Border critic gets buzzed by F-16s on recent flight

Border critic gets buzzed by F-16s on recent flight
By Ted Morris
Herald/Review
Published on Sunday, February 10, 2008

SIERRA VISTA — A recent international airspace incident involved a critic of the government’s illegal-immigration policies and two F-16 fighter jets.

Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol, apparently triggered a security trip wire on Jan. 15 as he was flying from El Paso, Texas, in a Cessna 206.

Glenn Spencer stands off to the side as Mike Christie prepares their Cessna 206 for a flight along the border on Oct. 19, 2007, at the Bisbee Municipal Airport. The airplane was flying very close to the U.S.-Mexico border on Jan. 15 when it was intercepted by fighter jets from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. (File photo by Ted Morris-Herald/Review) “I was monitoring the progress of the government in securing our border, and I was intercepted by an F-16!â€

Given that Mr. Spencer said that

• an inexperienced person was at the controls,
  they were flying by dead reckoning,
  they may have strayed into Mexican air space, and
  they were not in contact with the Air Force while possibly in an MOA,

the Air Force was merely doing its job, and that's a GOOD THING.

Anyone who thinks the Air Force was harassing Glenn Spencer for being the #1 air spotter of illegal aliens should give it a rest.