So which is more troubling...

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by creekster

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.

I expect them to be aware of airplanes flying at 500 feet over Manhattan, yes. Once they find that airplane (whose flight plan could NOT have included flying at 500 feet over Manhattan) going outside of their flight plan, I would expect them to immediately respond rather than wait for crash reports on tv.