(From DCRTV):
CNN reports: “An unresponsive news helicopter in the restricted airspace around the nation’s capital prompted a security scramble Wednesday by an Air Force F-15 and a US Customs Black Hawk helicopter, which intercepted the chopper over suburban Maryland. The helicopter – owned by local TV station WRC – was flying over the traffic-clogged Interstate 270 in suburban Maryland north of Washington and failed to respond to queries by radio from military crews patrolling the area, according Air Force Gen. John Jumper. Jumper, who is the Air Force chief of staff, and Secretary Of The Air Force James Roche were taking questions on a live radio call-in show when two drivers on cell phones called to report seeing the unusual movements of aircraft. Air Force officials said the North American Aerospace Command scrambled the F-15 and Customs helicopter. The traffic helicopter was identified and found to pose no threat to the region. As part of the stepped-up combat air patrols over Washington, Air Force fighters patrol at high altitudes, rapidly covering a large territory, while the US Customs helicopters patrol closer to the ground and at slower speeds”…..
It is to laugh.
WRC-TV bought this chopper a year or so ago, and I’m still puzzling out why. This is not L.A. We don’t have car chases. And the vast majority of the city is a no-fly zone. What WRC usually uses this helicopter for is to show an aerial picture of a place where news happened hours ago. “We’re live at the spot where, earlier today, something happened.”
WhatEVER.
