Feel safe. The NYPD has SAMs!

I can see it now...

"A Cessna 150, a dangerous, single-pilot aircraft, was headed straight for a building. It would've been there in 5 minutes. Yes, that may have been lots of time for it to turn around but just think of the children!

Two were killed when the plane was shot down, a man and his son."
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I can see it now...
"A Cessna 150, a dangerous, single-pilot aircraft, was headed straight for a building. It would've been there in 5 minutes. Yes, that may have been lots of time for it to turn around but just think of the children!
Two were killed when the plane was shot down, a man and his son."
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"Also 26 children and 8 adults were killed and 7 more were maimed for life when the burning wreckage fell into a small daycare playground. Your safety in the ongoing battle against terrorism is assured."

I wonder if they'll have officers posted around the city far enough out and high enough to get a clear shot to take down airliners into empty fields instead of shooting up between the buildings where they can't do squat until it's too late anyway. Changing the location of the firey crash from the intended buildings to another set of buildings doesn't really do much good.
 
How far it is it, flight time wise, from LaGuardia to the new WTC?

I hope officer SAM has quick reflexes. They also have to time the shot so the wreckage goes into the Hudson instead of Manhattan.
 
mikea said:
How far it is it, flight time wise, from LaGuardia to the new WTC?
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Depends on the plane, obviously, but only a couple of minutes. The real answer is: "Not long enough to accurately detect the threat, much less mobilize the appropriate response crew."

I hope officer SAM has quick reflexes. They also have to time the shot so the wreckage goes into the Hudson instead of Manhattan.
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Which wouldn't happen. Sully did it on purpose.
 
I think it should probably be of no concern to anyone, since I am sure, no single officer would be authorized to make the decision to fire on anything, without approval from somewhere up the chain of command.

Since the NYPD is one of our nations oldest bureaucracies, by the time the request to fire a SAM works it's way through all the committees, union delegates, and upper command structures, any threat will be long since over with.

The SAMs are nothing more than cake decorations, they should not be taken seriously by anyone.

John
 
Report I heard was not SAMs, it was 50 caliber automatic weapons mounted on police helicopters. :hairraise:

They also talked about pulling over recreational boaters in the Hudson for tripping radiation detectors and harassing folks that recently had radiation therapy or implanted "seeds".
 
Now we know why MANPADS is in the Pilot/Controller Glossary.

What concerns me the most is the commissioner admits to having his own spooks in foreign cities. How constitutional is it that a city goes into another sovereign nation soley to conduct it's own surveillance?

And if they are in cities in other nations why wouldn't they be planted in your own town?

Of course, we can't forget the cameras everywhere. Bulging veins, perspiration, nervous facial expressions?, that's it buddy, you're going downtown!
 
fgcason said:
"Also 26 children and 8 adults were killed and 7 more were maimed for life when the burning wreckage fell into a small daycare playground. Your safety in the ongoing battle against terrorism is assured."
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You left something out.

Janet Napolitano released a statement BEFORE the wreckage hit the ground proclaiming that the system worked and no DHS procedures were violated.
 
mikea said:
:hairraise: Thank FSM Mare Daley is out of office!
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...and in other news, the Dept of Agriculture has a swat team used to collect late college loan payments.

We are getting all the gov't we're paying for and it scares us to death.
 
They're already raising tolls and transit fares to pay for the new WTC; now they want NYPD gunships!! :eek:

I don't feel any safer... in fact, my wallet is in more danger than ever. :nonod:

Seriously, though, even if such helicopters were on patrol over downtown on 09/11/01, they'd have been useless. Up until the second plane impacted Tower 2, the authorities were not even sure it was a hijacking/terrorist event.
But even if we assume they had warning, and were sent to intercept and splash one of these airliners, how would they manage it? All of the hijacked airliners that day hit their targets going about as fast as they could go. It would take a very, very lucky shot for any helicopter to eliminate that threat with a machine gun... then of course the crippled airliner would have to conveniently go into the river or the harbor, or the casualties could potentially be as great as the impact/collapse victim numbers for the two towers. Might as well have officers taking potshots with handguns from the street.
 
rottydaddy said:
...Seriously, though, even if such helicopters were on patrol over downtown on 09/11/01, they'd have been useless. ...
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What that got to do the price of tomatoes?

If the DHS and TSA were on patrol on 09/11/01 or as they were, for the Christmas of the undie-bomber and the shoe bomber, nothing that happened that day would have changed.
 
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rottydaddy said:
. Might as well have officers taking potshots with handguns from the street.
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That wouldn't be the same. Officers taking potshots with a 9mm are only going to result in a relative handful of bystander causalities. 50 caliber machine guns blasting away over New York City could easily yield hundreds.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
That wouldn't be the same. Officers taking potshots with a 9mm are only going to result in a relative handful of bystander causalities. 50 caliber machine guns blasting away over New York City could easily yield hundreds.
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Ees not the same because they already can shoot 9mms at the range. The 50 cals are new lotsa louder fun.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
That wouldn't be the same. Officers taking potshots with a 9mm are only going to result in a relative handful of bystander causalities. 50 caliber machine guns blasting away over New York City could easily yield hundreds.
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Exactly my point- or the other side of it, I guess. I think we agree it's a terrible idea.
 
mikea said:
What that got to do teh price of tomatoes?

If the DHS and TSA were on patrol on 09/11/01 or the Christmas of the undie-bomber nothing that happened that day would have changed.
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I'm not saying it isn't just more of the same gov't-funded stupidity, believe me! It's equal (in waste and uselessness) to any of the theatrical flourishes made since 2001 in the name of "security".
 
A shoulder launched SAM would damage an airliner and perhaps eventually cause it to crash from a fire spreading, but I doubt it would be enough to cause immediate destruction to the target aircraft.
 
I haven't spent much time in NYC, but wouldn't a plane shot down over the city have a high probability of falling on people? Unless the police had intel on the plane's target, how would they know that shooting it down is the better option?
 
Who says they want the gunships for aircraft?

The little Wall Street "Seige" by protesters has been heating up. ;) ;) ;)
 
Richard said:
Now we know why MANPADS is in the Pilot/Controller Glossary.

What concerns me the most is the commissioner admits to having his own spooks in foreign cities. How constitutional is it that a city goes into another sovereign nation soley to conduct it's own surveillance?

And if they are in cities in other nations why wouldn't they be planted in your own town?

Of course, we can't forget the cameras everywhere. Bulging veins, perspiration, nervous facial expressions?, that's it buddy, you're going downtown!
Click to expand...
He meant Boston and Philly.
 
rottydaddy said:
They're already raising tolls and transit fares to pay for the new WTC; now they want NYPD gunships!! :eek:
...SNIP....
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BLUE THUNDER! It was only a matter of time. Then again, USCG has armed helos flying in the DC airspace. Maybe this is part of the new Urban Renewal plans. Flaming debris reduces city blocks to rubble. Construction crews build new low income apartments. And I'll stop there lest we head to SZ.
 
I just heard on the news that Kelly has clarified that the NYPD does not have SAMs, they would just use a .50 cal rifle and "only on small planes." :hairraise: (I wonder the NYPD SAMs hysteria came from me :devil: )

So they gots to find planes large enough to pose a threat but small enough to shoot at will without having to answer for the havoc caused by the falling wreckage.
 
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Just coordinate the shootdown over buildings slated for demolition. Everybody wins!:rofl:

I want to shoot a .50 cal. Do they sell tickets to the public?
 
So do I need an STC or just a 337 to install flare and chaff dispensers on the Piper?
 
Does all this hoopla mean we must now file a flight plan, and send 2 dozen donuts to the police chief of NYC to get a clearance to fly?
 
Tom-D said:
Does all this hoopla mean we must now file a flight plan, and send 2 dozen donuts to the police chief of NYC to get a clearance to fly?
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The iffy part that dare not speak its name is exactly where is it writ that the local cops have any jurisdiction whatsoever in the airspace above town?

Again, Mare Dickie would have had a lot of airplane wreckage in da lake if he thought he could send da cops up to patrol airspace. The reason he bulldozed Meigs was ta show dem FAA DC weenies dat wouldn't close da airspace when he wanted who wuz da boss in Chicaguh.
 
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