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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Jetliner prompts U.S. Capitol evacuation

Nothing like a errant aircraft to start out the New Year.





The Politico reporta that police ordered a full evacuation of the Capitol and House and Senate office buildings and scrambled fighter jets for a brief period on New Year's Day after an incoming airliner flew into restricted airspace surrounding the complex, according to a series of messages sent to congressional employees.



The commercial aircraft — a DC-9 that was not responding to radio messages from air traffic controllers, according to one source — was intercepted and guided to Reagan National Airport, Capitol Police told congressional staff.



The FAA told the Associated Press that the aircraft was a Piedmont Airlines flight from Hilton Head, S.C., which lost radio contact due to pilot error. Piedmont is a subsidiary of US Airways.



It was first noticed at 1:30 p.m., triggering an "Aircon Red" — or air condition red — alert. E-mail evacuation notices went out to House and Senate members and staff just after 1:40 p.m., and the all-clear, a return to "Aircon Green," was given about 20 minutes later.



But despite the clearance notice from police, alarms were still audible a mile away from the Capitol more than an hour after the episode was said to have ended and aides reported that they still did not have access to their offices.



More details here



Memeorandum





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