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Early-Warning Planes Now Patrol in Northeast

Posted Wednesday, April 2, 2003
(8:17 PM)
Updated Thursday, April 3, 2003
(8:38 AM)

By Kevin McCoy
USA TODAY

Black Hawk crews try to establish radio contact with unauthorized aircraft and then escort them out of restricted airspace. Restricted space stretches 30 miles from each of the region's major airports. Pilots within that space must identify themselves and follow the commands of the control towers.

THE SKIES OVER NEW YORK
Sophisticated radar planes that are capable of spotting aircraft up to 250 miles away are patrolling the nation's northern border from Wisconsin to Maine to protect against terrorist attacks, federal Homeland Security officials announced Wednesday.

Since the start of the war with Iraq, P-3B Airborne Early Warning planes have joined Black Hawk helicopters and other patrol craft, such as Cessna Citations, in 24-hour patrols to detect and intercept aircraft that stray into unauthorized flight areas or don't identify themselves.

"The presence of these sophisticated aircraft in the skies above our cities gives us one more layer of protection against potential terrorist attacks," said Michael Garcia, acting assistant secretary for the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that launched the patrols as part of the Department of Homeland Security's Operation Liberty Shield.

The radar planes are part of an unarmed airborne security network that began in January with patrols over Washington, D.C. The P-3B is notable for distinctive radar domes atop its fuselage. Their eight-member crews spend up to 10 hours aloft at 20,000 feet, probing the skies for suspicious aircraft.
(More: USA TODAY)
2003 © USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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