Talk:1974 White House helicopter incident

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 16:05, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Ronald Reagan National Airport

From: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport "For decades it was called Washington National Airport before being renamed to honor President Ronald Reagan in 1998." Should the article mention this or use "Washington National Airport" instead, as the naming for President Reagan came 24 years later? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.98.18.157 (talk) 01:16, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

Yes i think so! Added the historical name. kind regards, Saschaporsche (talk) 09:28, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

Preston

What happened to Preston? Drutt (talk) 18:13, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

In a plea bargain, he pled guilty to "wrongful appropriation and breach of the peace," and was sentenced to 1 year in prison and fined $2,400. This amounted to a six-month sentence, since he had already been in prison for six months at the time. (Source: New York Times, Aug 27, 1974, p. 20 and Aug 30, 1974, p. 10.) I didn't find any other follow-up beyond that. Mahousu (talk) 02:57, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

That should be added to the article. Kingturtle = (talk) 03:23, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

This month's issue of Air & Space says he died of cancer in 2009... Check-Six (talk) 00:59, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

He was charged with "wrongful appropriation " because stealing or theft requires the person to intend to keep the taken item. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.149.172.203 (talk) 12:04, 17 February 2019 (UTC)

"Digitally recreated' image in info box

I have some serious reservations about using a "digitally recreated" image in the info box, or any where on the page, even with a disclaimer stating its false nature. It seems disingenuous to use a faked image to portray the events in an encyclopedia. If no fair use image of the actual event can be found or used, then an image of Preston, a Huey, or the White House's south lawn would serve as a reasonable substitute. --Mikaka (talk) 22:22, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

I had doubts about using the image, and since you raised this issue, I've change it to a more generic Bell UH-1 image. L293D (☎ • ✎) 20:18, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:1974 White House helicopter incident/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Zawed (talk · contribs) 22:16, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

I will take a look at this one, comments to follow in due course. Zawed (talk) 22:16, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Lead

• The lead seems to be relatively large given the size of the article and could do with some trimming of detail. Eg. the 2nd paragraph could be more succinct (I don't think we need year of birth here) and in the 3rd paragraph, the bit about Preston returning to Tipton Field seems unnecessary.
  • I've trimmed it somewhat, but I do think that the part about Preston returning to Maryland is important and deserves a mention in the lead.
• My comment about trimming the lead aside, the first sentence could have something added to highlight the seriousness of the incident eg. "...and, in a major breach of security, landed it on the White House south lawn."
  • Sure, added.
• South lawn should be linked on first mention
  • Done.

Background

• The second sentence doesn't fit well with the overall chronology of this section. I suggest working the content of the sentence into the portion about training as a mechanic.
  • Done.
• Again because of the chronology, the final sentence would be better off being worked into the aftermath section. However, some sort of statement about Preston being aggrieved/furstrated would still work here if it wasn't expressed ex post facto (as it is at present).
  • Done.

Incident

• "Soon after, he lifted off without activating his anti-collision lights
  • Added.
• link to the Maryland state police, not Maryland (perhaps mention in background section that Ft Meade is in Maryland)
  • Done both.
• Link Washington DC, District of Colombia police (Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia), Pennsylvania Ave. (express Ave in full), buckshot
  • Done.
• Rather than the bracketed comment RE Sep 11, perhaps just say "not enforced in any significant way at the time."
  • Added, but I think the bit about Sep 11 is relevant.
• "the controller called Washington's Police Department." Is the Washington PD distinct from DC police?
  • I haven't done much research, but I don't think so
• In the 3rd paragraph, you use However to start two successive sentences, suggest rephrasing to avoid this.
  • Done.
• I've just noticed your presentation of south lawn is inconsistent; lower case used mostly but at least one instance of upper case, please standardise.
  • The article about the south lawn uses capital, so I changed it to that.
• "only 5 hit"; small number, express as word
  • I disagree, because just a few words prior, a number is expressed with numerals, and its more straightforward to write 5/300 than five/300.
• "He ran out of his helicopter"; "He exited the helicopter
  • Done.
• Preston can't have been too bad a pilot with all the low level flying he pulled off!
  • Of course. But I don't think it is very encyclopedic to directly say so. Still, there is a quote from a jetRanger pilot about his skillful flying.

Aftermath

• "...as part of the criminal investigation"; no antecedence for the investigation yet, suggest rewording. Perhaps "...as part of the criminal investigation into its theft".
  • In a legal sense, it wasn't theft, because he didn't try to keep his helicopter. I've removed the word "criminal".
• Your presentation of Washington DC is inconsistent, please standardise.
  • Done, I changed it to D.C.
• The second to last paragraph uses "injured bystanders" or variation of same, in consecutive sentences. Suggest rephrasing this.
  • Rephrased second instance to "collateral damage"
• I've linked Christian here, but do we know his original faith? If so, maybe add to background.
  • He probably didn't have any religion before, but no, I don't know.

References

• Cite 2, has no access date and should finish with a fullstop.
  • Done.

Other stuff

• Dupe links: Fort Meade (twice in lead); Richard Nixon, Florida
• No DAB links
• External links check out OK
• Image tags look OK (not that I'm an expert in this field)

An interesting article to review, I'll check back in a few. Cheers, Zawed (talk) 23:04, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the through review, I had been waiting for this article to be reviewed for so long I had forgotten about it. Much of the work was actually done on my phone, because right now I'm in France, and its difficult to find time and Internet to use a computer. L293D (☎ • ✎) 21:19, 4 June 2019 (UTC)

Looking over your changes and responses above, I'm happy this article meets GA standard; it is well written, covers the subject to a reasonable level, is fully referenced and appropriately illustrated. Passing as GA now. Cheers, Zawed (talk) 23:43, 7 June 2019 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:01, 11 July 2019 (UTC)

1974 White House helicopter incident

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

White House South Lawn

• ... that in 1974, a United States Private stole a helicopter and landed it on the White House lawn (pictured)? Source: http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/prestons-wild-white-house-ride-180962400/

• Reviewed: Sommen charr

Improved to Good Article status by L293D (talk). Self-nominated at 10:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC).

• Article reached GA status within the required time frame, article meets other DYK requirements. Hook is interesting, not a BLP violation as the private is now deceased, and cited inline. QPQ done. There is however some close paraphrasing with this source, which needs to be resolved before this is promoted. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 01:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• @Narutolovehinata5: I've done a lot of rewording, let me know I more is needed. Earwig still announces a 30% copyvio chance, but it's mostly due to quotes, not copied material. L293D (☎ • ✎) 21:18, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

• Okay then I think this should be good to go. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 00:01, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

Moved from user talk

Simply because it has a source is not sufficient reason for inclusion - see WP:NOTNEWS, among others. Also, Wikipedia:Relevance of content seems to summarise this situation particularly well: "Some people are only famous for their connection to notable events, without having any fame beyond those events. As such, they are not public figures, and details of their personal lives are not relevant to what has made them of encyclopedic interest." As I said, in this case, details of personal life are not relevant to the helicopter saga. 107.190.33.254 (talk) 19:50, 18 July 2019 (UTC)

I disagree. The modest degree of information present is reasonable on a biography, which this article is. --90.255.142.14 (talk) 22:07, 18 July 2019 (UTC)

This article is, very clearly should I say, not a biography. The main subject is the helicopter incident, and Preston's life is hardly relevant to it, except maybe for the basic (necessary) background given. 107.190.33.254 (talk) 16:36, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

I disagree. The article describes the reason for Preston's fame, includes information about his earlier life, and should also include information on his later life. Pixels are cheap and readers will want this information. --90.255.142.14 (talk) 16:53, 20 July 2019 (UTC)