The Unauthorized Plane That Didn’t Attack D.C.

From a person on the ground near the Capitol.

Source: Unsplash

Here’s a non-impeachment-related way to cause mayhem in D.C. — fly a small unauthorized plane into the National Capital Airspace Region.

Let me start at the beginning. While driving to my work in the middle of the bustling D.C. metropolis this morning, I realized that Independence Avenue — the road in front of the Capitol Building that Google Maps swore I had to drive on — was closed off.

White barricades with the words STOP in red letters were placed on the road. Police cars flew by, sirens blaring. And traffic was backed up for blocks and blocks. You know, just a typical morning in DC.

I shrugged it off, like any 99% sane individual in America would do. (-1% because I hadn’t drunk my morning coffee yet.) After all, security concerns in the nation’s capital are a daily event.

Is that a threatening person on the metro? Okay, the metros are closed now. Is that a violent protestor near the White House? Okay, Constitution Avenue is blocked off. Every week there is some security concern, some building closure, some police action and then usually a false alert.

So I jumped out of my car and decided to walk up Independence Avenue, instead of driving around the blockade…