F-16s intercept single-engine plane in Denver area

AP Graphics

(AP) CENTENNIAL, Colo. - A single-engine plane that entered a temporary no-fly zone in the Denver area has landed without incident after the military scrambled two F-16s to intercept it.

The plane was intercepted after President Barack Obama spoke in Golden, Colo., around 11 a.m. Thursday but before he flew out of Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora a few hours later.

North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, says the plane was out of radio communications around 12:30 p.m., when Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson says the plane flew near Buckley.

Robinson says the F-16s escorted the plane to Centennial Airport south of Denver, where authorities determined the pilot made an honest mistake. Robinson says the pilot regularly flies from Wyoming to Colorado and somehow missed the notice on restricted air space.

[AOCGUY]

Bet he will check NOTAMs from now on.

[karek40]

The pilot assumed (rightly) that the route he normally flys hasn't suddenly become restricted. It is a sad state of affairs when the President by his very presence can change where we can and cannot go. Another freedom lost. Perhaps we should institute a constitutional amendment to confine all presidents and their immediate families (those protected by no fly zones) to Washington D.C. for their entire term of office. Maybe even restrict them to the white house. Look at the benefits, money saved (they don't flit about the country and world) Their focus would be on the U.S. not the globe. They would be on the job (not on vacation). They wouldn't be bowing to Islamic kings. Hmmm

[AOCGUY]

karek, You are inccorrect. The pilot should never assume anything. NOTAMs are readily available and he should check them everytime he prepares to fly.

[Jaylah54200]

I'm guessing he was happy to get home to change his underwear!