Posted on 01/11/2013 9:14:16 AM PST by KeyLargo
Secret 'no-fly zone'?
Pilot seeks answers after arrest
By Sarah Brown
Pilots returned, one by one, to Bermuda High Soaring in Jefferson, S.C. By about 5 p.m. on July 26, 2012, the lift had died and everyone had returned to the gliderport—everyone except Robin Fleming. No one remembered hearing from Fleming since 1:30 or 2 p.m., and Jayne Ewing Reid, co-owner and chief tow pilot of the glider club and commercial operation, was worried.
She called pilots who lived in the region and asked them to try to contact Fleming on their handheld radios. She flew the club’s Piper Pawnee in the direction of Fleming’s last known radio call, but found no evidence of the missing glider or its pilot.
“This is when you get that feeling that something’s not right,” she said. Fleming always called if he landed out. Worried that something had happened to Fleming, an avid glider pilot and instructor at Bermuda High, Jayne Ewing Reid and business partner Frank Reid decided to file a missing airplane report. Neither suspected that Fleming was in trouble with the law.
Fleming, 70, had been arrested for breach of peace after flying his Rolladen-Schneider LS8-18 sailplane noiselessly over the H.B. Robinson Nuclear Generating Station at an altitude of 1,518 feet msl—by his estimates, about 1,000 feet over the power plant’s dome—on his way to search for lift at nearby Lake Robinson.
No airspace restrictions were printed on sectional charts; no notam marked the area off-limits. When a woman at Hartsville Regional Airport relayed over the Unicom that law enforcement wanted him to land, he had flown to that airport and landed, greeted by a swarm of law enforcement vehicles.
Nonetheless, Fleming spent the night awake in a cell with 11 other inmates.
(Excerpt) Read more at aopa.org ...
TheThirdRuffian,
not meaning any offense but are you a pilot?
You EVER have ANY dealings with the F.A.A.?
Agreed. I was working at a nuke when 9/11 happened. There was strong concern the terrorists were going to try something with the nukes, and every report of any kind of unrecognized aircraft in immediate proximity to the plant was cause for great concern. I expect the no fly zone, if it in fact exists, was not communicated to the pilot due to some sort of human error, negligence, etc., which probably is why the authorities are backing off.
Couldn't that be construed as making an agreement under duress and somehow nullified? I would certainly test that theory...
“A better knowledge of aviation issues among law enforcement officials may have produced a better result for Fleming. Griffin said she had to tell the officers on the scene to clear out the runway, and one officer talked about commandeering the airport. “He was running around, the one guy that was commandeering everything, saying, ‘We were going to shoot him down,’” she said.”
Me thinks it’s high time to start reeling in the gestapo.
"Just what was that law?"
"Well, 'e never did tell me what it was, but he gave me 'is word, an' that's good enough for me with ol' Dynsdale!"
Why?
I fly ove one all the time.
To this point it is not illegal.
i do know they do not care for you to circle one at a low altitude.
And in this case I’d bet the farm it is because his craft is nearly invisible to radar.
Hasn’t this guy heard of NORDO? I always answer anonymous calls asking who is that circling and buzzing (fill in the blank) ./NOT!
The FBI & Homeland Security Jack Booted Collectivists cn and should be sued for deliberate falsification of a Federal document - which is a FELONY!
Jail a few “Steroid Enhanced Jack Booted Thug” population and such abuse will become very rare.
One of the first things you learn when you study law is that a law is not a law until it is “promulgated”. In other words, there can be no “secret law”.
Beyond that, it is distressing that almost on a daily basis I read stories of gung-ho law enFORCEment, treating citizens who have broken no laws like they are felons ... and threatening to “shoot down” a glider ... insane.
I used to wonder how the Nazis found so many people willing to staff the camps and pack the trains ... every day here in AmeriKa 2013 I read stories that confirm the mindset of such people is still alive and well and more often than not uniformed and badged. Sickening.
Why ping me? (check handle)
Even when the law is not secret the vast majority of us remain ignorant of it. In the case of Obamacare even those who wrote it remain ignorant of it. It's kind of like the party where Hank Readan is made aware of how the 'law' works.
It always does. Often a display of unbridled fiction and questionable grammer.
I was on double-secret probation at one time...
umm, not a secret. It’s a temporary flight restriction set up after 9/11. Can’t fly over nuke power, sporting events with more than 30,000 people or state department special airspace within 3nm or 3000’ agl. Not sure what that last one is, but these are old rules.
Umm ...... you still are.
Oh crap, don't read this post.
“When his attorney returned and said the case would be dismissed if he agreed not to take any legal action against Darlington County law enforcement, he said, he reluctantly agreed.”
Gross violation of civil rights IMHO. I would seek charges for violation of civil rights under color of law.
With that handle I’d figure you’d want to read this.
Are you a glider buff? I’ve been up a few times and love it.
Yes and yes.
In fact, I just landed my Mooney about 5 minutes ago and am now waiting for Mrs. TTR to go skiing!
They need to be sued early and often.
We always liked our Company Commander's version: "Ignorance is no excuse for the law!"
Next door neighbor drives a Mooney all the time. In weather i’d Never fly my RV6A in.
Nice plane.
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