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CNN Live Today

F-16s Scramble Too Late to Protect White House

Aired June 20, 2002 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with what appears to be an untimely response to what could have been a clear and present danger to the White House, and to President Bush, who was inside the White House the time. It's all about the small plane that wandered into restricted airspace, apparently accidentally, and the warplanes that scrambled to meet it. Apparently, there's a new report on that. We have that for you. The controversy has a momentum of its own, and CNN's Barbara Starr joins us from the Pentagon with the latest on the story that you broke for us earlier -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka.

Well, CNN has learned some details of the timeline surrounding that event last night when that small Cessna aircraft approached the White House. And the timeline shows just how quickly the event moved, and raises new questions about security about the airspace around the White House.

Now let's run everyone through this timeline. The event began when at 7:59, this small Cessna aircraft entered restricted airspace. At 8:03, just four minutes later, the FAA called NORAD. That's the North American Aerospace Command, which is the part of the military that monitors the skies over the United States.

One minute later, at 8:04, the Cessna entered prohibited airspace around Washington, D.C.

At 8:06, just two minutes after that, two Air Force f-16 from nearby Andrews Air Force Base were scrambled. That is, they were ordered into the sky off their 15-minute alert status. This is standard procedure when there is perceived there is an aircraft possibly posing a threat.

But at this point, things get very complex, because at this point, the Cessna essentially has now reached its closest point of approach to the White House, possibly passing as close as two miles within the White House area, and the planes simply don't get there on time. They're on a 15-minute alert status. They're in the air, and they intercept the plane 14 minutes later. But at that point, it has passed by the White House, and it if it had posed a threat, there may have been quite a serious problem, officials say.

But at the White House today, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said, there is still plenty of security around the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECY.: Suffice it to say there are multiple levels of protection for the president that are somewhat redundant, that are overlapping. I'm not going to be able to discuss each and every one of those. But again, the Secret Service is extraordinarily good at what they do. The president has full confidence in them. And I think last night's events bore that out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now everyone remembers right after September 11th, there were 24-hour-a-day combat air patrol over Washington D.C. Those were ended several weeks ago. It was understood that they were no longer needed because airport security and airline security had improved. The system worked then the way it was supposed to last night. That 15-minute alert status was met.

But the question now is whether that's enough. As one official said, there may only be two solutions to this problem, either a bigger buffer zone around the White House, more restricted airspace, or going back to 24-hour combat air patrols over the White House -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Barbara, interesting as well, as Ari Fleischer from the White House also said that the president was not moved, because they felt they made a determination early enough in the process that it wasn't necessary, he was not in danger.

STARR: Well, that is what the White House had said. Now, we don't exactly know what was in the minds of the Secret Service. But clearly, they felt the president was not in any danger, and somewhat related is the question of what exact threat these smaller planes do pose. They could pose a threat, but then again, they are small, they fly relatively slowly compared to larger airplanes, and the FAA and the military have taken the position, there is not 100 percent security, especially against these small planes. It just simply can't be done, they say.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Barbara Starr, from the Pentagon. Of course, how does a small plane find its way into a predicament like this. Our Miles O'Brien is helping us get a better view of this aviation potential problem that we're looking at -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, well, we don't want to overstate the threat here. Let's talk about the plane, first of all, Cessna 182, brimming with gas, probably about 3,000 pounds. It probably weighs Less than Chevy Suburban in your driveway right now. As a matter of fact, it would take two Cessna 182s to equal that Chevy Suburban.

Single engine; it's not pressurized. It Can only fly to about 18,000 feet as the surface ceiling. You need to have oxygen for that. This particular plane was flying at 10,500, which is a legal VFR, visual flight rule altitude for that area, with some caveats that I'll tell you about in a minute.

Cruise speed about 160 miles an hour, a four-seater. I should point out, at 10,500 feet. Even if the pilot went into a terminal dive, if you will, red-lined the aircraft to about 200 miles an hour, it would probably only go about 2,000 feet per minute, which means it would take at least five minutes just for it to get from the 10,500- foot altitude to the ground. I don't know what the horizontal separation was between the plane and the White House. It may not be as close to the White House as you might have been thinking.

Let's talk a little bit about this route of flight that this plane was involved in. Gardner, Massachusetts was the point of origin, on their way to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. And as you can see, Washington D.C. is a midway point in this, and it is problematic in the sense that last night at this time if you look a little bit more closely at Washington D.C. and take a look at the weather radar that we've been able to replay from that time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

You will see that Washington D.C. was the scene of some thunderstorms. Those thunderstorms were passing through the area right about the time this small Cessna, which is not on a flight plan that allows them to fly through clouds is going through the area, at an altitude putting in the middle of thunder bumpers. The pilot saw this and decided it was time to do a little detour, which will put him a little bit to the west of his intended flight path on his way to Raleigh-Durham.

So what did that do for him? Well, let me give you a close-up idea of what is going on in the Washington D.C. airspace since 9/11. Now, the mouse ears you see right here, that's pre-existing. That's called class b airspace. If you want to fly in there, you need to talk to a controller, you need to have a transponder, which indicates your altitude. In other words, it enhances your radar picture.

Above and beyond, that however, since 9/11, there's a 15-mile cylinder around the Washington Monument, nothing can go in there in the general aviation category, small planes, below 18,000 feet, and that is apparently where this plane went afoul, trying to avoid that weather.

The potential risk here -- well, it's hard to say. This is a small, light aircraft, September of '94, a plane just about like it crashed into the White House. September 12th, interesting day, 1994. The pilot killed himself an apparent suicide...

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