Near hit for 'Stormin' Norman' at Tahoe airport

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - A Reno-bound jet carrying retired U.S. Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf diverted to the Lake Tahoe Airport because of fog had a near collision with a Cessna on Thursday, witnesses said.

The Gulf Stream 3 jet carrying Schwarzkopf and a companion King Air aircraft that was flying in front of him were to land at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport at 11 a.m. to attend the Safari Club International Convention happening this weekend at the Reno/Sparks Convention Center.

Witnesses said that at about 11:10 a.m., a Cessna aircraft was taking off to the north on the one-strip runway while the jet and companion plane were landing from the south. The Cessna came within about 200 feet of hitting the airborne King Air, which was flying in front of Schwarzkopf's jet.

"When the Cessna lifted off I looked out and saw the King Air and the Gulf Stream. They were over the runway at the same time," said Mindy Johnke, manager of Superior Aviation at the Lake Tahoe Airport.

The Cessna pilot did not communicate with either pilots and was not using any communication frequency used by airport personnel.

Johnke and a Superior Aviation crew member saw the incident unfold and said it wasn't the first time she's seen a near collision since the South Lake Tahoe City Council agreed last year to not fund FAA personnel to command its control tower.

The airport has been without control tower personnel since Oct. 1 when the financially strapped city said it could not afford to pay the FAA more than $200,000 it required to keep the airport tower operational.

"We didn't hear anything from the Cessna," Johnke said. "Ever since the control tower shut down we've had a lot of confused pilots who don't know which frequency to communicate on. I've seen a lot of near misses."

Johnke learned the retired general was on the jet when the pilots radioed her earlier from the air asking her to call for limousines that would take Schwarzkopf and several others to Reno for the Safari Club International Convention, where Schwarzkopf and other military and government officials and celebrities are entertaining this weekend.

Gen. Schwarzkopf, also known as "Stormin' Norman," was Commander of Operations of the first war in Iraq, Desert Storm.