Steve Quayle News Alerts

Dec. 29, 2003
By BRIAN BLOMQUIST, LARRY CELONA & WILLIAM NEUMAN

Despite the city's high terror alert, a pleasure-tripping pilot who got lost on his way home was able to fly his small plane through restricted airspace around La Guardia Airport, down the East River and around the Statue of Liberty, authorities said yesterday.

The incident sparked investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security and had NYPD brass fuming over a dangerous gap in the city's terror-fighting capability.

But red-faced pilot Richard Langone, 47, insisted he was no terror threat in his single-engine Mooney plane.

"I was scared to death," said Langone, of Atlantic Beach, L.I., describing how an NYPD helicopter, armed with machine guns, began escorting him out of the area after he reached the Verrazano Bridge.

"My wife is kicking my ass right now," he said. "She told me, 'What are you, crazy? It's ridiculous!' She's saying there's too much anxiety to go near the city . . . Oh, God, I'm still sick."

Langone got into trouble because his flight path could have interfered with air traffic at La Guardia - not because of any terror-related restrictions on flying over the city - and police sources said the incident highlights concerns over the lack of such safeguards.

Small aircraft were barred from flying along the East or Hudson rivers and around the Statue of Liberty after 9/11, but those restrictions have since been lifted.

"Perhaps in today's environment, the issue of flying near major landmarks should be revisited," said Deputy Police Commissioner Michael O'Looney.

Langone left Republic Airport in Farmingdale, L.I., at about noon with three friends in the four-seater.

They flew to Sky Acres Airport near Poughkeepsie, then headed back home.

Langone decided to use a route he'd never taken before, following the Hudson River down the west side of Manhattan.

But he said he became confused and ended up flying over the Whitestone Bridge and then down the East River - through the restricted airspace around La Guardia.

Air-traffic controllers at La Guardia spotted the plane on radar screens at about 1:45 p.m., but when they were unable to make radio contact, they notified the NYPD.

Police officials ordered aviation units to locate the plane and also called their military counterparts to alert F-18s patrolling the city's airspace.

Langone said that once he was over the East River, he received a radio call telling him he'd entered La Guardia airspace.

He answered that he was heading back to Republic, but after passing the Brooklyn Bridge and heading for the harbor, he decided to first take a sightseeing loop around the Statue of Liberty.

He told The Post he flew within a half-mile of the statue, adding there were other small aircraft in the area.

He then flew over the Verrazano, picking up the NYPD escort on his way back to Republic.

There, he was met by machine gun-toting Nassau County and NYPD cops. He explained his mistake and sources said the cops accepted his explanation and let him go.

Langone, an investment adviser who has been flying for a year and a half, called his jaunt "a horror show."

"Your stomach is turning, you're nervous, you're saying, 'Oh, my God, I'm in trouble,' " he said.

Spokesmen for the FAA and Homeland Security said both agencies will investigate the incident.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/14692.htm