On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 20:26:54 -0400, Margy wrote in
::

Are you saying that ATC has never been responsible for airspace
violations?


no, I'm saying they are probably broken down by aircraft and ignoring
ATC as the entire flight is the responsibility of the pilot (even if
they vector you over the mall it's your job to say "you want me to do
WHAT?". I'm not saying it's right or fair or anything like that.


If I recall correctly, recently there was a Kentucky polition's flight
nearly shot down in the DC ADIZ due to ATC errors.


http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...printable.html

The Finger On The Trigger, In D.C....
Fletcher's Flight Almost Shot Down...
Of course, the hubbub in Washington centered around Kentucky Gov.
Ernie Fletcher's near-fatal trip to Ronald Reagan's funeral on
June 9. According to The Washington Post, unnamed sources reported
that the military was on the verge of blasting Fletcher's King Air
out of the Washington sky after it showed up as an unidentified
aircraft on the monitors in the National Capital Region Control
Center (NCRCC). But perhaps they were a bit shy of acquiring a
lock on the target. As AVweb told you two weeks ago, a civilian
contractor failed to notice the manual tracking tags attached to
the radar image of Fletcher's transponder-less airplane and that
triggered the evacuation of the Capitol building and the
scrambling of F-16s. According to the Post, an F-16 was looking
for the King Air but the pilot couldn't visually identify it
because of cloud cover. Moments later, the plane began a normal
approach to DCA and the military called off the attack. Fletcher
told the Lexington Herald that he was originally told he was
"milliseconds" from being shot down. The governor also claims that
through the aftermath of the incident (those on board the plane
were oblivious to the events around them until after they landed)
his thoughts were not on his narrowly spared hide but on the way
the incident would play in the media. "You don't want the state
embarrassed for reasons beyond your control," he said. "The first
few hours that concerned me more than anything. We are trying to
build a good image in Kentucky."

..."Can't Happen Again" Says FAA
The FAA claims it's learned from the incident. "We don't believe
it can happen again," Linda Schuessler, vice president for system
operations at the FAA, told the hearing. A direct feed from
Washington-area air traffic control was to have been installed in
the NCRCC. On June 9, the command post was getting a raw feed of
radar images over the Internet and none of the manually added
tags, like the one clearing the way for Fletcher's flight, were
displayed. With the installation of the direct feed, the NCRCC
staff will see exactly what controllers see. Aviation subcommittee
chair Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said he couldn't believe that kind
of miscommunication could have occurred. "It is both alarming and
unacceptable that in the two and a half years since September 11,
the federal and local agencies involved in airspace control and
security have still not resolved simple coordination,
communication and training issues," he said. The National Air
Traffic Controllers Association blamed the incident on staff
shortages. In a statement, President John Carr said that because
of a shortage of controllers, the ADIZ monitoring position is
filled with civilian contractors. "The situation most likely would
have been avoided had a fully trained and certified federal air
traffic controller been in that chair instead of a contract
employee," Carr said. The FAA has dismissed NATCA's claim, saying
the contractor was properly qualified.