f-16's almost scrambled to shoot down uav in washington

[tom d. friedman]

read in the paper last week that f-16's were ALMOST scrambled to shoot down a uav that strayed briefly into restricted air space, in washington by the white house!! this opens a new can of worms for the faa as how is the uav operator supposed to know what is designated restricted airspace while being at a console with a joy stick controller 1000 miles away?? now with the dea, fbi, border patrol & other government agencies now starting to use them this could be a real problem!!

[Randy Haskin]

how is the uav operator supposed to know what is designated restricted airspace while being at a console with a joy stick controller 1000 miles away??

All of the AF's UAVs (now designated 'RPAs' or Remotely Piloted Aircraft) have GPS receivers, and their position is relayed to the pilot and plotted on a moving map display in the control cab. A Prohibited area like P-56 around Washington DC will be plotted on that map.

[tom d. friedman]

hi randy, rpa rpa rpa!!!! i've got to get used to the new designation!!! what could have happened in the episode that it strayed briefly into restricted airspace??

[Randy Haskin]

hi randy, rpa rpa rpa!!!! i've got to get used to the new designation!!! what could have happened in the episode that it strayed briefly into restricted airspace??

Well, by my understanding it was a Navy UAV...so, ya know...anything is possible.

[CAPFlyer]

...what could have happened in the episode that it strayed briefly into restricted airspace??

Many, many, very expensive parts of an RPA fluttering down on whatever was under it at the moment the AIM-120 forcibly dismantled it.