WASHINGTON, 12 May 2005 — Fighter jets scrambled as the White House and the US Capitol were evacuated yesterday after a small plane entered restricted airspace. Military jets took to the air and fired warning flares.
Two men in the aircraft were later taken into custody at a Maryland airport where the plane landed after a military escort, said Capitol Police Chief Terence Gainer.
“This appears to be errant pilots,” he said. He said officials were concerned because the plane appeared to be “on a straight-in shot toward the center of the Washington area.”
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the plane came within three miles of the White House. President Bush was not there at the time. Security officials in several other government buildings, including the Treasury Department and the US Supreme Court, ordered people to safer locations.
Bush was biking at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in suburban Maryland, McClellan said. Vice President Dick Cheney, in the White House, was moved to a “secure location” elsewhere, said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
First lady Laura Bush and former first lady Nancy Reagan, who is staying at the White House for a special event at the Reagan building, also were evacuated and taken to a secure location.
Congressional leaders were hustled from the Capitol by armed officers. The threat level at the White House was raised to red — the highest — for eight minutes.
The incident began at 11:28 a.m. when Federal Aviation Administration radar picked up the aircraft, a small two-seater Cessna 150 with high wings, officials said. The aircraft breached the security zone over Washington, law enforcement officials said, prompting alerts across the city.
Gainer said the first alert went out when the plane was 34 kilometers — 17 minutes — from the city.
Two Black Hawk helicopters were dispatched at 11:55 a.m. from Reagan National Airport, according to an FAA official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The plane was also approached by two F-16 fighter aircraft, scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base. They fired four warning flares. The military aircraft escorted the plane to the Frederick Municipal Airport in Frederick, Maryland. The two unidentified men were being held by Maryland state police at the airport in Frederick.
The plane was registered to the Vintage Aero Club in the Lancaster County city of Smoketown, Pa.
The incident sparked a flurry of emergency activity throughout the capital, which was targeted on Sept. 11, 2001 and has been under a heightened state of alert since then.
Armed security officers raced through the Capitol shouting for people to leave. “This is not a drill,” guards shouted as they moved people away from the building.
Sen. Richard Shelby was on the Senate floor when police told him they needed to evacuate. “They said get out of here, so I ran. There’s no joking about this kind of stuff,” Shelby said.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert was on the House floor talking to members when the evacuation siren went off. He left quickly with his security detail.
Large black armored SUVs often used by House and Senate leaders sped away from the Capitol as a military jet flew overhead.
“People were surprised. I was surprised,” said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was on the House floor when the evacuation began. “There was so much commotion in the gallery. People were yelling in the gallery. We thought something had happened in the gallery, and then the alarm came to evacuate.”
Sarah Little, an aide to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. said the order to evacuate came over the special pager devices that every congressional office has. “They said ... there is an imminent aircraft threat,” she said.
— With input from agencies
