The White House and U.S. Capitol building were briefly on lockdown on Tuesday morning following reports of “a potential violation of the restricted airspace in the National Capital Region.” The lockdown was initiated around 8:27 a.m. local time and lifted at 9:12 a.m. It is now being suggested that the radar anomaly that triggered the alert, initially believed to be an aircraft, was caused by a flock of birds, a drone or a weather balloon.
According to a statement form NORAD, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was sent to investigate and “the event was resolved without incident.” No aircraft was found and it has been reported that the pilot of the helicopter investigating the incident told air traffic control that they had spotted a flock of birds in the vicinity. Earlier statements from officials said that fighter jets had been scrambled to respond to the potential threat.
A lot of exaggeration in the original reporting:
The White House and U.S. Capitol building were briefly on lockdown on Tuesday morning following reports of “a potential violation of the restricted airspace in the National Capital Region.” The lockdown was initiated around 8:27 a.m. local time and lifted at 9:12 a.m. It is now being suggested that the radar anomaly that triggered the alert, initially believed to be an aircraft, was caused by a flock of birds, a drone or a weather balloon.
According to a statement form NORAD, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was sent to investigate and “the event was resolved without incident.” No aircraft was found and it has been reported that the pilot of the helicopter investigating the incident told air traffic control that they had spotted a flock of birds in the vicinity. Earlier statements from officials said that fighter jets had been scrambled to respond to the potential threat.
Key part that it was possibly
The reaction was a good one. It could have been a drone attack or testing for one in the future.
That is a bit more of a possible risk and deserving the response given than the flock of birds chosen for the headline.
It would have to be a large (and noisy) drone to be detectable on radar, and someone on the ground would have noticed.