Campaign no-fly zones catching pilots off guard

DALLAS — The F-16 seemed to come out of nowhere.

A recreational pilot was flying with friends when they heard that skydivers were nearby and switched course to check out the scene. Thousands of feet below, President Bush was campaigning near Milwaukee. The pilot had come too close for comfort. He was told to land immediately and questioned by federal agents. As the president and vice president barnstorm the country on final approach to Election Day, pilots of small planes are frustrated with the rising number of no-fly zones put in place after Sept. 11, 2001.

“The pilot just needs to be conscious of where the president is traveling,” said Chris Dancy, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. “You cannot assume that where you could fly yesterday, you’ll be able to fly tomorrow.”

Wherever the president goes, a 60-nautical mile-wide cloud hangs over him. It is designed to protect him from airplanes turned into missiles. The measure has generated complaints as the president’s whirlwind schedule has him visiting as many as six cities in a day.

Pilots are supposed to check air traffic advisories, known as Notices to Airmen.

Small planes can’t fly within 10 nautical miles and 18,000 vertical feet of the president. Within 30 nautical miles, they need to file a flight plan, transmit a unique radar code and communicate with air traffic controllers.

Vice President Dick Cheney has a zone of three nautical miles and 3,000 feet in altitude. Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards can request flight restrictions but have not done so.

“It’s a logical extension of what we do on the ground,” said Charles Bopp, a Secret Service spokesman.

Since Jan. 1, there have been more than 200 presidential no-fly zones, according to the pilots association. The Secret Service does not release the number of breaches because the statistics are considered sensitive. And the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, only says that it has scrambled fighter jets 1,700 times since Sept. 11.

Yet the pilots association said breaches are becoming all too common. During a meeting with pilots in Dallas this summer, the group’s president mapped out the restricted zones to make his point. The East Coast was covered in yellow dots, as were many of the swing states and much of central Texas, where Bush has a ranch.

“What typically has happened is a pilot has just been going for a pleasure flight or just a quick hop from one airport to another,” Dancy said. “None of them have been found to be terrorist related.”

Arlington, Texas, pilot Del Hinton and his family were detained in July after flying back from a Shreveport casino.

Authorities mistook his plane for another plane that had crossed into air space over Bush’s Crawford, Texas, ranch. After he called Flight Services to confirm his route, police let him go.

“They just got the wrong plane because I had landed right behind this guy,” Hinton said. By the time police finished interviewing him, “the guy already parked his plane, fueled and left.”

In a separate case, the recreational pilot confronted by the F-16 said he could now face a 30-to-90 day license suspension. He asked not to be identified because his case is pending and he fears losing his license.

In many cases, a pilot only clips restricted airspace and is given a warning by the air traffic controller. If they fly farther and stay longer, the controller or a fighter jet will signal them to land immediately so local law enforcement can question them.

Penalties range from a warning to a loss of license, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The pilots association said 30-to-60-day suspensions are common.

But if the pilot does not respond to warnings and continues toward the president, the fighter jet could shoot them down.