaders of Congress. House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was moved so
abruptly she was literally lifted out of her shoes,
and when she returned to Congress, she was in her
stocking feet.

President Bush, biking with a high school friend at
the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Beltsville,
Md., was unaware of the midday, 15-minute scare as it
was occurring.

"Move it, move it," barked a uniformed Secret Service
officer outside the West Wing of the White House.
"Run, this is no joke."

"There's a plane coming," yelled another.

A trickle of people sprinting from the Capitol quickly
turned into a flood as thousands of staffers,
congressmen and lobbyists fled from office buildings.
Capitol Police bellowed, "Run! Run as far south as you
can!"

First Lady Laura Bush and visiting former First Lady
Nancy Reagan were taken to an underground White House
bunker.

Secret Service uniformed officers broke out automatic
weapons and sharpshooters manned posts atop the White
House. Weapons technicians were also observed near an
anti-aircraft missile battery on a government building
across from the White House complex.

Supreme Court justices were hustled into a basement
bunker and others told to flee.

Martin's wife, Jill, said her husband and Sheaffer
were aware of the no-fly zones and planned to skirt
them.

"Troy was discussing with me last night after they
made their flight plans all about the no-fly zones and
how they were going to avoid them," she said. "He said
they were going to fly between two different
restricted areas."

Last June, an aircraft carrying Kentucky's governor
also entered Washington's restricted air space during
former President Ronald Reagan's funeral, but the city
was spared massive evacuations during that incident.

With Tracy Connor

Mike's plane fearless

If a small, unidentified Cessna circled City Hall,
Mayor Bloomberg would be the last person to panic - or
even leave.

"I will probably sit right there," Bloomberg said
yesterday. "I have flown a [Cessna] 172 before and I
don't think it's all that dangerous."

Bloomberg said he didn't think the plane that caused
the evacuation of government buildings in Washington
could "carry much of a bomb or do much damage."

But he quickly added, "I'll leave the security issues
to those in Washington because I like them to leave
the security issues in New York to us."

"Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality."