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Renegade Canadian plane causes evacuation of Capitol
Stolen aircraft does not respond to jets after scaring police
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State Capitol police evacuated the Capitol building at about 5 p.m. Monday after learning a stolen Canadian plane could be on its way to Madison.
According to Capitol Police, Brig. Gen. Don Dunbar, Wisconsin’s Homeland Security advis-or, ordered the evacuation of the building as a precaution. Capitol Police blocked the entrances, and doors to the building were also locked.
Lt. Commander Gary Ross of the North American Aerospace Defense Command said the plane was stolen from Thunder Bay, Ontario, by a student pilot, and took off without permission from Canadian authorities.
The plane entered United States airspace at approximately 4:25 p.m. Two U.S. F-16 fighter jets then attempted to intercept the plane, although the pilot was unresponsive to the fighter jets’ specific nonverbal commands, Ross said.
Canadian authorities tracked the plane while it remained in Canadian air space. Upon entering the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration began tracking the plane, Ross added.
The plane came into Wisconsin at about 4:43 p.m. after crossing the Michigan-Wisconsin border, Ross said, when fighter jets continued to attempt to intercept the plane as it headed southwest. The plane eventually left the state and was headed south towards St. Louis.
Ross added the F-16s and a U.S. Border Patrol plane would stay with the plane until it landed, when law enforcement would take over.
According to The Associated Press, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the plane landed on U.S. Highway 60, 23 miles northwest of Poplar Bluff in southeastern Missouri.
After landing, the pilot ran away, with local law enforcement officials responding afterwards. Throughout his flight, the pilot had no communication with the fighter jets.
Gov. Jim Doyle was not present at the time of the evacuation, after spending the day in Chicago testifying in front of the International Olympic Committee to express his support for the city’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.
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Why did we let this guy keep flying? He should have been greased by air to air missiles. Now we just showed terrorists how meek and mild we are. We won’t even protect our own airspace from unidentified planes flown in from a foreign country. How sad. The land of the free and the home of the brave has been reduced to hand-wringing weenies! I really hate that.
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8:03, the guy never seemed to be any threat. If he had dropped his altitude and set his sights directly for the Capitol, I’m sure Obama would have gotten a call and given the order to shoot it down.
NORAD and the national guard were on top of it, and responded appropriately given the situation.