Capitol Plane Scare Blamed On Lack of Communication

At 3:45 p.m., at least 25 minutes after takeoff, the pilot notified the FAA's Washington Center that his identification transponder was not working properly. FAA regional controllers then manually entered the aircraft's flight identification number and type on an electronic "data tag" visible on FAA computer displays, FAA officials said.

But the information was not given to the Herndon defense center, whose Internet-based air control display showed only an unidentified target approaching the center of the city, officials said. When the aircraft entered the D.C. Air Defense Identification Zone about 50 miles west of Washington at 4:24 p.m., traveling at 240 mph, air defense officials ordered the fighter jets and helicopter to intercept it one minute later.

FAA ground controllers realized their error at 4:34 p.m., three minutes after the Capitol evacuation was ordered, with the aircraft about 11 miles, or three minutes, away. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement helicopter and a Cessna Citation lifted off as the Kentucky plane was on final approach to Reagan National Airport.

The communications glitch lasted five to seven minutes but occurred at the worst possible time, with Homeland Security forces at high alert and numerous aircraft aloft in the region, Martin said. A military spokesman and U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer said, however, that the interception of the airplane and the evacuation of the Capitol were conducted effectively and appropriately.

But Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William H. Pickle noted: "Anytime you move thousands of people from a place, there's a potential for harm. There's also a potential for harm for the people inside the aircraft if the military had had to intervene in some capacity."

Fletcher's chief of staff, Daniel Groves, said last night that no one aboard the governor's twin-engine propeller-driven Beech Kingair 200 saw anything amiss or heard from air controllers that there was a problem.

"All indications are that our pilots did nothing wrong. They were following the exact directions given by air traffic controllers," Groves said.

The FAA yesterday issued a notice to aviators reiterating that aircraft must have an operating transponder before entering restricted Washington airspace. The agency will also install direct radar feeds from the regional FAA traffic control station to the Herndon center "within the next few weeks" so that both civilian and security air controllers have identical display information.

At yesterday's news conference, held to respond to the Sept. 11 commission report, FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey and aides said the agency has integrated its long-range radar into the radar system used by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, whose jets are responsible for defending the continental United States and Canada. NORAD now has the ability to view air traffic across the continental United States, they said.

Staff writer Griff Witte contributed to this report.