Presidential helicopters fly into approach of American Airlines MD-80

[Bluebear]

(CBS) CHICAGO Two sources have confirmed there was a close call at O'Hare Airport involving President Bush and his helicopter flight party when they when they took off from O'Hare for Montgomery, Illinois earlier this week.

An airline pilot tells CBS 2 he is still shaken, by what he saw when he came in for a landing. Military choppers were flying directly toward him, over his landing runway.CBS 2's aviation expert Jim Tilmon reports this exclusive story.

Aircraft in the president's party are choreographed to fly under very strict rules. Wednesday morning his helicopters were all instructed to fly north of an active landing runway at O'Hare until further clearance. But the two lead helicopters, believed to be carrying members of the press corps and presidential staff, elected to fly almost directly down the center line of that active runway.

An American Airlines MD-80 with passengers was approaching that runway in the opposite direction to land. That's when the airline pilots saw the two helicopters at low altitude heading right toward them. The MD-80 aborted the landing, making an abrupt left, climbing turn. The lead helicopter also turned left, avoiding a possible collision.

At that point the airline pilots saw the president's helicopter, Marine One. A spokesman for the White House told CBS 2 he was on one of the Marine helicopters and knows nothing about this incident.

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_223224334.html

[madeline_con]

1. the "spokesman for the White House " would...

run interference in a CYA tactic, anyway.

Hotdogging in Marine One. That's a good way to lose a President.
:think:

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Hmmm I find it very curious

at multiple levels

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[madeline_con]

5. "I wonder why they all let George go ..."

That's definitely something to think about. He's on a helicopter "joyride", and Cheney's safely on the ground.

Remember, on 9/11, they let George sit in the classroom trying to read "My Pet Goat" for quite a while, as Cheney was whisked off to an "undisclosed location".

DUH-bya was at a place that was announced to the world minutes before the events went down, and could easily have been taken out by anyone determined to do so.

Getting the boss out of harm's way is basic protocol, so it's very telling as to who the valuable one is.

[wli]

4. so Cheney wants to dump the chimp and be prez himself

Somehow I don't find the thought of Cheney being given presidential power to establish death camps for Democrats remotely comforting.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[wli]

7. remember Cheney's conversation with Wellstone before he died?

Not many people survive rousing Cheney's ire.

[Name removed]

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[nadinbrzezinski]

9. no he is not loyal to Sharon

he is loyal to greed, and himself, he will sell his mother for some money

[Name removed]

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[nadinbrzezinski]

13. no they are different and the sooner people realize this the better

Cheney would nuke israel tomorrow if he thinks the Israelis are now fully expendable...

[Name removed]

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[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Problem is, the level of evil that Sharon has been capable off

is nothing compared to the power and capacity this administration has.

Israel, is not capable of starting WW III, now these boys, as soon as they nuke Iran, which is coming....

oh and by the way this is not for Israel, as much as many people want to believe this, what they are doing is for profit and the corporation and as soon as people understand this the better (including the Israelis by the way, who are fully disposable)

[Name removed]

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[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Mike Malloy said that the Israeli arsenal is to counter the US

they have enough to ensure MAD with US.

[Name removed]

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[madeline_con]

12. This is beginning to play out like a B-rated spy flick...

"For all we know, Bush has been trying to save our lives."

That's profoundly strange and eye-opening!

"Cheney is the real horror, and he is not loyal to this government."

Right, he was shmoozing it up with the Chinese during the "near miss".

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. I've said this for years

I write fiction for a living and I could not sell this plot anywhere.

[madeline_con]

16. "I could not sell this plot anywhere ..."

Truth is stranger, huh?

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. yeah, but using a lot of this crap for the fluff of the game I am writing

Ah yes Hallas Industries, Halliburton on Steroids and it has gone interstellar.

[madeline_con]

22. "Hallas Industries..." Sweet hyperbole...

I'm currently into ridicule of the WH crew.

I tried to do a cheap immitation of Ann Coulter, but she's become crushingly boring since her brush with plagiarism.

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. Hey Katzenberg is not less evil

and the boys at Perrin, they run a company store at Sirius, only reason they are not Walmart, (they are) is if they were the largest one it would be way too obvious

If you want, go read some of it

deistgames.com

(shameless plug)

Of course the Metaphysical Societies are back in bidness... not that msot players get the joke.

Now to bed with me

[madeline_con]

26. (shameless plug)

You've disabled your profile, the site should be listed there. (??)

I'll check it. Peace out...

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. thanks never enabled it really until now

[madeline_con]

10. That's phrased beautifully! LOL!

"... establish death camps for Democrats ..."

They'll have to repeal that pesky 2nd amendment.

[Hekate]

20. They let Chimpy play pilot?!

:wow:
Good thing God is his co-pilot. :sarcasm:

Hekate

[madeline_con]

23. I don't think he was actually at the helm...

or the story didn't seem to indicate it. :shrug:

[Hekate]

28. Didn't really thing so -- but the image is riveting! nt

[madeline_con]

29. And eyewitness video of the horrifc crash ...

... at O'hare would be fun. "Breakig news, Soledad... "

Maybe Wolf Blitzer would have it in the "Situation Room". :rofl:

[Bluebear]

30. Oh my GOD could you imagine?????.............PHOTO:.

[Hekate]

31. Shudder. "President Cheney"

Yeah, yeah, I know -- he's already the power behind the throne. But still.

Was thinking of Jr's bad driving record, his walking away from being a jet pilot, his fake landing on the aircraft carrier for the photo op... He probably *would* do something bizarre like fly down the middle of a non-cleared runway at a major airport, because "having power is being president."

Hekate

[charlie]

32. Yes, indeed he would

Evans said he'd love to go flying. At the airport he watched Bush stare at the controls, at the panel, and he realized that Bush - though not admitting it - had no idea how to fly the thing properly. After finally figuring out how to launch the plane, Bush pushed the Cessna hard down the runway. Evans screamed, "Give it some gas!" The Cessna's warning system was blinking and crackling. Bush tried to lift his craft fast, almost as if he were piloting a jet back in the Texas Air National Guard. The plane wobbled into the air, and the unsubtle maneuvering threatened to shove it into a stall. Now the rented plane was rattling in the sky over Midland

The endless petrochemical complexes, all the aluminum and steel and smoke stacks that pockmark the Permian Basin, were spiking up just below the aircraft. Bush nervously turned to Evans, put his hand on his knee and blurted in his self-mocking West Texas way, "Okay, Evvie, I’ve got it under control."

After more seemingly endless moments, he somehow got control of the plane again. He aimed the aircraft down, and the landing was as shaky and brutal as the takeoff. The plane careened off the runway and onto the desert. Evans sighed in relief. Then an unbelieving Evans braced himself as Bush suddenly and unexpectedly spun the plane and bounced back along the runway. Evans stared at Bush. He could see the fear and panic flooding his face. Bush pressed on. Evans had no idea why Bush wanted to go again. The plane wobbled uncertainly back into the West Texas skies, and Bush turned to Evans. "Hey," said Bush airily, as if he had just had an original, amusing idea, "let's fly around Midland."

...

(Same story, different account)

Donnie Evans remembered a similar story involving an airplane. He told David Maraniss that less than a year after George W. first got back to Midland he came over to Donnie's house and told him he wanted to take a single-engine Cessna for a little joyride. They drove over to the airfield and got in the plane. Then George W. realized he didn't have a clue how to fly a Cessna.

"The guy didn't even know how to start the thing," Evans reportedly said. "That was a bad omen. Finally we get it started and roll down the runway, and he tries to take it straight up like a jet! We go into a stall, buzzcrs are going off. I say, 'Give it some gas!' We finally get it airborne, and he decides he better turn around and go back. I can tell he's nervous, but he says, 'Okay, Evvie, got it under control.' We come down and he lands half on the runway and half on the grass. And then he pats my leg and says don't worry, and he takes it up again. This time he's so scared he says, 'Hey, let's fly around Midland.' He had to get his confidence up. Somehow we got back safely. He's never flown again.

http://www.seanet.com/~johnco/bush102.htm

[Hekate]

33. I vividly remember reading that

just couldn't work it in right. Thanks for the retelling. The guy really has major weenie problems and the need to prove he's more macho than anyone else on earth.

Hekate