Fighter Jets Scrambled After Plane Loses Contact

[DefiantSix]

Fighter Jets Scrambled After Plane Loses Contact
Published January 01, 2012 | Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO –  Federal authorities say fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a small plane that had lost contact with traffic controllers...

<snip>

It was a Cessna 172, you idiot!! They lose radio contact, on average, about 30 minutes out of ever hour they're in the air. 

Who is the panicky little shit with his thumb hovering over the "Scramble" button this week? 

[Airwolf]

During the height of the Cold War there used to be alot more surface to air missile batteries around the country. That Cessna driver should be thankful that they have been closed down because other then facing some pilot in the air he might have been turned into a smoking hole in the ground. In fact about 50 miles to the west of here there are two deactivated Nike Hercules missile sites and compared to the one I was at in Italy they are both twice their size and each Missile barn where I was at had 9 missile in it with 3 if them loaded with nukes.

[DefiantSix]

I can understand rolling the F-16s down the runway if this was a plane out of communication over DC, or some militarily sensitive area.  That's common sense, and they don't send SAMs against out of communication C172s because the F-16s give them a means to measure the response.

But this was a Cessna 172 over Ventura California, for God's sakes.  in all likelihood, there are probably 40-60 of the damned things flying over that same area every day, and as I said above, the damned things are out of communications for one reason or another damned near 30 minutes out of every hour.  Add to that the fact that - near as I can figure, I don't have Los Angeles sectionals - I think it's far enough north that LA Center has control over the airspace, and not LA Approach or Departure Control, and this whole thing smells like somebody getting worked up over nothing.

Considering that both times it's been tried in the post 9/11 world, the C172 has proved a consistently poor choice of weapon for terrorists and political malcontents, the Chair Force and the state-run propaganda ministries might just want to knock off the hyperventilating whenever one goes incommunicado for a while.

[Airwolf]

I can understand rolling the F-16s down the runway if this was a plane out of communication over DC, or some militarily sensitive area.  That's common sense, and they don't send SAMs against out of communication C172s because the F-16s give them a means to measure the response.

But this was a Cessna 172 over Ventura California, for God's sakes.  in all likelihood, there are probably 40-60 of the damned things flying over that same area every day, and as I said above, the damned things are out of communications for one reason or another damned near 30 minutes out of every hour.  Add to that the fact that - near as I can figure, I don't have Los Angeles sectionals - I think it's far enough north that LA Center has control over the airspace, and not LA Approach or Departure Control, and this whole thing smells like somebody getting worked up over nothing.

Considering that both times it's been tried in the post 9/11 world, the C172 has proved a consistently poor choice of weapon for terrorists and political malcontents, the Chair Force and the state-run propaganda ministries might just want to knock off the hyperventilating whenever one goes incommunicado for a while.

I agree with you. My point as I should have explained is that if some idiot had his finger one a launch button insted of an alert button then it would have been a lot harder to stop. Then again after reading what to posted again that would have been nothing to worry about.

[formerlurker]

They were two NORAD planes and their directive is clear:

The North American Air Defense command says if it can't determine why the airplane lost contact, the ultimate option is to destroy it.

http://www.kionrightnow.com/story/16428191/plane-escorted-to

No idea how long they lost contact for though as none of the articles I have looked at provide that information.

[formerlurker]

Considering that both times it's been tried in the post 9/11 world, the C172 has proved a consistently poor choice of weapon for terrorists and political malcontents, the Chair Force and the state-run propaganda ministries might just want to knock off the hyperventilating whenever one goes incommunicado for a while.

The Chair Force?   


 

[JohnnyReb]

Cousin has an airstrip about a mile from my house. He was doing touch-N-go's yesterday with his Cessna 210. I doubt he was in radio contact with anyone...and I never saw any F-16's. Someone must have been asleep on the job, huh.

Seriesly( ), the A-10's, F-4's, F-15's and F-16's played around here for years. Hardly ever see them any more. Once in a blue moon we'll have a pair of SCNG
F-16's part the pine tops for a few minutes, that's it.

The A-10's used to scare me to death. I would be in the middle of nowhere running a bulldozer and all of a sudden they would be right on top of me. No, I didn't have to clean my pants but if I had been a enemy tanker, I might have...if I was lucky enough to survive.

[docstew]

The Chair Force?   


 

This statement covered under the Interservice Rivalry Act of 1947.

[Crazy Horse]

This statement covered under the Interservice Rivalry Act of 1947.

Along with Air Farce

[BlueStateSaint]

Cousin has an airstrip about a mile from my house. He was doing touch-N-go's yesterday with his Cessna 210. I doubt he was in radio contact with anyone...and I never saw any F-16's. Someone must have been asleep on the job, huh.

Seriesly( ), the A-10's, F-4's, F-15's and F-16's played around here for years. Hardly ever see them any more. Once in a blue moon we'll have a pair of SCNG
F-16's part the pine tops for a few minutes, that's it.

The A-10's used to scare me to death. I would be in the middle of nowhere running a bulldozer and all of a sudden they would be right on top of me. No, I didn't have to clean my pants but if I had been a enemy tanker, I might have...if I was lucky enough to survive.

Back in the mid-80s, my university had some land in the Adirondacks.  As I found out later on, it was in a nap-of-the-Earth training corridor for locally-based SAC assets, which were FB-111s at Plattsburgh AFB, and B-52Gs at Griffiss AFB, just outside Rome NY.  As I sat on a mountainside overlooking a reservoir during an ROTC exercise we were running, one of the BUFFs came roaring down the arm of the reservoir at whatever speed it was going at, and I got a very good look at the top of this thing.  It was quite a sight.  I jokingly said over the radio, "There's our air support."  None of us had to clean out our pants, that I know of . . .