How Could a Pilot Stumble Into White House Airspace?

May 11, 2005 — -- How on earth could the pilot of a small aircraft in the year 2005 not realize he or she was about to breach the most sensitive no-fly zone in the nation?

The White House and the U.S. Capitol were briefly evacuated today when a small plane entered restricted airspace over Washington, coming within three miles of the executive mansion. Military jets were scrambled to intercept the errant Cessna 152, which landed safely at Frederick Municipal Airport in western Maryland.

It seems bizarre, but the truth is that from the air, downtown Washington, the White House, the Capitol building, and all our central governmental buildings seem pretty small.

After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Washington's Reagan National Airport was closed to general aviation and airspace was within a 15¾-mile radius around the Washington Monument was restricted. Since then, hundreds of small aircraft have wandered into the restricted airspace.

But how can a pilot tell if he or she has gotten too close? From a low altitude and 15 miles out, even an experienced pilot may not visually see the central D.C. area, even on a clear day. When there is a haze or cloudy conditions, it's all but impossible for a pilot using vision alone to remain more than 15¾ miles away. Pilots must instead rely on radio navigation, map reading or Global Positioning Satellite equipment.

And sometimes, because pilots are human and often make mistakes, even all that isn't enough.

It's not that all U.S. certificated pilots aren't aware of the no-fly zone around Washington -- they are. The problem lies in knowing where you are in relation to it.

Navigation errors have been greatly reduced by the use of GPS systems, but even some of the small moving map displays may not be enough when a pilot becomes disoriented -- or worse, believes he or she is somewhere other than where the aircraft is actually flying.

In an ideal world, no private pilot would ever continue on a course to D.C. if there was any doubt whatsoever where that pilot was in relation to the no-fly circle around the city. But this isn't an ideal world, and the number of errors in the past few years leading to alerts shows graphically that the system itself is not sufficient.