Cleveland pilot decides to become a phony hero. Cost: $489,000

mikea

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
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An Ohio man whose hoax distress call triggered a massive U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue mission on Lake Erie must pay $489,000 in restitution, a U.S. appeals court said Tuesday.
...

Two years ago, the now 21-year-old licensed pilot told authorities he saw what he thought was a distress flare coming up from a boat as he flew over the lake.
And then when Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport asked him to get a closer look, he said he didn’t see boat but did see more flares and fishing boat with four people on it wearingn life jackets and flashing lights.
When a 21-hour search with a 140-foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter, three smaller rescue boats, a rescue helicopter and a Canadian CC130 Hercules airplane came up empty, the man finally confessed a month later to making it all up

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/23/m...for-fictional-stranded-boaters/#more-10161098

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/23/us-usa-ohio-hoax-idUSBREA3M02O20140423
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:mad2:
Everytime we say it takes some brain cells to become a pilot, one of these kids comes along and proves us wrong.

How about we change the minimum age for a PPL to 25?
 
mikea said:
:mad2:
Everytime we say it takes some brain cells to become a pilot, one of these kids comes along and proves us wrong.

How about we change the minimum age for a PPL to 25?
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How about no.

Old people do dumb stuff too.
 
I was thinking the "In your grill" "gonna do the Alaska sandbar landing on the beach" kid.
 
mikea said:
:mad2:
Everytime we say it takes some brain cells to become a pilot, one of these kids comes along and proves us wrong.

How about we change the minimum age for a PPL to 25?
Click to expand...

I think a person of any age and intelligence level can be a sociopath.
 
bnt83 said:
About like the guy who put a cherokee on the beach near JFK due to his engine running a "tinsy wincy bit rough" after asking if they could land there legally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU_2QT0re30
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Oh I've seen that. He was a tard. We all do stupid stuff sometimes, not that I'm defending him but I've done my fair share of things that in hindsight were not smart.
 
Should we start posting accidents by age group?
 
The biggest problem with being young is doing stuff without thinking it through. Everyone here has at some point, and if they say they haven't they are lying. I've learned through my experience and misadventures that whenever I think about doing something silly, I think "What would the NTSB report say?" That keeps me in check. It is worth noting that your brain is not considered fully developed until you turn 30.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Should we start posting accidents by age group?
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Looking back, I can say evaluation of potential consequences grows to a reasonable level of priority at age 25 or so. Impulsivity starts to decrease at 19 or 20. YMMV.

Edit to say that I agree with David and might die of shock.
 
ChrisK said:
Looking back, I can say evaluation of potential consequences grows to a reasonable level of priority at age 25 or so. Impulsivity starts to decrease at 19 or 20. YMMV.

Edit to say that I agree with David and might die of shock.
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I ain't as dumb as I look

DumbandDumber.jpg
 
The only urge I have yet to be able to control is my urge to start twerking at very inopportune moments. It's like narcolepsy, but instead of falling asleep it's twerking.
 
DavidWhite said:
The only urge I have yet to be able to control is my urge to start twerking at very inopportune moments. It's like narcolepsy, but instead of falling asleep it's twerking.
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That comes back post 40
 
I can honestly say I did some really stupid stuff as a kid, but not with an airplane; a car, a phone, a Jeep...a bottle. But for some reason my flying (soloed at 16) was strictly by-the-book.

Now, I have made some bad flying decisions but they were well-considered and I definitely have had a few times where I promised "Won't Never Do That Again."
 
The problem with what you folks are all referring to is this: There is dumb and not well thought out, and then there is deliberately malicious and criminal. This person is in the latter and deserves the punishment he gets. What he really deserves is to be stranded in a life jacket floating on Lake Erie waiting for the rescuers that are busy chasing someone else's false report.
 
We're past the pilot in question, the stink is the comment about being 25 for a pilots license.
Aztec Driver said:
The problem with what you folks are all referring to is this: There is dumb and not well thought out, and then there is deliberately malicious and criminal. This person is in the latter and deserves the punishment he gets. What he really deserves is to be stranded in a life jacket floating on Lake Erie waiting for the rescuers that are busy chasing someone else's false report.
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I don't believe younger people are any less aware of consequences to their actions, I think they're just more willing to accept the risk.

You get older and collect responsibilities such that your demise would effect others more. You've narrowly escaped enough disasters that you start to think that luck won't hold... and you start being more careful.
 
mikea said:
:mad2:
Everytime we say it takes some brain cells to become a pilot, one of these kids comes along and proves us wrong.

How about we change the minimum age for a PPL to 25?
Click to expand...

As long as we can put a max age at 50 I'm game.
 
ClimbnSink said:
We're past the pilot in question, the stink is the comment about being 25 for a pilots license.
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Quite frankly, how many people, under the age of 25 get a PPL without the intent of getting more, in order to fly for a career?
 
I'm in the CAP. I do SAR. I do not enjoy getting out of bed in the middle of the night to look for people. The only reason I do is because these people need help. If I wound up in a SAR operation like this, I might go after the guy.
 
The good thing about being 50, is I did most of the stupid things in my life before everyone have cellphone cameras and YouTube!!:D
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Quite frankly, how many people, under the age of 25 get a PPL without the intent of getting more, in order to fly for a career?
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I did it at 17 just for something to do. With a flying club with cheap Cessna rental rates and 42 cents a gallon it wasn't the major financial commitment it is today.

I am enjoying another career besides flying which allows me to fly as a hobby.
 
This is a local kid for me. For those interested he was flying over Lake Erie claimed he saw a flare shoot up but "He is too inexperienced to fly lower to confirm a boat" so Coast Guard and Canada Rescue used resources to check it out. They charged him for those resources and cost of engine wear. I believe I saw somewhere the judge wanted to make an example of him.
 
N747JB said:
The good thing about being 50, is I did most of the stupid things in my life before everyone have cellphone cameras and YouTube!!:D
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I agree! Years ago the idea of "Big Brother" watching us caused concern. These days not so much, we are watched a lot!

I made the occasional crank phone call, now technology has made that prank obsolete.
 
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

I wonder if he will have to pay interest as well. If so, he'll likely never get out from under this one.
 
mikea said:
:mad2:
Everytime we say it takes some brain cells to become a pilot, one of these kids comes along and proves us wrong.

How about we change the minimum age for a PPL to 25?
Click to expand...

Changing the age to 25 years would pretty well wipe out the military! Or how about WW2 when both fighter and bomber pilots were mainly in their early 20's or late teens in some cases. They were kids. When one considers the training missions these folks fly anyway, where they spend equal amounts or more probably not a big deal but the media gets off on stuff like this.
 
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KSCessnaDriver said:
Quite frankly, how many people, under the age of 25 get a PPL without the intent of getting more, in order to fly for a career?
Click to expand...


I did it in the late 90s. I was 20. It's tons easier before you get married, have kids, etc.

After I got my instrument rating, my idea of an interesting Saturday night was to go mix it up with the heavy metal down at MDW in low IFR.
 
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