Today's Doofus is from England.
An amateur pilot in a Cessna caused chaos to an RAF fly-past marking the Queen's Birthday when he strayed into its flight path.
The pilots of the 29 military aircraft - which included Tornado fighter-bombers - were ordered to 'dive, dive, dive' after bungling David Remnant headed towards them.
One of the Tornado pilots had seen the Cessna just 200ft away, heading straight at him, Aylesbury Magistrates Court was told.
Air traffic controllers ordered the RAF crews to dive 300ft, while Remnant was ordered to fly 300ft upwards to avert a disaster.
The 43-year-old amateur pilot had taken off from Denham in Buckinghamshire on June 12 after misreading the times on an air restriction notice.
The company director, from Watford in Hertfordshire, was said to be 'mortified' and admitted entering controlled air space.
He was fined £1,400 [about US $2,200] and told to pay £673 costs [about US $1,050].
There's more at the link. If you're interested, you can view a video clip of the Royal Birthday Flypast, from June 12th this year. The incident described above isn't shown - presumably it happened away from Brize Norton airfield, where the flypast took place.
I'm not sure what the term 'amateur pilot' means . . . I presume the journalist mean 'private pilot'. However, no matter what label you attach to him, I daresay Mr. Remnant managed to cure - definitively! - any cases of constipation that may have been troubling the Royal Air Force flight crews involved!
Peter
3 comments:
I'm sure the Tornado pilots were terribly disappointed to be directed to fly low!
Jim
UK response: fine him and understand that mistakes happen.
US response: yank his license, establish a commission, write up a new book of regulations, and tell the media it's a terrorist danger.
I cringe every time a pilot screws up like this in the States.
Um... I don't think the Tornado drivers were the ONLY ones who needed to clean out their trou!
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