“The Portland Air National Guard confirms that two F-15 fighter jets "scrambled" the Hawaiian Airlines flight in mid-flight. This means that they met it and escorted it back to PDX. The contact took place at about 1 pm.” —from a report filed by Joel Iwanaga, KOIN-TV Local 6 News
Okay, I can almost understand why the captain of Hawaiian Air Flight 39 reversed course and headed back to Portland. What I don’t understand is why (aside from Oregon Air National Guard pilots needing seat time) it was necessary for the Air National Guard to intercept Flight 39 and escort it back to Portland. Was Flight 39’s pilot lost? Was he too fuckin’ stupid to find his way back to Portland? And what, exactly, were the fighter pilots going to do if Flight 39 didn’t comply, shoot it down?
Seems to me that the people tasked with keeping the rest of us safe from the boogey man and other scary things have got their panties in a twist over nothing—again.
Be afraid, people. Be very afraid. The powers that be love it when you’re so paralyzed by fear that you can’t even think straight. It gives them cover to carry out their real agenda.
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I asked the same question when I read about this. My guess is that they wanted to be in place to, yes, shoot it down if it started to leave its instructed route. Which is still not a very good reason. I don't think shooting down a jet over the metro area would be a whole lot better than having it crashed on purpose. Perhaps your explanation is more accurate: they sent the escort to make sure we were all very concerned and scared.
ReplyDeleteWoooo, Phil.
ReplyDeleteDead to rights.
They should be trembling - if they had any sense of history.
Funny how no one ever comments on how much better they are now than the morning of 9/11 isn't it?
Thanks for your fine reporting.
S
It gives them cover to carry out their real agenda.
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Lockwood, Suzan:
ReplyDeleteI really think there's more going on here than meets the eye. Ten years ago, a minor disturbance aboard an aircraft might have raised a few eyebrows, but it certainly wouldn't have dominated the news for a couple a cycles, nor would it have been cause for military intervention. What a difference a decade makes.