Just think, terrorists could do the same.
Posted on 03/08/2005 8:58:08 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
Pilot, 25, is charged in airplane joyride
Manchester man faces felony charges, license loss
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
BY AMALIE NASH
News Staff Reporter
Police say a Manchester pilot entered an unlocked airport hangar last month after he had been drinking and took an airplane on a seven-minute joyride to Tecumseh, damaging the plane when he landed it without lowering the wheels.
The accused pilot, Thomas Robert Pyle, 25, was charged and arraigned Monday on three felony counts related to the Feb. 3 late-night incident.
Investigators said word of Pyle's flight spread in the community, and police were able to identify him by interviewing several people. He surrendered to police Sunday and was formally charged with breaking and entering, larceny over $20,000 and unlawfully taking or tampering with an aircraft.
Police first learned of the aircraft theft the morning of Feb. 4, when an employee of the Tecumseh airport discovered the damaged and abandoned airplane on the runway. The gear on the $300,000 airplane had not been lowered for the landing, and the plane sustained about $100,000 damage when its belly landed on the runway, Pittsfield Detective Lt. Steve Heller said.
Heller said Pyle and the passenger were lucky they weren't injured in the landing. The passenger is not expected to be charged in the case, police said.
"He said they didn't hear the buzzer to lower the gear and he forgot," Heller said. "They were lucky - that's for sure."
The airport hangar was unlocked when the plane was stolen, so Pyle was able to walk in and start it up, Heller said. Another friend who was aware they were going to fly to Tecumseh was waiting there when they landed, and drove them back to the Ann Arbor Airport to get their car, Heller said.
Heller said Pyle was remorseful and had been nervous that he would get caught. He does not have a criminal history, police said.
The FAA also is investigating, but spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said she could not comment while the investigation is open. She said it was too soon to say whether Pyle could face action regarding his pilot's license.
Pyle was arraigned at the Washtenaw County Jail and a bond of $1,500 cash surety was set. He has a preliminary hearing on the charges March 17.
The breaking and entering and larceny charges each carry a maximum 10-year prison term, and the aircraft theft charge carries a maximum five-year prison term.
Reminds me of the lance corporal who swiped a jet at El Toro and took it for a late night joy ride around Orange County. At least the Marine landed it properly, more than I can say for this dude...
"The gear on the $300,000 airplane had not been lowered for the landing, and the plane sustained about $100,000 damage when its belly landed on the runway..."
This happened to a friend of mine, when he traded in his fixed gear aircraft for one with retractable wheels. Ouch.
A few hours later, at 3 in the morning, he walked back in the bar and told him he had proof. They went outside and he showed them the plane he had just landed outside the bar on St. Nicholas avenue. He had taken a bus to Teterboro NJ, stole a plane, and landed it on a street in Manhattan, just to prove a point.
He was arrested immediately.
"She said it was too soon to say whether Pyle could face action regarding his pilot's license...The breaking and entering and larceny charges each carry a maximum 10-year prison term, and the aircraft theft charge carries a maximum five-year prison term."
My dad and sister are both pilots. Although neither would steal someone else's plane and neither would fly after drinking, I do know that the prospect of losing their licenses would be just as disturbing to them as prison time! Of course, this guy deserves both.
Well - there goes about $20K in training.
(((.)))
No Kidding. I like my landing gear down and welded...
My favorite story in this vein is on from Middleton Wisconsin - Morey Field. A co worker back in the 1980's was a partial owner of an aircraft with retractable gear. The plane was late 50's early 60's vintage and it was clear that ergonomics were not paramount in the design of the controls in that era. A thumbwheel like control adjusted the flaps and next to it was a thumbwheel like control that lowered the gear. Another fractional share owner needed some hours to maintain proficiency so he took some friends up for a flight around Madison and the lakes. While coming in on final he announced to his passengers - don't worry about the noise you are about to hear - it's just he landing gear lowering. He reached over and rotated the thumbwheel, heard the sound of motors whirring, and proceeded to land, gear up. When the plane nearly hit the runway the props bent and then the airframe skidded down the runway to a stop, with no fire. Everyone emerged safely - and the result was a great series of photographs of this steaming pile of wreckage created when the pilot adjusted the flaps rather than lowering the gear.
Glad to know all were unharmed (other than the pilot's dignity, of course!) My dad has retractable gear planes (he does aerobatics in air shows so he doesn't go for fixed gears) and when I fly with him, we always have to check the landing gear multiple times on final approach. He's never had a belly landing, but I guess enough people have that he's compulsive about preventing it. Which is a good thing, of course!
Reminds me of the story about the Aztec doing a touch & go at Toronto City Centre. Flap switch next to gear switch. Pilot not looking when raising flaps after touchdown. Ouch.
I knew a guy who told me that when in high school, he saw an unnattended police helicopter witht he engine running. He got in it and managed to lift off a few feet and then land. Lots and lots of community service for that little stunt.
Don't they have to pay to repave the runway, too?
Or the Army crew chief who tried to fly a UH-60 Blackhawk and wasted the entire aricraft on the tarmac.
Pyle huh ? Does he have a nickname yet ? How bout Gomer....
Just think, terrorists could do the same.
Or "Private Pyle" from Full Metal Jacket.
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