Is it time to arm crop duster pilots as well as airline pilots?


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AOPA ePilot Volume 6, Issue 14 April 2, 2004
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RACE FAN GETS SIX MONTHS FOR FIRING AT CROP DUSTER
A NASCAR fan armed with a deer rifle and emboldened by a high
blood-alcohol level has been sent to prison for six months after
firing on a North Carolina crop duster last year. The man opened
fire on D. Wayne Slaughter, who owns Wa-Lu Aviation in Farmville,
North Carolina. Medication may have enhanced the effects of the
alcohol, the shooter's attorney told the court. The shooter
couldn't hear the televised race while Slaughter was legally
dusting pine trees nearby, so he successfully drove the airplane
off after a 12-shot volley. Three of the shots hit the aircraft,
one piercing the wing a foot from the Air Tractor's fuel tank and
another causing the battery to explode. The pilot was not hit but
suffered mental anguish. Slaughter, past president of the National
Agricultural Aviation Association, said he hopes publicity about
his case will encourage other ag pilots to report similar
incidents.