I think he was lucky he didn't kill himself on that first flight he took. It sounded like a rough flight, as there was vomit all over the inside of the plane. He crash landed it and was lucky enough to be able to walk away. ( maybe not depends on you opion )

skybobb wrote:I think he was lucky he didn't kill himself on that first flight he took.

I think WE are UNlucky he didn't......
John

TomKatz wrote:We don't punish him to prevent him from doing this again, we punish him to prevent others from doing this again.

Yup... Pickpockets used to love public executions. Everyone was distracted by the thief being hung, so the pickpocket's job was easier...

Gump

I have been a peace officer for over 20 years. I am a pretty conservative, do the crime-get the time kind of guy. Dealt with
everything from shoplifters to murderers. Given situations that in some ways have left me jaded, I still believe in our "system".

The "kid" was still a "kid" by our legal and cultural definitions when many/most of these crimes took place I believe I read. Our system in general-especially when discussing youthful offenders, is geared towards their "rehabilitation". The prosecution asked for 9.5 years I think I read, the defense asked for 6.5. Judge split it down the middle. He will have a state and federal felony
conviction record. Proceeds from his story (which is being produced-sold already) have to be given to the victims.

I hope he does get his crap together. Am I optimistic that he will? Not really. But I am glad we live in a time and place that will allow a youthful offender involved in property crimes to
be given a chance to get straight vs lining him up against a wall or hanging him in the public square.

Anybody want to help a guy learn how to fly: https://www.gofundme.com/flycolton

Mixed feelings about this. Especially at 33 grand to get a private pilot license? Seems no less than three times what I could get one for these days.

Scolopax wrote:Anybody want to help a guy learn how to fly: https://www.gofundme.com/flycolton

Mixed feelings about this. Especially at 33 grand to get a private pilot license? Seems no less than three times what I could get one for these days.

Yeah but when other people are footing the bill- why not do your primary training in a Cirrus? And go ahead a get a helicopter license as well...

How about go get a job and earn it? Not use your "fame" for a handout.

Dickweed.

He's going to apply at Airlift Northwest as soon as he's done with training? Oh really?!?

It's funny to read the comments on the go fund me page

Crzyivan13 wrote:How about go get a job and earn it? Not use your "fame" for a handout.

Dickweed.

Exactly!

How about every Go Fund Me dime be confiscated by the courts, and go towards restitution for his victims.

Gump

No joke I saw his gofund me page earlier today by random luck. This guy is FUNNY!

He wants over one hundred thousand dollars to get some ratings that he will never be able to use because of his jail time and diagnosed medical history. Unless I was told wrong by everybody I know and that stuff doesn't matter to the FAA/employers...

His "Go fund me" reeks of scam. Once a thief always a thief, and it looks like he's trying to pull another stunt. I laugh at those idiots who donated. What a joke.

GumpAir wrote:How about every Go Fund Me dime be confiscated by the courts, and go towards restitution for his victims.

Gump

Exactly! Good idea.

I do believe that people can be rehabilitated. This guy was, and still is, very young when these crimes were committed. I did some shitty things when I was a kid too, I've managed to get past it.

What does bother me about this guy is trying to leverage his story into cash enabling him to shortcut what should be a long carful process. Working as a regional airline pilot I encounter this attitude from many "millennials". There is a strong sense of entitlement out there.

Colton wants to use all this cash so he doesn't have to spend many years collecting his ratings, well, he should have to spend many years collecting his ratings! Just like the rest of us did!

He thinks he's going to fast track right to a sweet flying job, good luck

what is beginning to become a disturbing trend to me is every asshole who wants something for some reason starts a go fund me... so feel sorry for me and give me money and I'll feel better, or help me get to financial security by begging for money.... it's gettin old... what ever happened to working for what you want... screw this guy.... so he paid for his crime... BF deal... he was an asshole then and still is...

It's been a while since I read up on his story, but I feel like if he had simply become an airport bum and got in with the right crowd of pilots when he was younger, he could already have that sweet flying job he's hoping for...

Here are my comments I put on another forum:

I believe in rehabilitation, too, but I've been around the block too many times in the past, dealing with criminals and recidivism. True rehabilitation of serious criminals is rare. Those who commit serious crimes, especially a string of serious crimes, seldom become truly rehabilitated, once they're out of the supervision of a good probation agent. Given time and circumstances, their underlying pathology which led to their criminal activities often comes to the surface again, leading to further crimes.

When I was in law school eons ago, my favorite professor made a comment one day, that there's a small percentage of people who simply don't fit into civilized society, who commit most of the crimes that infect the rest of society. He threw out the figure of 3%; I don't know if that percentage is accurate, but in my experience prosecuting and defending criminals in both military and civilian life, there is certainly a segment of the population which fits that description, people whose moral compass, if you will, is out of whack.

In my dealings with hardened criminals, I found that the vast majority of them, in fact most of them, had little regret for their actions, but a lot of regret for being caught, i.e., what they did wrong was to get caught.

So does Colton Harris fit in that segment? Very possibly. He spent almost half his life, from the age of 10, breaking the law. As he grew up, he grew more bold and increased the seriousness of his crimes. When he was finally caught and ultimately convicted and imprisoned, there is no guarantee that being locked up changed his mind-set at all. I've seen nothing in the various media reports which indicate that he did anything while in prison, other than to be in prison. Heck, I had clients who spent their prison time getting an education! The only way he'll be able to prove that he has changed is to live a crime-free life without supervision for quite awhile.

I suggest that his go fund me site is evidence that he hasn't been rehabilitated. He still wants someone else to pay for his desires. He doesn't want to earn his way. I'll be willing to bet that if he gets sufficient funding to start training, he won't complete it. Why? Because flight training isn't easy. It can't be handed to him. He'll want to bypass the nuts and bolts of learning all that aviation entails in favor of the excitement of flight. He's already said that he doesn't expect flight training will be hard because he already knows all about it--not exactly the kind of student I'd want to teach to fly!

I also think his chances of being employed in commercial aviation are pretty slim. It's not just his security clearances, but simply because many employers are not willing to hire ex-felons, especially employers whose livelihood depends on the stability of their employees around extremely expensive assets, and whose actions can impact the viability of any commercial aviation enterprise.

There are a lot of good places for my money to go besides Colton Harris's pipe dreams.

Cary

I have a suspicion that he will do nothing more than take the Money and run...

His probation officer shut down his go fund me account. He is not allowed to request funds for his own projects until his victims are made whole. That will be a lot more expensive than flight training. He did another go fund me account last April to cryogenically freeze his mom in hopes a cure could be found for her terminal illness. He says he received enough money for the process but supposedly there were technical issues preventing the procedure. I guess that go fund me effort was allowed because it was in his mom's name. At this point in his life he shouldn't be looking for more shortcuts. It's time for him to earn his way one day at a time.