A wealthy Chicago-area woman of retirement age decided to take her hobby plane out for a spin during President Obama's visit, without bothering to check on flight restrictions first, or even have her radio on during the flight. When F-16s scrambled to evaluate a potential threat, she claims she thought they were just slowing down to admire her cute little plane (which recently won a prize at the EAA airshow). Once on the ground, she was forced to fill out a report with the FAA, and she complained that they listed her age.
I don't for a minute believe this woman is stupid or senile. She is so accustomed to getting her way and not being required to follow the rules that most of us must follow that she fully expects to get off scott-free, with her pilot's license intact. Her attitude reminds me of Leona "Only the Little People Pay Taxes" Helmsley. She claims that she usually checks online for flight restrictions before going out, but her computer wasn't working properly that day, so she skipped it. I suspect that she rarely, if ever, bothers. Another possibility is that her little flight was meant as a giant F-U to the adminstration, so she could laugh about it with her friends the next time she is entertaining.
What she did is exactly the sort of thing that terrorists do to test security before a big strike. Can you imagine the outcry if the pilot of the small plane had been a man of Middle Eastern or South Asian origin rather than a wealthy older white woman? Chances are, the pilot would be cooling his heels in a military brig somewhere while his background and actions were investigated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Oh...you mean like the "You can't make me pay a little for my retirement and benefits" attitude? You mean like the "screw the taxpayers. So what if they're out of work and tapped out by our crazy compensation packages". That attitude?
And please, no "but Walker...."
"Making" others take a cut in benefits is exactly the problem.
Walker took away collective bargaining so he could dictate to the workers, rather than negotiate with them. He wants to "make" everyone simply follow his orders, with feedback/counter-offers from the workers now banned by law.
I see it as ending the collusion between the unions and the local governments and school boards and instead finally protecting the taxpayer.
The unions can still negotiate salary, instead of dictating to the taxpayer. If you believe there was some kind of "negotiation" going on, you are not paying attention. Former teachers are the rule on the local school boards. Do you really think they care about the taxpayer (or children) more than they care about their union brethren? If you do, you are again, not paying attention and have never worked in a union environment.
"'Compromise' is always in the direction of bigger government, more spending and greater debt."
Wow, a lot of assumptions shows me that you must have some hate toward elderly white women.
Yes, there is a difference an elderly white haired woman and a man who is about 25 years old of Middle Eastern descent- theree have been no terrorist attacks by elderly white haired women.
Maybe I missed it in the article, but where did it say she was a Republican? A lot of elderly white haird women voted for Obama, including my mom. Maybe she is terrorist material?
But this also illustrates the stupidity of the Secret Service and closing down air space, especially small aircraft. When Obama flies into Vegas, they close down all 3 small airports in Vegas for Obama's entire stay, which in some cases, several days. Not blaming Obama, mind you, but the Secret Service is overreacting.
What tripped my trigger on this story (as a proud member of the Experimental Aircraft Association since 1970) is that she said she thought the F-16 pilots just wanted to get a closer look at her nicely restored Cub J-3 airplane. And that she had her radio OFF (in the busiest air traffic control zone in the midwest).
Time for grandma to park the Cub - forever.
Dan and Deekaman, do you really think it is OK for any hobby pilot to fly a small plane in restricted airspace with the radio off? Do you really think it's OK for different rules to apply to different demographic groups? Because that is what your comments seem to be advocating. I must have "hatred" toward elderly white women because I want them to obey the law or face the consequences?
While I can't think of any elderly white female terrorists yet, I can think of a couple elderly white male American terrorists (the one who shot the security guard in the Holocaust Museum, and the one who came to Madison to shoot abortion doctors). There were also two younger white females who took shots at President Ford.
Dan, do you really not understand why small planes are included in airspace restrictions during a Presidential visit? Remember that nutcase who rammed a small plane into a building in Texas?
Jill: I don't think you read my comment. I made no indication of approval of the pilot.
Deekaman, I admit I had a hard time figuring out what your comments had to do with my original post, so I misconstrued your meaning.
Post a Comment