Idiot Sherriff Arrests 70 Year Old Glider Pilot......For Just Flying

[Floatsflyer]

The pilot community outcry continues to reverberate and AOPA continues to advocate on behalf of pilots who are very concerned they could suffer from similar action. Where is EAA on this subject? I've done searches and can't find any response or even an acknowlegment of the event itself. So Sad!!!!! Must be too busy thinking about pricing for those 2013 AV VIP tents. C'mon Jack, a great opportunity to show some leadership to the members on a crucial issue.

Byrd-brain's Facebook page has apparently been taken down after receiving overwhelming nasty comments.

Here's the latest on the event and AOPA's continuing advocacy:

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...l?CMP=News:S1T

[Hal Bryan]

Floats, you ask a fair question, but you're not going to get a meaningful response when you pepper it with snide comments about VIP tents; if those are still an issue for you, then the proper place for that is: feedback@eaa.org.

I know we're following the story, and I'll ask our advocacy folks if they have anything to add when I'm back in the office tomorrow.

[rwanttaja]

So, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, what SHOULD the EAA do about Sheriff Bubba?

Should the Experimental Aircraft Association should do anything at all? Note that I deliberately spelled out the organization's name... what does the problem described have to do with promoting or operating Experimental Aircraft? Whether the aircraft had an experimental certificate had nothing to do with the incident.

Definitely, this is an overall aviation advocacy issue. However, from other comments on the Forums, there's a lot of opposition towards EAA extending its activities beyond building and certifying homebuilt aircraft. EAA has only a certain amount of money available for Government Advocacy. How much of their budget should they spend going after Sheriff Bubba, vs. fighting the very real threats the federal organizations pose to the homebuilt aircraft movement?

Would it more worthwhile making Sheriff Bubba's face even redder, or to fight the fact that the NTSB wants to have homebuilt aircraft airworthiness certificates cancelled whenever the plane is sold?

Then again, maybe if EAA sold a chalet or two extra next summer, they could do both....:-)

One also gets to the practical issues. What *can* EAA do? There are no legal charges, so it's not like they could help the man in court. The pilot waived his right to sue (though some discussion say it couldn't really stick). So other than publicly wring its hands, what can EAA do in this case? Is this whole controversy over EAA not saying, "Oh, that's awful" fast enough?

Ron Wanttaja

[WLIU]

So on the topic of EAA's response to the sailplane incident, I will agree that I do not see that EAA needs to get all excited. EAA does a bunch of things well in a world where if you try to do everything, you just fail at everything and get nothing done. My 35 years of observation leaves me with the impression that AOPA is where the lawyers are. They can cover this issue adequately. AOPA is welcome to the credit. I encourage EAA to focus on facilitation the invention of unleaded avgas. If I don't get that, I will likely not be able to fly around where I make my local nuke plant staff nervous.

Perhaps it is my age, but these days I try to be really good at a few things rather than so-so at many. I don't know whether that is mature wisdom or merely fatigue. Your mileage may vary.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

[rosiejerryrosie]

It's not that they're absolved, they never had a moral or legal duty in the first place because they are not sworn or obligated to know, uphold and apply laws and/or regulations. I'm curious to know why you continue to believe or have an expectation that $10 an hour security guards should be held to such standards and accountability?

As Wes has already said on the subject they have no authority, likely have no aviation expertise and are not trained in aviation operations.

You are probably legally correct, but, I would like to suggest that folks paid to discharge the responsibility of providing security at any installation be at least familiar with the laws and regulations regarding that facility. If they were aware that there was, in fact, NO no fly zone over their facility the whole incident would have been avoided. Just sayin'

[Bill Greenwood]

I don't think any reasonable person should be worried about airplanes flying low over a dam, unless it is a group of Lancasters with very big bombs.

As for any possible liability of the power plant in this case, it might be that any civil suit would/could also name the private corporation, if any, that runs the plant. It would not target an individual guard, but the company if they gave false information to the sheriff, such at the the glider was 100 feet over the plant when it was actually 1000 ' or so. It was the report from the plant that got the sheriff involved, and most suits will target any party, even if it doesn't all stick.

The downside of any civil suit is that a judgement for damages ( false imprisonment overnight) etc. is that is won't come out of the sheriff's pocket who likely doesn't have much more than a big screen tv and some guns, but be paid by the taxpayers. Even if the sheriff was found guilty of something major and fired, usually they just move on somewhere else and get the same type of job.

Our local law people thankfully are a lot better than most. Several of the deputies are friends and one is a pilot who ties his twin Cessna down near my plane.

[Tom Charpentier]

The pilot community outcry continues to reverberate and AOPA continues to advocate on behalf of pilots who are very concerned they could suffer from similar action. Where is EAA on this subject? I've done searches and can't find any response or even an acknowlegment of the event itself. So Sad!!!!! Must be too busy thinking about pricing for those 2013 AV VIP tents. C'mon Jack, a great opportunity to show some leadership to the members on a crucial issue.

Byrd-brain's Facebook page has apparently been taken down after receiving overwhelming nasty comments.

Here's the latest on the event and AOPA's continuing advocacy:

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...l?CMP=News:S1T

When it comes to advocacy between our two organizations, there are some issues that we take point on and AOPA lends us support, and there are some issues that AOPA takes lead on and we support them (and there are some issue that we take joint ownership of, such as the medical petition). This was a case of the second scenario. Aviation is a very broad field and in this case covering the same base simply wasn't an effective use of resources. AOPA did an excellent job seeing the situation through to its conclusion. You can bet that sheriff will never make the same mistake again, and it hopefully prompted greater awareness of the rights of aviators in the law enforcement community.

Are we concerned about this case? Absolutely. Unfortunately we have seen too many of these misunderstandings over the years, particularly since 9/11. We have fought hard and will continue to fight hard on GA security issues, particularly at the national level. We are always happy to lend support to state and local issues as well when our members come to us. In fact I'm working on two issues this very evening that are so important I'm staying late on a Friday night (happy to do it too - I'm single and I love my work). If you ever have a problem in your area that you need help with call my direct line at 920-426-6124 or send an email to tcharpentier@eaa.org.

And I'll take a moment to reiterate my standard line on local airport/community issues - remember that EAA is more than just the national office when it comes to advocacy. You, as our fellow members and chapters, are central to keeping your communities GA friendly. Find ways to get municipal officials and members of the general public to the airport, through Young Eagles rallies, airport open houses, etc.... Promote yourselves through local media. The more aware the non-flying public is about who you are and what you're doing at the airport, the less likely things like this are to happen in your community. They're also friends you need to have the next time a developer comes knocking wanting to put up a strip mall on your airport. "Bob, the really nice pilot who showed us around at the airport/gave my kid a ride" is a lot harder to sell out than "those guys over there at the airport with the scary airplanes." Misconceptions like "there must be a no-fly zone over a nuke plant, right?" are formed of ignorance. Do what you can to fight ignorance.

Anyway, I hope that addresses your concern, and let us know if you have any questions.

Tom

[Floatsflyer]

Hey Tom,

Thanks for the quick reply and for taking the time to provide an informative explanation, much appreciated. And please thank Hal for getting this to you.

The only problem going forward then seems that, without a program, we don't know which organization takes point on which advocacy issue. I guess I'll have to email you and ask as such critical issues arise.


I do still believe that EAA should have sent out a press release at the very least so the members were aware of its concern. Then I wouldn't make such poor judgement calls. Ok...I'll email you.

Don't work too hard tonight...better to be in....it's soooo cold out there.

Once again, thanks.... AND KEEP US FLYING!!!

[Floatsflyer]

This is not one bit funny but the yahoo Mayberry Marvel has relocated south

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._208075-1.html

[Tom Charpentier]

Thanks Floats. We understand how this incident struck a chord with many people, as it certainly did with myself. We have enough issues of misunderstanding with the non-flying public when they're not carrying handcuffs! In the future we'll be more proactive with our communications so it's clear that issues aren't falling through the cracks. Feel free to call or email me any time.

Yeah, we saw that story about the gunfire too. Pretty scary that in such a big sky a stray bullet would not only hit a plane but come within a half inch or two of killing the pilot. Steve Wittman's "Little Bonzo," his Goodyear Racer, actually took groundfire flying somewhere down south I believe. If you look closely at it in our museum there's actually a little Confederate Battle Flag sticker covering the bullet hole just inboard of the wing root.