By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON- Moments after the single-engine plane slammed into the New York City high-rise, military and other federal officials were assessing the situation on a conference call. Fighters soon were circling about a half dozen cities, ready to shoot down an attacker if ordered.
It was the kind of swift, coordinated response that could not have happened before the Sept. 11 attacks. But analysts said Thursday that it was not a real test of the country’s upgraded defense system.
“There was nothing unique about yesterday’s event. I don’t think it showed us anything at all,” said Richard Aboulafia, a defense analyst with the Teal Group. “Unfortunately it falls in the category of traffic accident rather than terror.”
Wednesday’s single-engine plane crash killed New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and flight instructor Tyler Stanger. The crash also put the city on edge with scenes of a high-rise building aflame and fragments of an aircraft tumbling to the ground.
Because the plane was not hijacked or reported missing, Aboulafia said there was no test of the coordination and communication needed to identify, prevent or possibly fire on a pilot set on attacking the U.S.
Defense officials, however, said the incident reaffirmed the military’s nimble reaction to what could have been the beginning of a terrorist attack.
“The purpose of that deployment was to be prepared in the event that the initial crash was not an accident but rather the first wave of a follow-on series of terrorist attacks,” said Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense. “I think, by any measure, that deployment of fighter aircraft went very effectively. That was a capability we didn’t have on September 11, 2001.”
The changes since then have focused on improved communications and coordination among the federal agencies responsible for homeland security.
As an example, in a regional command center 20 miles west of Washington, D.C., incidents and potential threats in and above the Capitol are monitored by the officials from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Administration, the military and local law enforcement agencies.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command’s headquarters in Colorado has communications links with air traffic controllers at a number of FAA facilities. The FAA has more than 20 people at NORAD and at regional centers in New York, Florida and Washington state.
On Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD’s radar formed a ring around the U.S. coastline facing outward. Now, it also looks inward.
“We integrated the long- and short-range radar so they are now looking at the internal airspace of the U.S.,” FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.
From Otis Air Force Base on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, Ellington Field in Houston, Selfridge Air National Guard Base near Detroit, and March Air Reserve Base east of Los Angeles, F-16s roared into the air Wednesday afternoon, minutes after the order from NORAD. Other aircraft also responded, but military officials would not provide those details.
All together, McHale said, fighters covered about a half dozen metropolitan areas. Canadian fighters were dispatched to patrol one city in Canada. Four hours after they were ordered aloft, they returned to their bases.
The fighters patrol under new guidelines that spell out exactly how and under what circumstances they can fire on a plane. McHale said there are “a very limited” number of administration officials with the authority to order them to fire.
“We are prepared to shoot down a plane if it is required,” he said.
But as the plane carrying Lidle skimmed down Manhattan’s East River and then smashed into the building, it quickly became evident it was not a terrorist threat.
But what if the plane had carried biological, chemical or nuclear weapons?
McHale said post-Sept. 11 safeguards are meant to prevent such a scenario before the plane gets airborne.
Hans Weber, an aviation safety and security analyst, said small, general aviation aircraft are not a big risk when compared with trains, trucks, cargo ships and other types of transportation.
“The general aviation community, as a whole is on the lookout,” said Weber, president of TECOP International, a consulting company. “They all realize how vulnerable they are to getting shut down if politically it’s decided it’s too big a risk.”
The small planes, he said, cannot carry big loads that would create such a terrorist threat. Weber said pilots and flights are monitored and regulated more than are trucks or ships with larger cargo.
Still, it was a communications breakdown that forced a frantic evacuation on Capitol Hill in June 2004. A small airplane carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher had a broken transponder and flew into restricted airspace over Washington, leading police to believe a hijacked plane might be headed to the Capitol. Air traffic controllers, who knew the airplane did not pose a danger, failed to warn security officials.
Thousands of small airplanes have strayed unintentionally into the restricted airspace over Washington since Sept. 11. A system of ground-based lasers designed to notify pilots that they have entered the prohibited area has not worked well, partly because it cannot warn pilots flying in or above the clouds.
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Associated Press writer Leslie Miller contributed to this report.