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Old 10-12-2006, 01:20 AM   #9
creekster
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoyacoug View Post
The fact that an airplane crashed into another building in NYC or the fact that the guy in charge of North American defense didn't know anything was going on until he saw a report of the crash on television?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...10-11-19-07-01

Exactly what purpose are radar and our other detection devices serving? Perhaps we should just have the media patrol the skies...
This does seem to be little more than stirring for the purposes of stirring.

Do you expect our air defenses to keep track of every aircraft (including, for example, ultra-lights, homemade fixed wing, private fixed wing, helicopters and so forth) at all locations and at all altitutdes at all times? Even if being tracked by radar a small plane disappearing from a scope in urban areas means only that it is not giving a signal, but radar doesn't say it ran into a building or that it was full of explosives. NORAD was designed to protect us from the commies who were going to be coming over the horizon. It was not desinged to protet us from a small aircraft piloted by a beginner who apparently could do little else other than hit the broad side of a barn. Especially if the impact is in a media saturated area like NYC, the earliest reports of a plane hitting a building are likely to be on TV or radio. Should NORAD wait for official channel reports beofore reacting or, if NORAD sees somethign on CNN should it act? I think your expectations are unreasonable.
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