Near-Miss for Reagan in Copter : President’s Pilot Evades Light Plane; 2 Aboard Detained

A low-flying plane, passing illegally over President Reagan’s ranch, came within a few hundred feet of Reagan’s Marine One helicopter Thursday afternoon as the President and his staff flew from Point Mugu Naval Air Station to his vacation retreat.

Reagan’s pilot executed a “gentle climb and a right-hand turn” to avoid the plane and landed at the ranch without further incident, said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, one of six persons aboard the helicopter with the President at the time.

None of the helicopter passengers, including White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. and National Security Adviser Frank C. Carlucci, were aware of the near-miss at the time, Fitzwater said. There were no injuries.

Wife Not Aboard

First Lady Nancy Reagan, who is joining the President at the ranch later, was not on the helicopter.

Another helicopter in the White House fleet, Nighthawk 3, gave chase from Santa Barbara Airport and tracked the small plane, identified as a single-engine Piper Archer, down the coast to Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, about 150 miles south of Santa Barbara.

The pilot and a passenger, who were not immediately identified, were detained by authorities after they landed.

Lt. Randy Blair of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said the pair were being held “for interview by the Secret Service.” He refused to comment further.

Confirms Questioning

Rich Adams, a Secret Service spokesman, confirmed that agents were questioning two men to determine their “motives and intent.” He would not elaborate.

Ken McClain, a gas refueler at John Wayne Airport, told United Press International that the Piper landed at 5:50 p.m. at the Martin Aviation lot, which is adjacent to the airfield.

McClain said he talked to the two men aboard before they were taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies. He said the two, one in his late 30s, the other apparently in his late 20s, “didn’t appear nervous. They told me they think they had strayed into someone’s airspace that they weren’t supposed to be in.”

McClain talked to the pair, who were both wearing leather flying jackets, for a few minutes, then two deputies walked up and took them away.

“They got really nervous when the sheriffs came,” McClain added.

Fitzwater was unable to say why the plane had intruded into the restricted airspace over the President’s ranch.

Marine One pilot Col. Michael Glenn “felt there was never a time when they were on a collision course” with the small plane, Fitzwater said, but he “viewed this as a very serious incident” and immediately notified the Federal Aviation Administration of the near-miss.

The bizarre incident, coming after a rash of near-misses involving commercial aircraft, occurred about 3:35 p.m. about four miles southeast of Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo hideaway, Fitzwater said.

The incident was witnessed and photographed by Rafael Maldonado, 41, a staff photographer for the Santa Barbara News-Press.

‘Moving Pretty Fast’

“I saw the chopper coming in from the east,” Maldonado said. The plane came in from the opposite direction, “moving pretty fast,” and flew within several hundred feet of the helicopter, he said.

As described by Fitzwater to reporters, this is what occurred:

As Marine One was preparing to approach the ranch’s helicopter landing pad, Santa Barbara Airport officials warned Secret Service agents that radar showed an unidentified small craft moving over the ranch at an altitude of about 100 feet.

Agents Flash Warning

The Secret Service agents, in the White House’s Nighthawk 2 helicopter, also were preparing to land at the ranch, but spotted the Piper about 1 1/2 miles away and moving in their direction. The agents flashed a warning to Marine One pilot Glenn, who climbed and banked before spotting the plane himself.

The Piper was about 150 feet vertically and 200 to 300 feet horizontally from Reagan’s helicopter at its closest approach, Fitzwater said.

“When our pilot initiated the climb and the right-hand turn, it was not noticeable to any of us on the aircraft,” Fitzwater said. “Indeed, after we got off the chopper at the ranch we were not aware of it.

“The President’s landing was not interfered with in any way,” he said.

After Marine One notified the FAA of the close call, a third White House helicopter, Nighthawk 3, lifted off from Santa Barbara Airport and gave chase for 50 to 60 minutes, coming close enough to record the Piper’s identifying tail number, N840A.

FAA Tracks Piper

The FAA’s Los Angeles air traffic control then tracked the Piper on radar to its landing in Orange County.

Besides Reagan, Fitzwater, Baker and Carlucci, Marine One was carrying White House personal physician John Hutton Jr. and Reagan’s personal aide, Bill Fitzpatrick, at the time.

Fitzwater said federal law restricts the airspace over Reagan’s ranch to officially permitted aircraft.

The unidentified Piper pilot also flew through the Santa Barbara air traffic control area without notifying the airport tower, a potential violation of FAA rules, Fitzwater said. He said the FAA had officially classified the incident as a near-miss.