Pilot fined €5,000 for landing on roof

DonJose

Just wondering who regulates pilot licenses in Ireland, could/should this guy lose his license over this act of stupidity???

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A helicopter pilot who landed on the roof of a midlands shopping centre to collect a set of keys has been given a six-month suspended sentence and fined €5,000.

Sean O’Brien (50), The Island, Ballycumber, Co Offaly, was convicted on ten charges relating to the incident at Athlone in Co Westmeath on July 7th, 2007.

He was released on bail from Athlone District Court last year on condition he did not operate an aircraft.

Judge David Anderson asked whether the defendant, who holds an American pilot’s licence, was now in a position to display a knowledge of Irish aviation regulations.

Mr O’Brien replied he had studied the regulations but was unable to afford to attend courses on the subject. He claimed to have been applying “completely different” flying instructions acquired in America at the time of the incident.

“You are telling me in Florida there are no regulations in relation to landing a helicopter on top of a supermarket,” asked Judge Anderson.

Admitting he shouldn’t have landed in Athlone, or dropped below 1,500 feet in a built up area, Mr O’Brien said: “I would never do that again”.

He described his own actions as “dangerous” due to the lack of a designated landing area on the roof of the shopping centre.

Judge Anderson said: “Mr O’Brien still doesn’t understand why he shouldn’t land on a supermarket”. Had there been an accident people could have been “toasted” in a serious fire, the judge explained.

The defendant had displayed “no grasp whatsoever” of the rules. “Common sense, that is where he has difficulty,” said Judge Anderson.

Solicitor Tom Madden said his client was a man of “no means” who didn’t own the helicopter and is now on disability.

Although there were ten separate charges, Judge Anderson said the one overriding charge was that of “dangerous and negligent” use of a helicopter.

He handed down a six-month suspended sentence and fined the defendant €5,000 on this count while taking the remaining nine charges into consideration.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1214/breaking51.htm

Run_to_da_hills

He already learned his lesson from the media publicity and I doubt if he would be doing it again. Maybe he should try and get a position with the air ambulance service or Gardai, they would be at times be required to land on top of buildings and other weird places.

thesweeney

The IAA regulate Pilot's licenses.

Victor

The problem is American licences and American / UK helicopters in Ireland make regulation difficult. However, I understand the FAA and IAA have agree that the IAA can regulate FAA licences when they are in Ireland.

Dacian

DonJose wrote: »

...............could/should this guy lose his license over this act of stupidity???

..........Solicitor Tom Madden said his client was a man of “no means” who didn’t own the helicopter and is now on disability.............He handed down a six-month suspended sentence and fined the defendant €5,000 on this count while taking the remaining nine charges into consideration.[/quote]

His license should be revoked. What he did what reckless. And if you follow the case when it first came to light the guy tried to argue with the judge. His disability must be classed as inability to figure out common sense and/or courtesy.

Davidth88

He has an American license ( not spelling )

There is a problem here with people using US Licenses and flying N plated aircraft if you ask me ( not that I am an expert )

Didn't the guy who crashed on the beach in Meath/NorthDublin ( can't remember ) have an expired US license ?

You only have to look at my local airfield ( Weston ) there are possibly 10/15 N plated aircraft that are obviously resident there .

I sat next to a guy from the IAA on a flight to Rome recently , he was explaining that they are trying to clamp down on this , and are inspecting aircraft ( rather like driving non Irish cars on the road ). He was actually on his way to inspect an ATR47 ( or 72 can't remember ) because it was coming onto the register. He said that basically they don't have time/resource to look at the non commercial stuff

I would be interested to hear from people who know more about this subject than me on this , is this a problem ?

diverdriver

I'd say there's a good chance that the IAA will contact the Feds and they will suspend his license. But even if he had a JAA licence, he would have been prosecuted for what he did. So it's much of a muchness.

It was disengenuous of his lawyer to say he didn't own the helicopter. FAA rules are that all N registered aircraft must be American owned. So he simply could not own the aircraft. It's probably owned by a trust in the US as are many US registered aircraft in Ireland.

There are good reason to operate N registered aircraft, often the FAA has a more sensible and practical attitude to operating aircraft and licensing. Not the mention being cheaper. It isn't simply a means of getting away with things. Having said that our helicopter brethern have been a law unto themselves on occasion. Not least because of the type of rich man 'of no means' attracted to the idea of being a helicopter pilot.

The reason he barely realises he did something wrong is because this kind of thing was common in the boom years and often people seeing helicopters flying in and out didn't realise some of their antics were actually illegal. Half the time the pilots barely knew either.

DonJose

Dacian wrote: »

His license should be revoked. What he did what reckless. And if you follow the case when it first came to light the guy tried to argue with the judge. His disability must be classed as inability to figure out common sense and/or courtesy.

I wonder if this is the same guy? Same town Ballycumber.

"The two-seater aircraft crashed near the village of Ballycumber, 6km from Clara, at around 4.30pm this evening.

Two men who were flying in the helicopter were taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries."

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0912/helicopter.html

electric69

DonJose wrote: »

I wonder if this is the same guy? Same town Ballycumber.

"The two-seater aircraft crashed near the village of Ballycumber, 6km from Clara, at around 4.30pm this evening.

Two men who were flying in the helicopter were taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries."

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0912/helicopter.html

Yes that was the same guy who crashed the Hu269

diverdriver

There's a bit more history there too with that guy. I do believe.

DonJose

electric69 wrote: »

Yes that was the same guy who crashed the Hu269

Cheers, I found the following,

"Ballycumber man Sean O'Brien has cheated death for a second time after he survived a helicopter crash near his home last Wednesday.

Mr O'Brien was flying the helicopter accompanied by his brother Hugh when the accident occurred shortly after 4pm. The helicopter is believed to have plummeted almost a thousand feet to the ground before coming to rest at Clonshanny, between Ballycumber and Clara.

Both men were taking to hospital where there injuries were described as superficial. Sean O'Brien was released hours later while his brother remained in hospital overnight."

http://www.offalyindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2007/09/21/26438-ballycumber-air-crash-man-cheats-death-for-second-time/

Heres the accident report,

"The Investigation concluded that the helicopter had run out of fuel." :rolleyes:

http://www.aaiu.ie/upload/general/10780-0.pdf

Dacian

DonJose wrote: »

"The Investigation concluded that the helicopter had run out of fuel." :rolleyes:

MUPPETS

Our man in Havana

Running out of fuel is totally avoidable.

Barname

is this muppet in receipt of disability payments? (taxpayers cash)