When a Mooney strayed to within eight miles of the White House in October, a flight of F-16s reportedly intercepted it and safely escorted the disoriented pilot out of harm’s way. Chances are slim that a professional crew would commit such a faux pas, but pilots of business jets might be interested to know that an aircraft familiar to this industry has been part of the protective screen over the nation’s capital–and elsewhere in the country.
The U.S. Customs Service, now a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), operates a fleet of some 26 specially equipped Cessna Citation IIs from several bases throughout the U.S. Their duties have traditionally focused on patrolling southern borders for drug-trafficking aircraft, but the Citations are available for loan to other government agencies and are sometimes used by Customs for other missions. Low operating costs (compared with military aircraft), 400-knot dash speed and good low-speed capability make the Citations a capable platform for monitoring and corralling errant general aviation aircraft.
More In Regulations and Government
