Maule Driver wrote in news:ajsge.22624
:

It doesn't take much to generate a violation. Gotta be an idiot to
scramble fighters.

No, that's easy enough to do in some areas. I've had fighters scrambled
on me. I was flying a helicopter in the Gulf of Mexico, inbound,
squawking our normal code, but the transponder had glitched internally,
and was not squawking the code set in the windows. I had no way of
knowing this, though, and the first I knew of it an F16 was trying to fly
formation on my Bell 206, doing all of 90 knots or so. This was 10 years
or so ago, and I wasn't violated, just had to call after I landed on an
offshore platform and explain that I had the right code in the
transponder. I then called and got a replacement helicopter sent out,
and the one I had been flying was taken in for a transponder replacement.

I also had a USN P3 AWACS plane come down and take a look at me, although
I hadn't penetrated the ADIZ, having only been a few miles offshore, and
I was just flying along the beach.

Sometimes the USAF reserve pilots just need some flight time, and they
might scramble when it's not really necessary, although that's probably
less likely nowadays.

--
Regards,

Stan

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." B. Franklin