Md. man pilots plane into White House South Lawn
On this day, Sept. 12, in 1994, an Aberdeen man under the influence of cocaine and alcohol crashed a single-engine Cessna into the South Lawn of the White House.
Frank Corder had stolen the plane from a Baltimore-area airfield and piloted it into controlled airspace near the White House in the wee hours of the morning on Sept. 12. A Secret Service investigation concluded that Corder had a “vast array of financial, marital and legal problems” and had told friends he wanted to kill himself ” ‘in a big way’ by flying an airplane into the White House or the dome of the Capitol.” Corder died of massive blunt-force trauma during the crash. The incident marked a shift in security at the White House and sparked many security recommendations that are still in place today. – Aubrey Whelan
— Aubrey Whelan
