The airspace around Camp David was busier than usual over the weekend and there will be some unwelcome letters in the mail for three pilots. NORAD had to scramble F-15E fighters on three separate occasions to shoo errant GA aircraft out of the TFR that surrounds the presidential retreat in Maryland. Two incidents occurred Saturday, one shortly after noon and the other just before 7 p.m. The third, identified by the Associated Press as a Cessna 182, was intercepted about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
The AP says that in each case the fighters were scrambled because the pilots of the light aircraft couldn’t be raised on the radio. Standard procedure is for the offending aircraft to be escorted to an airport outside the TFR where security officials, including the Secret Service, are waiting to interview the pilot. FAA sanctions are likely to follow. President Obama was at Camp David for part of Sunday with his family before heading back to Washington for another week of wrangling over the debt crisis.
