Glider Pilot arrested for airspace

Hi,

This is amazing.

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...WT.mc_sect=gan

Paul Remde

"Paul Remde" wrote:
Hi,

This is amazing.

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...WT.mc_sect=gan

Paul Remde

Wow this is utterly ridiculous. I wish he hadn't agreed to not go after the
local cops for being such morons.

Pete

At 13:47 11 January 2013, Peter von Tresckow wrote:
"Paul Remde" wrote:
Hi,

This is amazing.


http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...WT.mc_sect=gan

Paul Remde

Wow this is utterly ridiculous. I wish he hadn't agreed to not go after
the
local cops for being such morons.

Pete


I thought the default response was to sue them?

Poor chap.

Shaun

The helicopter pilot for the Sheriff's department even showed up and pointed out that there was no violation.

"Griffin said that pilots from the Chesterfield County Sheriff flew the department’s helicopter to the airport, but left when they found out what was going on. “They pulled out a chart and they said, ‘Look here, … nothing in this chart says you cannot fly over the nuclear plant,’” she said. “’Nothing.’”

The whole thing reminds me of "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV Show. No offense intended to the South because this could have happened anywhere in the country.

On Friday, January 11, 2013 8:50:32 AM UTC-6, son_of_flubber wrote:
The helicopter pilot for the Sheriff's department even showed up and pointed out that there was no violation.



"Griffin said that pilots from the Chesterfield County Sheriff flew the department’s helicopter to the airport, but left when they found out what was going on. “They pulled out a chart and they said, ‘Look here, … nothing in this chart says you cannot fly over the nuclear plant,’” she said. “’Nothing.’”



The whole thing reminds me of "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV Show. No offense intended to the South because this could have happened anywhere in the country.

Makes me want to listen again to Arlo Guthrie and "Alice's Restaurant". His description of rural cops seems to be still spot-on, even after all these years.
Here's an excerpt:
After speaking to Obie for about fourty-five minutes on the telephone we
finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down
and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the
police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station.

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at
the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for
being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and
we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out
and told us never to be see driving garbage around the vicinity again,
which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station
there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was
both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I
can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid.
Get in the back of the patrol car."

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the
quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of
Stockbridge, Massachusets, where this happened here, they got three stop
signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the
Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars,
being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
mention the aerial photography.

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put
us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your
wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my
wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I
said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"
Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the
toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie
was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice
(remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few
nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back
to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,
and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

Makes me want to listen again to Arlo Guthrie and "Alice's
Restaurant". His description of rural cops seems to be still
spot-on, even after all these years...

However, it bears remembering that Officer Obie later became one of
Arlo's better friends. He had enough of a sense of humor, or at least
perspective, to play himself in the 1969 movie _Alice's Restaurant_.

I somehow doubt we'd see those sensibilities in the officers of the
Darlington County Sheriff’s Office.

wrote:
On Friday, January 11, 2013 8:50:32 AM UTC-6, son_of_flubber wrote:
The helicopter pilot for the Sheriff's department even showed up and pointed out that there was no violation.



"Griffin said that pilots from the Chesterfield County Sheriff flew the department’s helicopter to the airport, but left when they found out what was going on. “They pulled out a chart and they said, ‘Look here, … nothing in this chart says you cannot fly over the nuclear plant,’” she said. “’Nothing.’”



The whole thing reminds me of "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV Show. No offense intended to the South because this could have happened anywhere in the country.

Makes me want to listen again to Arlo Guthrie and "Alice's Restaurant". His description of rural cops seems to be still spot-on, even after all these years.

About 20 years ago a friend from Colorado was driving through
Louisiana when he was stopped by a local policeman. He was
asked for his licence, and as he passed it to the policeman
the policeman said "Now don't go fooling me, boy" -- which
ratehr puzzled him.

Eventually, after leaving the scene, he realised it must
have been because the policeman was illiterate.

We both found that rather frightening.

So what should I do if I find myself low and needing to fly over a power plant? The cooling tower might trigger a good thermal.

On Friday, January 11, 2013 9:21:35 AM UTC-6, son_of_flubber wrote:
So what should I do if I find myself low and needing to fly over a power plant? The cooling tower might trigger a good thermal.

turn off your radio

I just read the article. Its pretty scary to know that those charged with enforcing the laws can be so ignorant of them. An initial misunderstanding is forgivable (I guess)but to be locked up overnight is not. I was a cop for 25 years and its unbelievable that someone didn't step up and say "Its obvious this guy is not a terrorist. What are we doing here?" I don't think I'd be as understanding as the glider pilot and I'd certainly wouldn't agree to not sue, even if its unlikely I'd ever recover anything. Make 'em sweat, at least. I'd definitely want to know who authorized that charges be filed and seek a public apology.