Just damn.
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Posted on 06/22/2005 2:06:11 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
(Harrison, N.Y.-AP, June 22, 2005 2:25 PM) _ An 20-year-old man, allegedly intoxicated, is under arrest after allegedly stealing a small plane in Connecticut. The man took two friends on a three-hour joyride early this morning that somehow ended with a safe landing at a darkened Westchester County Airport.
County Executive Andrew Spano says that when an airport security car met the four-seat Cessna at 4:15 a.m. and the plane doors opened, a significant number of beer cans spilled to the ground.
Police say the plane's 20-year-old "pilot," Philippe Patricio, of Bethel, Connecticut, was arrested with a blood alcohol level of point-one-five -- nearly double the legal limit for driving in New York state.
His two 16-year-old passengers were not charged.
The plane was nearly out of gas when it landed, and it appeared that Patricio became lost during his time in the air.
It was unclear how he spotted the Westchester airport, which had closed for construction work five hours earlier.
Spano was incensed that the post-September Eleventh security measures in place at the Westchester airport were not duplicated at the Danbury Municipal Airport, where the single-engine Cessna 172 Skyhawk departed at about 1:30 am
A call left for comment at the administration office at Danbury Municipal Airport was not immediately returned.
Authorities were perplexed at Patricio's ability to land the plane on a small taxiway without any lights while lost and allegedly drunk.
Patricio was charged with criminal possession of stolen property, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and driving while intoxicated. The DWI was the result of Patricio taxiing through the airport while drunk, since there are no state laws applying to flying while intoxicated.
Westchester authorities said it appeared that Patricio may work as a part-time mechanic at the Danbury airport, and could have used an access pass to get his hands on the Cessna's keys.
What is the saying "God looks out for fools, drunks, and student pilots"
Two out of three I guess.
I worked as a line boy (airport gas pump jockey) for several years, and I've been around airports as a mechanic, flight instructor, jump plane pilot, banner tow pilot, and aircraft owner since the 70's.
I can categorically say that I've never seen anyone fly an airplane that I knew had been drinking. Obviously it happens, but I've never witnessed it, even from the hangar where they had beer in the pop machine. It never delivered it's first beer until after the aircraft had landed and the chairs got pulled out.
This is allegedly a story. /sarcasm
Both stories from AP. Someone has an agenda. David Rockefeller recently ran the AOPA witness at a House meeting over the coals. He said something to the effect that "he worried about all those 18000 airports", meaning he thought all of them were terrorist threats and he intended to do something about it.
My bet is that these articles made the AP on his agenda.
David Rockefeller is a threat to aviation and our freedom to travel in our own aircraft.
Your link had the 14 y/o that stold a plane and landed it safely (the first time). Unfortunatle the kid tried it a second time and was not so lucky.
He must be destroyed!
I think this line can safely be amended to read formerly worked as a part-time mechanic at the Danbury airport.
Wow...he could have done real damage if he had been driving a SUV...
Just Damn! alert
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
If anything, it was difficult for me to learn how to fly VFR in real life, after years of IFR training with the simulator software.
For someone who has learned how to flying simulators, this does not surprise me at all.
Simulators are that real!
Drunk...not a pilot...4:30 in the morning...unlit airport...and he landed, everybody walked away, and the plane wasn't damaged.
God really does look out for fools.
}:-)4
They didn't know what to do with me. I told them that the guy was coming way below minimums over a residential area and I pointed out the thing about the tail numbers. Well, the cop wanted to know the tail number and they'd track the guy down. O.k., I'd see what I could do. No dice. They guy wouldn't remain still long enough for me to get 'em. Or he'd disappear behind a building and then zoom up to 8000' feet, and then launch another dive bombing run.
So I called the cops back. The cop is adamant he needs the registration number or he won't be able to do anything, and nobody else had reported anything. Just then, while we were on the phone, I heard this big boom. "You heard a big boom?", he asks, "Any idea in what direction and how far away it was?" Before I could answer, I heard on the other end some intense conversation. The cop then tells me that he has to go now, "Something just came up. You may hear about it on the news." and hangs up. Less than a minute later I hear a whole bunch of sirens (like every single emergency vehicle in the state).
Turns out, the plane was being piloted by an off duty cop and his copper buddy, both of them sheets to the wind (~0.25). The cop pilot was a pilot and from what investigators could figure, he decided that he was going to park the plane in the garage. An open garage attached to a house about 3/4 miles north from my apartment. He parked that plane perfectly in the garage too may I add. If memory serves correctly, the newspaper article reported that he had bragged to people about his flying skills and that he could do just that, "park a plane in a garage with only a runway as long as a driveway."
The firefighters were able to put the fire out pretty quickly, and none of the house's occupants were injured. But the garage was a total loss.
For those of you who don't know the area, Danbury airport is strictly for private aircraft: there are no regularly scheduled flights. Westchester airport has both private planes and several airlines that fly from there direct to Boston, Toronto, DC, Chicago, Detroit, etc. But Westchester (HPN) is a pretty small airport, and it's normally closed at night because it is in a residential area. At least, regular airlines don't land there in the middle of the night. The two airports are about 30 miles apart I guess, maybe even less as the crow flies.
That's a great story. We used to get calls from the folks in Belle Meade, a very rich neighborhood, about aircraft buzzing their houses. Some of the guys at the airport were buzzing their friends houses and we knew who they were. We consistently told the callers "yes ma'am, we are tracking them on radar". We didn't even have a radar. I wasn't about to call the FAA as these guys were professional pilots whom I knew personally and weren't even flying that low.
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