Philip Greenspun writes today about restricted airspace and flying near a Presidential Candidate last Friday:
Flying down to the Eastern Shore of Maryland on Friday I got a good preview of what life will be like for New England pilots should Kerry be elected. Flying over Connecticut on a magnetic heading of approximately 230 I was monitoring 121.5 megahertz, the standard emergency frequency. I heard the following call “Aircraft heading 230 at an altitude of approximately 4200′: This is the U.S. Air Force. You are in a restricted area and must immediately turn to a heading of 360 or you may be fired upon.” Note that the Air Force did not say where the plane was, not even which state. I assumed that this was a puny Cessna somewhere near York, Pennsylvania where Kerry and Edwards were doing a tour but could not rule out the possibility that it was my plane.
Definitely not something I’d want to hear while piloting an aircraft.