onedef92
02-17-2012, 8:43am
Pot plane intrudes on Marine One
Posted: Fri, Feb. 17, 2012, 3:01 AM
WASHINGTON - Two Air Force F-16 fighters intercepted a privately owned Cessna airplane that entered the same Los Angeles airspace as Marine One yesterday as the helicopter was ferrying President Obama.
Police discovered about 40 pounds of marijuana in the plane after it landed at Long Beach Airport, a law-enforcement official said. The official was not authorized to comment publicly about the drugs and spoke under condition of anonymity.
The Secret Service said that the president was never in any danger.
In a statement, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said that it scrambled two F-16 fighters from March Air Reserve Base, in Riverside County, Calif., to intercept a Cessna 182 over Los Angeles about 2:30 p.m. EST.
Secret Service members interviewed the pilot and turned the matter over to local law enforcement.
NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek declined to disclose how close the Cessna came to Marine One.
The Federal Aviation Administration had notified pilots that there was an eight-mile radius around Los Angeles that was off-limits to air traffic yesterday, spokeswoman Brie Sachse said. It was that radius that the Cessna violated.
Sachse declined to release the Cessna's tail number, saying that the agency doesn't identify planes involved in security incidents.
Posted: Fri, Feb. 17, 2012, 3:01 AM
WASHINGTON - Two Air Force F-16 fighters intercepted a privately owned Cessna airplane that entered the same Los Angeles airspace as Marine One yesterday as the helicopter was ferrying President Obama.
Police discovered about 40 pounds of marijuana in the plane after it landed at Long Beach Airport, a law-enforcement official said. The official was not authorized to comment publicly about the drugs and spoke under condition of anonymity.
The Secret Service said that the president was never in any danger.
In a statement, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said that it scrambled two F-16 fighters from March Air Reserve Base, in Riverside County, Calif., to intercept a Cessna 182 over Los Angeles about 2:30 p.m. EST.
Secret Service members interviewed the pilot and turned the matter over to local law enforcement.
NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek declined to disclose how close the Cessna came to Marine One.
The Federal Aviation Administration had notified pilots that there was an eight-mile radius around Los Angeles that was off-limits to air traffic yesterday, spokeswoman Brie Sachse said. It was that radius that the Cessna violated.
Sachse declined to release the Cessna's tail number, saying that the agency doesn't identify planes involved in security incidents.