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Authorities have identified two men aboard the single-engine Cessna, whose intrusion into forbidden air space led to the temporary evacuation of the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court in Washington, DC, and described them as "errant pilots."
Chief of Capitol Police, Terrance W Gainer said the two were identified as Troy Martin, 36, from Akron, Ohio, and Hayden Shaeffer of Lititz, Pennsylvania, in his 70s.
He said they ventured into the restricted airspace by mistake.
One of them was said to be a student pilot and the other an instructor.
So far, no charges have been brought against either of them but their licenses to fly have been cancelled.
The breach on Wednesday sent the entire security establishment into a tizzy.
Fighter jets scrambled to intercept the small plane and people were evacuated briefly from the White House and the US Capitol building.
Fighter aircraft and a Black Hawk helicopter forced the Cessna, which had taken off from a Pennsylvania airport, to land at an airport in Frederick, Maryland, about 40 miles from Washington.