I can testify that it now takes about 5 minutes to intercept a questionable aircraft. The seaplane pictured below landed on my lake this afternoon. It was quiet a surprise to see this thing flying past my window, especially considering that I live on a 'no motor' lake in the middle of Gainesville, FL.
Within about 5 minutes of this thing landing, a police helicopter showed up and circle around and around the seaplane which by then had pulled up on the bank over by a hotel on the other end of the lake. Within another 5 minutes after that a squad car was on the scene.
Anyway, it just blew me away that on 9-11 three planes hit their targets and not a single one was intercepted. Now a little seaplane who probably had permission to be in the area is intercepted within less than 5 minutes. Go figure? I guess we can take some comfort that no one is going to hijack a plane in the US again and not be intercepted in short order.
West Palm Beach PostTom Goodwin of Nassau, Bahamas, made a quick stop with his single-engine seaplane at the South Causeway Park boat ramps along the Fort Pierce Inlet on Monday afternoon. Goodwin landed on the inlet and floated to the docks to check in with U.S. Customs and to add some fuel to the plane's tanks. Goodwin was flying from the Bahamas to Georgia to look at a new plane