As a commercial pilot myself, I have to agree with Paul here....this guy needs his license pulled, a hefty civil penalty, and a verbal thrashing from the local FAA FSDO.

The prohibited airspace zones were in effect over these buildings long before 9/11, so 9/11 aside, there is no reason why anyone could ever think it's ok to fly around within prohibited airspace. To think you can do it post-9/11 just means you are really braindead.

We will be lucky if the boneheads in Congress don't jump on this event as another chance to curtail or ban general aviation.

He is lucky he wasn't shot down. However, I believe the questions about an instant-shootdown in the event of an aircraft entering this airspace have now been answered.