Stolen Cessna Chased By F-16's

This ( Canadian) was a Turkish immigrant to Canada. The purpose of this flight was a suicide mission. He thought that by flying across the border without filing a flight plan/customs notification that U.S fighters would shoot him down, thus ending his sorry existence.
 
Yea...

If memory serves me correctly, a student pilot drove a 150/152 into a high rise building in Florida? not long after 9-11. Besides killing himself I think he broke some windows. Anyone recall that and/or have a link to a story?[/QUOTE]

Florida nothing, anyone remember the "real" September 11th, where a moron flew a Cessna 152 into the White House?

I think he damaged some lawn and the paint job on the building.

It was 1992, IIRC.
 
SkyHog said:
Yea...

If memory serves me correctly, a student pilot drove a 150/152 into a high rise building in Florida? not long after 9-11. Besides killing himself I think he broke some windows. Anyone recall that and/or have a link to a story?
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Florida nothing, anyone remember the "real" September 11th, where a moron flew a Cessna 152 into the White House?

I think he damaged some lawn and the paint job on the building.

It was 1992, IIRC.[/quote]


On September 12, 1994, at 1:49 a.m., a Cessna 150L airplane crashed onto the South Lawn of the White House, killing the pilot, Frank Eugene Corder, but injuring no one else. The plane came to a halt against the south wall of the Executive Mansion, causing minimal damage. President Clinton and his family were not in residence at the time; hence, they were never in any danger.

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/ustreas/usss/t1pubrpt.html


Trapper John
 
Obviously this guy didn't extend full flaps on every landing:

Corder died from multiple, massive blunt-force injuries. Based on the physical evidence, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB concluded that the crash was intentional rather than a failed attempt at a controlled landing. The airplane's velocity on impact clearly exceeded a safe landing speed. Moreover, the airplane's wing flaps were up and its throttle position was "full forward," neither of which is characteristic of an aircraft in a landing posture.
 
Saw a talking head on AC360 last night where the banner under him said "A Pilot". I groaned when he talked about the lax security at GA airports where "anybody can walk on to the field, go to an airplane and steal it as most have the keys left in the ignition", also, "while not as dangerous as the planes on Sept. 11th, a 172 is fully capable of carrying a Weapon of Mass Destruction".

Sigh!

Where do they come up with these guys?
 
bstratt said:
Saw a talking head on AC360 last night where the banner under him said "A Pilot". I groaned when he talked about the lax security at GA airports where "anybody can walk on to the field, go to an airplane and steal it as most have the keys left in the ignition", also, "while not as dangerous as the planes on Sept. 11th, a 172 is fully capable of carrying a Weapon of Mass Destruction".

Sigh!

Where do they come up with these guys?
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They invent them. It's not news if it's not sensational!
 
bstratt said:
Saw a talking head on AC360 last night where the banner under him said "A Pilot". I groaned when he talked about the lax security at GA airports where "anybody can walk on to the field, go to an airplane and steal it as most have the keys left in the ignition", also, "while not as dangerous as the planes on Sept. 11th, a 172 is fully capable of carrying a Weapon of Mass Destruction".
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Okay, one thing all the news organizations, and the Wisconsin Capitol Police, failed to notice:

There were F-16's on the guy. Armed. The ones that fly out of my home field (WI ANG). If he was a threat, they would have shot his sorry ass down.

Same as the 1992 White House incident. There are guys on the white house roof with MANPADS. If he was a threat, they'd have shot his sorry ass down too.

Thank heavens our military is a helluva lot smarter than our press.
 
But the pilot had not communicated with NORAD or the Federal Aviation Administration
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I can figure out how to contact the FAA types, ATC, FSS and the like pretty easily. But how the heck to you contact norad? :dunno:

Officials were "allowing this pilot to play his hand" because they "don't want to provoke the situation," Kucharek said.
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So, what exactly was the rocket and gun armed fighters afraid of provoking?


News, ha. More like really poor quality humor at best.
 
Geico266 said:
Looks like he ran it pretty close to empty, 5 hours of flight time in a 172 is about 50 gallons.
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You'd have to seriously beat on a 172 to get 10 gallons per hour. 8 is a more realistic number and lower if you throttle back. It likely has 40 gallons usable, 50 with extended tanks. Of course, the 172s have varied a lot over the years..it is difficult to guess without knowing which model.

40 / 8 = 5 hours
50 / 8 = 6.25 hours

6 hours in the air is doable with extended tanks but wouldn't be very smart. Throttling back would be advised....

I once stretched a 172 with standard tanks and a fuel totalizer that I knew real well a bit past four hours. Too close for my comfort.
 
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jesse said:
You'd have to seriously beat on a 172 to get 10 gallons per hour. 8 is a more realistic number and lower if you throttle back. It likely has 40 gallons usable, 50 with extended tanks. Of course, the 172s have varied a lot over the years..it is difficult to guess without knowing which model.

40 / 8 = 5 hours
50 / 8 = 6.25 hours

6 hours in the air is doable with extended tanks but wouldn't be very smart. Throttling back would be advised.....
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A guy also in the flight school posted on Fark saying all the 172s had long range (or extra) tanks - whatever that is.

Also at 14,000 feet you don't run at 75% power.
 
sba55 said:
Yeah...but over 1,000 NM in a 172? That's talent, or tailwinds...
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Indeed, 1000 nm would be impressive, but we're not talking about 1000 nm.

St Louis, MO to Thunder Bay INTL is 585 nm.

585 / 110 knots = 5.3 hours...totally doable in a 172 with extended tanks.
 
jesse said:
Indeed, 1000 nm would be impressive, but we're not talking about 1000 nm.
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Oh ok. Somewhere in the news report, I remember reading something about 1,000NM....media wrong about that, too I guess.

-Felix
 
sba55 said:
Oh ok. Somewhere in the news report, I remember reading something about 1,000NM....media wrong about that, too I guess.

-Felix
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Do you guys really think he went in a straight line? His flight path was 1,000 NM.
 
sba55 said:
Yeah...but over 1,000 NM in a 172? That's talent, or tailwinds...
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Tailwinds. My ground school students and I were looking at weather data before I heard the story on the 10:00 news.
 
skyflyer8 said:
Tailwinds. My ground school students and I were looking at weather data before I heard the story on the 10:00 news.
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The distance isn't 1000 nm. Canada isn't as far as folks think sometimes :) There is no way his flight path could be 1000 nm when the distance was only 585 nm.

Just think this through. In order to accomplish a 1,000 nm path between two airports that are only 585 nm in a C172..you'd have to do a lot of turning while maintaining your high tailwind induced groundspeed throughout all your dramatic heading changes. This doesn't happen.
 
The guy said he wanted to commit "suicide by fighter" because he heard he would be shot down if he ventured into US airspace. Didn't he hear we had an election? He was not a "threat to national security" (by the old administration), he was classified as an "aviation anomaly with unknown intentions" by the current administration.

I thought it was a cute political joke anyway. We need to learn how to laugh at ourselves again.
 
Geico266 said:
The guy said he wanted to commit "suicide by fighter" because he heard he would be shot down if he ventured into US airspace. Didn't he hear we had an election? He was not a "threat to national security" (by the old administration), he was classified as an "aviation anomaly with unknown intentions" by the current administration.
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Do you think he was a "threat to national security?" I don't. Neither did the military, or (like I said before) they'd have shot his sorry ass down.

Now, his suicide plan might still work. Not by fighter, but if I (or any of us) ever get my hands on him... :devil:
 
KennyFlys said:
I'm not sure who is the more stupid in this scenario... the actor or the reporter.

And, maybe Cessna should be shut down for producing a means of crossing our border and entering so deeply. Boeing will be next.

By the way, he's lucky he didn't fly into Rabun County, Georgia. :eek:
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Only two airfields in Rabun County. He could be mistaken for 'Revenueers" and treated to some mountain hospitality accompanied by banjo music.
 
Geico266 said:
Do you guys really think he went in a straight line? His flight path was 1,000 NM.
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Um, no.

He took off from Thunder Bay and landed near Ellsinore, MO. SkyVector says that the direct route would be 689.2nm (it's in southern MO, so farther than St. Louis).

And, according to Lt. Col. Bruce Fischer of the 115th fighter wing based at my home field - Yeah, those guys that were actually following the 172 pretty much the whole way (from Wausau to almost where he landed) - "He flew pretty much in a straight line from where he took off from in Thunder Bay." It wasn't exactly a great circle - He also flew about 5 miles west of downtown Madison, or practically right over my place - but adding that makes the total distance a whopping 1.7nm more.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Um, no.

He took off from Thunder Bay and landed near Ellsinore, MO. SkyVector says that the direct route would be 689.2nm (it's in southern MO, so farther than St. Louis).

And, according to Lt. Col. Bruce Fischer of the 115th fighter wing based at my home field - Yeah, those guys that were actually following the 172 pretty much the whole way (from Wausau to almost where he landed) - "He flew pretty much in a straight line from where he took off from in Thunder Bay." It wasn't exactly a great circle - He also flew about 5 miles west of downtown Madison, or practically right over my place - but adding that makes the total distance a whopping 1.7nm more.
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Lemme guess. He kept the DG on 180 - you know, to get to where the United States is.
 
bstratt said:
Saw a talking head on AC360 last night where the banner under him said "A Pilot". I groaned when he talked about the lax security at GA airports where "anybody can walk on to the field, go to an airplane and steal it as most have the keys left in the ignition", also, "while not as dangerous as the planes on Sept. 11th, a 172 is fully capable of carrying a Weapon of Mass Destruction".

Sigh!

Where do they come up with these guys?
Click to expand...

The keys left in the ignition bit is ignorant, but according to Wikipedia, a tacitical nuke can weigh only 51 pounds and have a yield up to a kiloton. Of course, getting one would not be easy, I hope! :eek:

And then there's the fact that my Honda Civic could carry it, so I guess they'd better call out the military every time someone steals a car!
 
You have to remember that if someone wants something bad enough, no regulation is going to stop them. You have to admit its relatively easy to find a way to grab a plane and go on your own wild adventure. Somehow the only time the public realizes this is when someone decides to test the limits. I love that freedom, just not the idiots.
 
smigaldi said:
blame_canada_1.jpg
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Lucky it wasn't Timmy!!<g>

Best,

Dave
 
He planned on martyrdom and the 17 virgins...


but probably not being one of them.
 
msnbc said:
The Highway Patrol said Leon got a ride from a passer-by to a store, where he bought a Gatorade and sat at a booth until authorities arrived. He was arrested without incident.
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Gatorade? I know I'd take something a bit stronger after that adventure.
 
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