Boy Pilot Buzzed Military Airspace

Shortly before Charles Bishop flew a single engine, four-seater Cessna into the Bank of America skyscraper in Tampa on Saturday, he flew directly over MacDill Air Force Base. A Florida newspaper also said the Cessna had a close call with a jetliner.

No one in the building was injured and it was expected to reopen Monday, except for an office the plane hit directly.

MacDill is home to Central Command, where the war in Afghanistan is being planned. The 15-year-old's flight has left many wondering how one of the nation's most important military bases could have been so easily flown over. But officials on the base downplayed the incident, saying they knew about the plane but didn't feel it was a threat. Action could have been taken against the teen had officials at the base deemed him a threat, they said.

"There was not a perceived threat," said Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem from MacDill Air Force Base. "I mean, here was a 15-year-old flight student who did something untold and unknown to anybody else. He didn't take off with a flight full of explosives."

Even if he did, MacDill had no fighter jets to scramble. In fact, the base is only protected by machine guns, reports CBS News Correspondent Bobbi Harley.

Instead, two fighter jets from Homestead Air Reserve Base -- 200 miles away -- were sent, but only after Bishop had already crashed.

Lt. Col Rich McClain said the base was notified when the aircraft was about three miles away. It entered base airspace, descended slightly and left one minute later without making any threatening moves, he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board said security measures put in place after the attacks of Sept. 11 worked Saturday. According to officials, the control tower in Tampa immediately started notifying authorities when the plane took off without permission.

Other officials were not as sanguine as those on MacDill Air Force Base.

"This is a new ballgame … we are learning just like everybody else," said Dr. James Sewell of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

There may be good reason to worry about such incidents. Moments after taking off, Bishop's plane passed within 1,000 feet of a Southwest Airlines 737 --- forcing those pilots to slow their climb.

NTSB investigator Butch Wilson said it appears Bishop had full control of the plane after he stole it from the Clearwater flight school where he was taking lessons.

But Wilson said security measures worked as they should have.

"They notified and contacted everybody who was required to be contacted," he said of the air traffic controllers.

Police gave details on Sunday of a suicide note that appeared to show that Bishop was inspired by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Bishop was a "troubled" boy and a loner with few friends, Tampa Police Chief Bennie Holder said. Bishop, Holder said, had expressed "his sympathy for Osama bin Laden and the event which occurred on September 11, 2001."

"From his actions we can assume he was a very troubled young man," Holder said.

In Palm Harbor, police unrolled yellow crime scene tape Sunday outside the apartment complex where Bishop lived with his mother, while detectives and FBI agents interviewed family members.

Neighbors said the boy kept to himself, and investigators for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the boy spent much time alone in his room. Investigators seized computers from the home.

But English teacher Andrea Panarelli described 15-year-old Charles Bishop as a "sweet" and "intelligent" boy. She said he was friendly -- and that he had a good sense of humor.

She and another teacher took issue with the portrayals of the boy as a loner with few friends.

Panarelli said reporters must be "asking the wrong people."

Journalism teacher Gabriella Terry said her class discussed current events every day, and that Bishop was angry over the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. She said he even told her he wanted to join the Air Force, to help keep things like that from happening.

Holder said there is no indication Bishop specifically targeted the building or "had any intention of harming anyone else."

Investigators said Bishop had no history of mental problems and did not appear to be using illegal drugs.

Tampa Mayor Dick Greco told the St. Petersburg Times editions that Bishop hinted of something calamitous the day of the flight.

"If something happens to me, don't let any of my enemies come to my funeral," the mayor said Bishop told his grandmother after she dropped him off for his lesson.

Bishop also recently told certain classmates to watch the news, Greco said.

The suicide note, a few paragraphs handwritten on plain white paper, was not addressed to anyone specifically, said police spokeswoman Katie Hughes. Bishop did not mention his family in it, nor did he say goodbye to anyone, she said.

Bishop's grandmother had taken him to the National Aviation Academy flight school at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport for a 5 p.m. flying lesson on Saturday, authorities said.

He took off without waiting for an instructor who wa supposed to accompany him. At 15, Bishop was a year too young to fly solo and two years too young to earn a pilot's license.

News of the note police found stunned Bishop's fifth-period algebra teacher, who described him as a bright, disciplined student who was well-liked by his classmates.

"I'm floored. Totally floored," said Rayette Bouldrick. "He always had a smile. He was always pleasant and respectful."

President Bush was briefed on the incident and the White House officials had been in touch with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and the Federal Aviation Administration, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Two other small planes crashed Saturday, one on a Colorado hillside near Boulder, and another in a vacant field near Los Angeles.

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