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Montgomery Blair High School's Online Student Newspaper
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May 12, 2005

Small plane causes scare on Capitol Hill

by Adedeji Ogunfolu, Page Editor
This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from the Washington Post Article "Confused Fliers Trigger Capital Scare." Silver Chips Online posts these news stories to provide readers a forum for discussion.

Two Pennsylvania aviators got lost because they were using outdated maps and flew over the no fly zone in Washington D.C. yesterday. The two men were arrested but released after police determined they posed no security threat.

Alarms were sounded and police began shouting warnings for people to evacuate. Thirty-five thousand government employees were evacuated from the Capitol, Supreme Court, and other nearby offices buildings.

According to officials, the two men, Hayden Sheaffer and Troy Martin, did not realize the severity of their infraction and refused to divert, citing their right to proceed as they wished. Their maps did not have the latest security limits set in place since 9/11. The pilots did not realize that their situation was grave until four red flares were shot across the plane's nose.

The normal penalty for a pilot who flies into restricted airspace is a suspension of the license for 30 to 120 days.



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Discuss this Article

  • Anarchist on May 12, 2005 at 11:15 PM
    Yep. This discussion really took off.
  • Anarchist on May 12, 2005 at 11:16 PM
    That's a pun, son.
  • amazing on May 12, 2005 at 11:44 PM
    Interesting to think that for a few moments, one small plane was able to bring down the entire U.S. government. A Cessna flown by a couple of hapless amateurs brought all three branches of the government of the most powerful nation on earth to a grinding halt.

    Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.
  • you're all dumb on May 13, 2005 at 11:16 AM
    In response to amazing, the plane did not bring "all three branches of the government... to a grinding halt" they only evacuated 35,000 government employees. There are well over one million government employees in Washington DC alone.
    <3
  • amazing on May 13, 2005 at 1:12 PM
    According to CNN, they evacuated the White House, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol building. Executive, judicial, legislative. All three branches of government.

    So it is YOU who are dumb.
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