one couples luck...

[Jared]

One of my guys lives over that way and he said every news copter from
Cleveland was hovering over the Wadsworth airport this morning. He also
reported maximum activity there last night. Poor guy.

WADSWORTH - A Medina County couple's short flight Wednesday morning to buy
fuel nearly triggered a national incident when an Air Force fighter jet and
Secret Service agents scrambled to intercept them.
The couple, who were taking their four-seater Lancair airplane for a spin on
a sunny day, unwittingly violated a no-fly order for noncommercial aircraft
in a 30-mile radius of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport during
President Bush's visit.
When the plane took off from the Medina Municipal Airport, a military jet
was dispatched to intercept it and shadowed the couple as they landed at the
Wadsworth Municipal Airport around 11 a.m.
Rick Hopkins, manager of the Wadsworth airport, said the couple initially
were unaware of the ruckus they had caused when they first landed.
Hopkins added they did wonder about the F-18 fighter jet that was close
behind and circling overhead to ensure the plane did not take off again.
The couple told airport workers they were not aware the temporary flight
restriction was in place and had flown to Wadsworth for fuel, where it's
about 50 cents cheaper per gallon.
``They (the Federal Aviation Administration) called us up and they wanted to
make sure the pilot didn't take off again,'' he said. ``And that's what we
did.''
Jim Cranston, the airport's assistant manager, said the couple did not want
to talk to the large contingent of reporters and photographers that gathered
outside of the small terminal.
Cranston said the pilot told him it was all a ``misunderstanding'' that
originated with a failure to check in with flight control before taking off
from Medina.
``They had no idea they did something wrong,'' Cranston said.
The man and wife, identified by investigators only as a Medina County
couple, had to meet with agents from the Secret Service who were dispatched
to the airport. Agents also inspected the plane the couple were flying.
FAA records do not list an owner for the plane and show a business address
in Wilmington, Del.
The couple were later cleared by federal agents to take off to return the
airplane to Medina where it is apparently based, but they instead called for
a ride home and left the plane parked just off the tarmac.
David Lee, resident agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Akron,
said the couple were very cooperative and apologetic about the mishap.
``They were on the very fringe of the restricted zone,'' Lee said.
FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said investigators from her agency will
probably interview the pilot within the next week or so about the apparent
violation of flying within restricted airspace.
The potential penalties for the infraction range from a letter of warning to
the revocation of a pilot's license.

[IcedFoxtrotter]

 There goes his licence and all of his ratings, his plane as well. What scares me abut flying is not the flying itself but all the legal crap surrounding it.

Poor guy.  That is every bit as bad, if not worse, than being told that you can't have a medical anymore.  My deepest simpathy from pilot to pilot.

[Jared]

yeah it is kinda sad to hear about this...:-( it is very scary about all of the legal stuff that goes along with just about anything nowadays...

Could you imagine flying along (besides in the sim) and all of a sudden an F-18 flies up beside you? That would be very nerve racking...;-)

[Meinas]

Yeah, the guy across the hall here was rated all the way up to single engine instrument commercial, was out flying a plane here in AZ got cought in a bad down draft over a canyon and crashed, all of his ratings were pulled temporarly.  I guess they made him retake all of the checkrides to get his ratings back.

[RitterKreuz]

Violating a temporary flight restrction (TFR) is a huge no no especially when the president is part of it! It amazes me that some pilots can be so bone headed as to not make a 2 minute call to the flight service station by dialing the 1-800 number to check the notcies to airmen that would have prevented all this mess in the first place.  :(

I dont care if you are flying 20 minutes to the next town or 4 hours to the next state... that is simply one phone call that has to be made just for the sake of being prepared and maintaining the most basic state of situational awareness!

One pilot at my home airport flew through the edge of the TFR in Waco, TX where the presidents ranch is. He also had discussions with the FAA CIA Secret Service and FBI. He received a 90 day suspension of his flying privilages. its just increadable... a 2 minute phone call and all of this could have been prevented.  ::) The guy had no bad intentions dont get me wrong but the regs say "the pilot in command should become familiar with all available information concering the flight." this pilot simply did not do that and now he will likely be grounded for the next 90 days (at least)... and in a worst case scenario his licenses and ratings would be suspended and a fine could be in place.

the lack of responsability is simply increadable  :-/

[Polynomial]

bad luck but ritterkrauz is right, they just should have made sure of everything before they took off.

i find quite amuzing,

"We did sorta wonder about the F-18 flying near us"

like, duh . . . . . .

[IcedFoxtrotter]

Could you imagine flying along (besides in the sim) and all of a sudden an F-18 flies up beside you? That would be very nerve racking...;-)

After watching the Gulf War, Afganistan, and Iraq II, few things scare me more than the thought of suddenly being on the other side of a fight than a USAF F-15 belonging to my own country.

[Meinas]

You get standard weather briefings right? Whenever there was a TFR near my flight the briefer would tell me about it without me asking.

[RitterKreuz]

The FAA is usually pretty good with the presidential TFRs here in TX. The restrcition in waco TX is typically 3 miles in diameter, however when the president shows up the TFR expands to 30 miles in diameter... thats the size of the dallas Class Bravo airspace!! We routinely receive at least a 3 day notice of these activities.

On the east coast... TFRs grow like weeds. i joke about voting against old G.W. in the coming election just so us pilots can start going through waco again without being bothered!!

The day of the Columbia crash was interesting too, my airport could not have been more directly in the center of the TFR created because of that mess. 4 F-16s were blazing at 1,000 ft AGL doing S-turns using their FLIR to "spot warm debris and plot it on a GPS for later searches" i dont think i flew for 2 weeks nearly. but i did have one cool experience, a sheriffs chopper on the way to a search location landed for fuel, i begged him for a ride "i never been in a helicopter before and id sure like to try a hand at flying it" so he relented and took me up and let me fly it for about 15 minutes! what a blast!

[Woodlouse2002]

[quote]
After watching the Gulf War, Afganistan, and Iraq II, few things scare me more than the thought of suddenly being on the other side of a fight than a USAF F-15 belonging to my own country.

[IcedFoxtrotter]

You get standard weather briefings right? Whenever there was a TFR near my flight the briefer would tell me about it without me asking.

Some of us don't use flight service for wearther but the Internet instead. It helps save tax dollars.

[Politically Incorrect]

If your a member of the A.O.P.A (Airplane Owners and Pilots Association) They will send emails when ever TFR's are expected. Usally a day or two before the FAA even makes them official. They use the common sense method, if the President is going to be in a area then you know there will be a TFR. But it is nice knowing ahead of time, helps make you remember before taking off.
And like said earlier you should make the call, jot a note on your preflight checklist to call!!!
I always wanted to see a F18 upclose and personal but not that way!!!
I hope the guy doesn't lose anything, a mistake on his part yes, but the TFR's can pop up at a moments notice, and if you are already inflight you might not have means of finding out where they are. That is another issue the AOPA is trying to resolve with the FAA.

[Politically Incorrect]

This makes me wonder, Do other countries enforce TFR's like we do in the US?
And if our President flies overseas do TFR's go in effect in other countries?

[IcedFoxtrotter]

Not nessicarily overseas but It is always escorted by a flight of 15's or 16's, when it goes out of the country, and is suposedly shadowed by them as well while in country as well.