Official: O'Brien's Report is "Laughable"

The blather emitted from CNN's Miles O'Brien earlier today was laughed off by Civil Air Patrol Nevada Maj. Cynthia Ryan. O'Brien's claim was that Fossett might have wandered into restricted air space in "nearby" Area 51 or Nellis Air Force Base -- both 300+ miles away from where he went missing.

He based this on Ryan's utterance of the phrase"electronic evidence" during the press conference that he, like me, followed via TV. But what Ryan meant by that was not that some super-secret federal agency data but the fact that, somewhere in Oakland, there might be some radar blips representing Fossett's plane. Turns out, there aren't anyway.

Ryan told me O'Brien's comments are "laughable." I asked Ryan whether there's "restricted air space" in the region.

Ryan: It’s everywhere in this region and every experienced pilot knows that. Nevada is one huge training ground for the navy and the air force.

Friess: So if Fossett wandered into that, then you'd definitely know where he was.

Ryan: Yes, that's right.

So what O'Brien is positing is true, except that if Fossett had wandered into restricted air space, then there would be no need to figure out where he was. They'd know. Of course.