Well here you go fellow BCPers. An idiot today landed his kit fox in a field in san diego next to a freeway and housing development, "Because I can land this thing anywhere"...... If you want to see his tv interview go to www.nbcsandiego.com/news/ Just what we need for general aviation.

So did he crash, could he not take off again, or what? From your description, this is maybe one of those things that seemed like a cool idea....until it wasn't. Kinda like water-skiing,a low-pass, etc that goes wrong.
Was this right in town, or just where? I could see being tempted to try it if it was out toward the hinderlands somewhere. But not in downtown Lemon Grove or somewhere like that.
I have dial-up internet so I'm not even gonna try to watch the interview. (yeah, Zane, I know I'm a caveman........)

Eric

Hey crazy pilot doing fun stuff at the wrong place. We have thousands of acres in Eastern Oregon, with plenty of dry lake spots for doing that.

What I liked was the article about the gal with the skimpy outfit, kicked off SWA flight. Woo Wooo If she took off the white shirt under the green sweater, she could have sat by me However the Misses might object.

Big deal made out of silly things. Happens a lot these days. My kid can not wear an NRA shirt to school. Cripes he shoots trap, bows, handgun and hi-power. But don't wear a shirt to school. They start on the kids young and bamboozle them into being brow beat. That way they won't stand up and fight for freedoms in the future. Like landing in a vacant field or wearing a pilot skirt.

Off the soap box, Bub

Probably outlaw bushwheels in California or at least require a 7 day cooling off period.

Tim

Skylane wrote:Big deal made out of silly things. Happens a lot these days. My kid can not wear an NRA shirt to school.
Off the soap box, Bub

When I was going to Silverton High School half the cars in the parking lot were pickups with gun racks and a gun during deer season. Never even raised an eyebrow. Now a kid with a GI Joe doll that carries a plastic gun 3 inches long gets kicked out of school. Seems to me there is a distinct lack of common sense in the government arena. Okay, in the private sector, too.

tom

Well after watching the interview a couple of times I don't know what he was thinking or why he landed there. True we have thousands of places to land that aren't in the city limits. This was beside the Ted Williams Freeway which runs east to west in the northern part of the city. THere are new housing developments along the freeway. I get the impression he just wanted to land cause he thought it a good place to put down and take off. I've done that in the back country here on dry lakes and old abanconed strips too. He changed his reason for landing a couple of times from "I own the property" to " Just a legal place to land" to "No comment." WHy he didn't just get the hell out of there right away I don't knowl. THey said on one channel that he got out and pushed the plane into the depression next to the road that it is shown in. Maybe the CHP arrived before he could get going again and made him stay. He touted the red bull air races three times on camera. No more was said on the news other than the FAA was looking into it.. THe news media was typical in their ignorant coverage of aviation....."did you file a flight plan" etc.. Their obsession with flight plans is laughable. It seems they think we're violating some reg by not filing a flight plan whenever something happens. THey usually have some info babe with a mike standing there ending her speech with "and he didn't file a flight plan" in the most accusatory tones... YOu just want to thow something at the TV

YOu just want to thow something at the TV

I haven't owned a TV for twenty years, and that's why. I highly recommend it.

The middle school I went to was on the edge of town at the foothills of a mountain named "chinks peak", later changed to "china peak". I would bring a .410 shotgun to school with me and leave it in my locker so I could hunt rabbits after the last class. The principal's only concern was that I be a few hundred yards from the school before I started shooting. Of course, that was before children showed their penchant for mass murder...it changes things.

That guy should have 1) took off again right away, and 2) hit on the "no comment" idea right away. As far as the FAA, etc goes-- carb ice is usually to blame for this sort of thing, eh?

Eric

Ok guys, just got back from a short Harley hop to the airport and the word is this guy has been doing this for some time. It seems he works at a office building right across the freeway from where he lands and that numerous people have seen him land there and go across the freeway. He lands and pushes the aircraft down into a little depression where it can't be seen from the freeway and goes to work. Only this day he was seen landing by the local Gendarmes and they naturally thought he was in trouble and appeared on the scene as he was pushing it into the depression. We all know what happened from there......Film at eleven shows up and everyone gets excited. You would think though that he would have thought through his "emergency response" answer. I.E. low oil pressure, ice, nude sunbathers, etc. Don't know what he does for a living but I would say it doesn't involve thinking fast on your feet.

The local law can't be so stupid to buy that this is the 10th time your carb. has iced up at this location though.
As society grows anything outside of the norm is viewed with suspicion and must be illegal. Even if he balled it up, beside himself, who would have been hurt? Would the news have shown up for a 4 wheeler?

No i think this was the first time he got caught.. As far as the news... Here in San Diego any and every incident involving aircraft, no matter what it is is on the evening news. Gear up landings,, to a warning light and precautionary landing, it makes the news.

If what Iceman said is true about him flying his plane to work, I can understand. Commuter traffic can be nasty in San Diego.

Still, modern aviators need to be responsible representatives of aviation.

Ice,
My point is, say you lie to the local cop and tell him that you had a mechanical problem and made a precautionary landing. Then the cop hears from a bystander that you have done this several times before. How pissed off do you think the cop is going to be? Do you think you are in trouble? Granted the news media was probably the problem here.

who knows. I understand your point. The info I got on him was at the airport. You know about airport info. Take it for what it's worth.

To bad more people aren't do it, and to bad its not aloud. I can see the danger of a STOLport next to the freeway of busy city streets nevermind two or three in many cities, but going to work like this dude did, if that what happened, sounds cool for GA. Downtown Manhatten has many Stolports with beehive activity of choppers. An 800 foot stip of golf course gass with parking for folks to go to work with their Ultralight or tubine maule. Shit sounds kinda cool if in years to come GA heads in that direction instead of the userfee and bullshit direction. This guy should have somekind of story lined up for the cops.

Savannah-Tom wrote:

Skylane wrote:Big deal made out of silly things. Happens a lot these days. My kid can not wear an NRA shirt to school.
Off the soap box, Bub

When I was going to Silverton High School half the cars in the parking lot were pickups with gun racks and a gun during deer season. Never even raised an eyebrow. Now a kid with a GI Joe doll that carries a plastic gun 3 inches long gets kicked out of school. Seems to me there is a distinct lack of common sense in the government arena. Okay, in the private sector, too.

tom

In high school my Sophmore year, my demonstration speach for speach class involved my taking the class out to the football field and demonstrating how to load and fire a black powder rifle at a 5 gallon jug of water. My best friend did his on cleaning a shotgun, which he did in the classroom. I still remember him carrying the shotgun on his shoulder down the hallway at our highschool.

I agree, there is a serious shortage of common sense.