But virtually all of the trouble was caused by the administration's over-reaction.

That's true, but the over-reaction is the "Temporary Flight Restriction" over the Washington, D.C. and New York areas. I drew a flight plan from where he started and where he was going and a direct route takes you square through the middle of the restricted area. Only an idiot planning a flight in this hyper-paranoid environment would not have planned to fly very far away from the area. Apparently, he entered it once, turned west to exit the area and then entered it again - that's when it hit the fan. That's plain incompetence no matter how you slice it.