High School Senior Prank
 

Teens could face charges for school flyover. FAA might try to get him with careless and reckless, or dropping object to damage property/person

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...EWS03/70615015

Guess that's what my entertainment for tonight was:o

The night is young!

Never did paintballs but there were many rolls of paper dropped!

That isn't far from my house and is a real big deal on TV and the radio. that had to be funny to see though...

Yank his ticket.

For what? Unless he flew within 1000ft of a building he hasn't done anything wrong. Sure are quick to jump the gun on someone. They were just having fun.

For pulling a stupid stunt that clearly demonstrates a lack of decision-making skills.
Or, how about for giving John Q. Public one more reason to call for restrictions on GA flying?

Flying strait and level is a stunt? Do you know if he broke any rules or regs? He's a young guy. He'll learn. Chill a little. Restrictions are already there.

How about dropping objects that create a hazard to persons or property? They could probably get away with the TP but when it comes to the paintballs I'm sure they are hosed.

True. TP isn't an issue. We use to have competitions between flight schools where we tossed TP to see who could cut it the most within 2000 feet(I think it was 2000). Paintballs not the best. Still though, just give em a good ass whipping and let them be. It's harder for some to realize the severity of their actions when just starting. No reason to go crazy on the guys. They worked to get where they are and one is planning on serving our country. I'm pretty sure UPT will knock any of the kinks out of him. He was just having fun and screwed up. I'm sure by now he's already learned his lesson. Let him move on and fight for our country.

It's not the possibility of hazard that bothers me.
There's some things that pilots do that simply don't need to be shared with people outside of aviation. This is one of those things.

So you're saying to yank their tickets not because they did it but because someone ran a story about it?

Yep, that's it exactly.
:rolleyes:

If they dropped the paintball I doubt they would cause damage or be hazardous. Messy, but not dangerous. That was careless. Something like that really is unbecoming of any pilot, especially one who had such a big dream. I'd say he's going to have a bit of explaining to do no matter what happens. Neither the military nor the airlines want a pilot calling that kind of attention on themselves and their company.

Pull his ticket for dropping paintballs?

Are you fing serious?

What if a paintball had actually hit someone? It would have splattered them with water soluble paint! They would have had to wash thier clothing and probably take a bath, or at least wipe up.

Show me how this is truely worse than a 'drive by' paintball shooting.

Yes, it is obnoxious behaviour. But being a teenager is almost by defenition obnoxious.

The prosecutor should stop wasting the public's time and money and leave this stupid kid alone.

I know several guys that have done some bonehead things, some had their license suspended, some work for the FAA now lol. In the long run they all turned out to be good pilots. At least this guy is confident in his abilities :)

Sounds like this guy is Riddle material.. just throw on the aviators and bomber jacket :rolleyes:

I say suspend his ticket, but don't revoke it.

I'd say suspension is warranted. Taking his license is a little overboard since he wasn't dropping dangerous objects. But that is a pretty serious lapse in judgment. It can't go unpunished.

Suspension Only!

They are headed to the AF academy, that will clean up their act

It doesn't really matter what they do. It's up to the air force. You don't have to have your license to get into UPT.

I'd bet that the appointment to the AF Acadamy is probably in jeopardy now... Either way, it was a stupid move and a serious lack of judgement. IMO, a suspension is warranted.

Actually if he would have "coordinated" with his buddies on the ground, would of been legal, as per FAR's :)


Oh please you guys have buzzed something before................(500ft AGL in sparsely populated area). Throwing stuff out of the plane is dumb though, I will say

Did they shoot the paintballs or just drop them? Unless they flew too low, I really dont see how they broke the regs. I would say its just some over zealous, and jealous, cops that want to charge these guys.

Now if they flew too low and shot the paintballs out of the plane... then well they are screwed, and quite frankly should be.

But what we should have learned from the Duke Lacross case is, that we really should wait for all the facts.

Guess people here would freak if I showed the pictures of flying under power lines lol.

500 ft from any object in sparsely populated areas my friend! Can you say HIT THE DECK!! Wooohooo LoL

Okay...so if I toss paintballs out of my car the next time I drive by some friends, they call me a bonehead. They don't take my Driver's License...If I drop a few paintballs out of an airplane...OH MY GOD that makes me a terrorist and shows serious lack of judgment ::gasp::

Come on...I agree we have to stay out of the Public's attention, but f8ck that Cop and the Media. Seriously. Get a life and quit ****ting on those who really know how to live ;-)

We really do have to be more careful who we elect to government offices. We had a douche near me that called the FAA to get a restricted area around his house because his wife didn't like the small planes flying over his house! The FAA thankfully told him to pound sand, but still had this guy been a DA or elected judge, he could have try to impose is will on us.

I always wondered what happened to the guy that split the uprights at our high school football stadiurn in a 60 degree bank when I was a kid. The po-po nailed him thanks to his lack of planning and failure to cover up the N-number on his venerable C-150. Ha ha.

While I agree that dropping paintballs and TP is not dangerous, it definitely shows a lack of judgment. And saying that "teenagers will be teenagers" doesn't cut it for me. If your just assuming that all teenagers do reckless or stupid things, then maybe the age rule for receiving a license should be looked at?

Come on...we know thats not a feasible option. People can take a minute and think to themselves like.."Hmm, should I be doing this....is this a good idea?"

Taking his license is a serious punishment for a lapse in judgment....and I know we've all had those. I think a suspension would be appropriate.

Edit: Assuming he broke a regulation. I wouldn't say that dropping TP and paintballs are capable of doing damage to persons / property. But who knows.

I suspect he will no longer be going to Colorado Springs...maybe, maybe not. Today's politically correct military will probably over-react to this situation. A lot of people have lost sight of the fact that some of the most daring and inovative warriors and leaders in modern military history have been screw-ups in the civilian world..usually due to over-exhuberance. Admiral Nimitz ran a destroyer aground early in his career...and went on to become probably the greatest naval leader of the century. Today he would have been booted out of the Navy.


The only thing the kid has going for him is that the military doesn't think too highly of, or care much about, the FAA so a violation probably wouldn't be an issue. Criminal prosecution is a different story though.

Fine line between reckless and skilled, like when they pulled Hoovers medical because some FAA terd though his routine looked lazy. (I know this kid wasnt Hoover Jr, but everyone starts somewhere)

Unless this guy was cutting the football fields grass with his prop then I may give hom some credit for doing what I daydreamed about every single day in high school.

daydreaming and doing are two different things. I know i've had my fair share of trying to touch the wheels on the corn, only to have to pull up for the telephone wires, great fun. Also remember looking back and seeing a cop tailing me once while doing the same stupid stunt. But on the same note, there was nothing around, and w/ the airspeed we were never in a situation where we couldn't complete a safe landing given an emergency. So same note.

Flying over you school isn't a crime, flying lower than the second story windows while you buzz the quad could be considered one. And while TP isn't going to do any "permanent" damage to anything (faa doesn't specify whether it has to be permanent or not) paintballs into the side of your fender at 90 mph probably could put a dent or two, and that would definitely be a violation.

I'd vote for suspension, if he sees it, he probably wouldn't do it again...Just hope he was able to learn form this, and convince the Airforce that he has as well...cause this stupid prank wouldn't be worth throwing an academy experience away for...i'd be kicking myself for the next 18 years.

Poll added to first page

Before I got an airline job I flew over my house several times (above 500ft AGL) and the neighbors called the police, when I landed at Monmouth Exec. I was greeted on the TAXIWAY by 3 NJ State Troopers....... I taxied off shut down and They asked me where I was coming from blah blah blah.............make a long story short I tld them the truth, that yes I was flying over my house, but I was above 500ft AGL and It probably scared them because it was loud, the Props were "Full Foward" :rolleyes: man that RG was fun.............I called the police station filled out a NASA report and heard nothing about it.....................Scared the bajesus out of me, but learned a lesson, this day in age everybody from your neighbors to the TSA wants to be a hero...............be careful they will bust you if they can

Ahh BLM alumi, same here. Maybe the troopers came out because you went too fast over 195 on the 45. My neighbors love my buzz jobs!

Got those tiny little 3in tail numbers on my bird...When I'm up close and personal with the Locals (LoL) I watch their responses. If anybody's got their hands on their hips (or the cellphones), I head-off perpendicular (can't see the tail #), preferably into the sun and in a real round-about direction to my home airstrip - fly off towards another airport! If they're waving, smiling, or pointing, I feel obliged to give 'em an airshow :-)

update... i saw another story on the news tonight in detroit about this. so far he got fined. there was a local cop saying how dangerous that his actions were, even though i'm sure he didn't know anything about the subject. but so far he still has his ticket.

That same Cop probably thinks just getting into the damn airplane is dangerous...the Public is ignorant on all things Aviation. Period.

I remember in training on a windy day, my instructor and I did slow flight over my house for 30 minutes in a constant hover over the ground. It drove my parents nuts. :D

There was a pilot-hating lady in my area who published and distrubuted flyers on how to bust "low flying" airplanes, including phone numbers for the FSDO, the cops, and the city airprt folks. One of her recommended techniques:

- Use binoculars to get the aircrfat tail number...but when you call it in "Forget" to mention the binoculars so they assume it was naked-eye. The FAA assumes that if they can see your n-number with the Mk1 Mod0 eyeball, then you were too low.