news-press.com/article/20091 … ff-Sanibel
posted in the “squawkbox”…I mean really…cmon now… 100ft? what was he thinking. Or better yet…impressing the fems on the beach.
There are a lot of really dumb pilots out there.
In the late 70’s someone was buzzing surfers off Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. He might have gotten away with it if the plane wasn’t returned to the FBO is a big dent in the leading edge. Seems a surfer saw the plane coming and kicked out. Board shot up and tagged the aircraft.
Hey…I’m one of them “stupid” ones. But got smart the day I did it. I got caught that one and only day I dared to do it. By none other than an FAA Inspector fishing with his kid on the very pier I buzzed. NO>>NOT COOL!! Cruising wide open in a M-35. Maybe 400 ft., Landed at the FBO and was told to call the MIA FAADO Monday morning at 8:00 am. (this is Saturday), by Monday at 11;00 I was standing tall in front of this guy in his office getting fully “dressed down.” i managed to get out of there a hairline above a suspension of my 1 yr old ppl. This was 25 yrs ago.
So take heed you newly licensed, students or thinkin’ about it types. The “urge” is intoxicating…but as someone said here before me…“you cant use the rwy behind you…or the alt above” something like that.
Never did it again…follow the rules and you get to keep the priviledge and live to read about others mishaps and immature acts. And LEARN from them.
“The Sanibel Police Department declined to disclose the pilot’s name or the seriousness of his injuries.”
Hmmm, local politico? Off-duty cop?
FSDO or GADO, never heard of FAADO.
My bad…the FSDO. You know… the “hornets nest”. 
Or it could have been the GADO…what I do remember, was a lot of suits, the FAA emblem, lots of cubicles and located at the Federal building.
I used to live in Newport Beach California if you look at the Newport Pier photo, standing on the end of the pier, I’d see ‘afew’ airplanes every day pass by at eye level!!!
In the summer, we hang out at a place called Morris Island - it’s a small island right off the coast of Charleston and was where the the events from the movie “Glory” took place. On the weekends in the summer, it turns into a huge raft-up, similar to Lake Havasu. Last summer on a few occasions, I saw planes buzzing the boats and people on the beach - some by no more than 100’ agl. One of them was an ag-tractor, a mosquito spraying plane that is frequently seen around here and he made A LOT of passes all at around 100’ or so. I said something to a guy in the boat beside ours about how dangerous that guy was flying and it turned out that the guy I was talking to was a good friend of the pilot and he chewed me out for even suggesting that the pilot was unsafe. He gave me some talk about “I’ve known that guy for 25 years and we’ve flown together many times and he would NEVER fly unsafe. He knows that plane better than you know your car and is just giving the people on the beach a show” - Mind your own business is basically what I got out of that. I decided to just drop the matter. If you guys saw a pilot acting in that fashion, would you report him (knowing what could be the repercussions for him), or is there a certain “code of honor” for pilot’s to look the other way when witnessing someone doing unsafe flying? I’d hate for a pilot to lose his career, license and plane all over something like that, but he was 1 bird strike away from a catastrophe, flying in that manner.
[quote=“WiserTime07”]
So that dude is saying that by not maintaining 1000AGL and 1500 vertical per FARs that his buddy is not acting unsafe?
I am a firm believer that **not all that is legal is safe and not all that is safe is legal **.
but from what you say the pilot was conducting himself in an unsafe fashion.
That code of honor BS is what gets people killed.
I just searched for more information on the topic of pilots buzzing or flying low and found this discussion. Have you ever been in a position to report a pilot to the FAA? What really happens? It seems like they don’t always suspend a license. I’m of the belief flying is a privilege and the FAA should revoke and not just suspend. Any thoughts or personal experiences you’d like to share?
Since I depend on flying to put food on the table, I humbly disagree. Flying isn’t a privilege. I’ve earned the right to do what I do.
do you have to have a license to fly? then it is not a right but a privelge. anytime you must be licnsed to do something like flying or driving it is no long a right.
I’m really interested in people’s thoughts on this topic. If you saw a pilot buzzing houses or people would you report it? Have you ever had to contact the FAA to report a violation? I liked Beechluvr’s personal account. My perspective is that we have to preserve this activity and the FAA should go after pilots who seriously break the rules. I also ask myself “What if I don’t report it and I read about that pilot crashing next week or next year?”
That’s an interesting thought. I’ve never really thought much about this, but you got me thinking. I have to add, “What if I read about that pilot crashing into a house/beach and killing innocent people?”
Exactly! I’m willing to bet the pilots you read about who do just that have done it before, more than once.
If I was close enough to see the N number, I’d probably make a phone call to the FBO that rented the guy the airplane, or call the owner of the airplane. I doubt I would drop a dime on the guy unless he was doing something REALLY REALLY stupid. There is a difference between a little youthful indiscretion, or newbie exuberance, and stupidity.
Has anyone actually been able to read a complete N# of a plane as it’s flying? It’s one thing to sit on the side of the runway of a small airport and read one but when you’re somewhere like a beach and all of a sudden a plane is coming at you at 150mph or more?
What is your definition of “REALLY REALLY stupid” ?
Manboi - check out my post above. I definitely have seen the tail number of the plane I was writing about - several times in fact. Actually, on the day in question, not only did I get to see his tail number from about 100’ away, but I also had the same view of a Cozy making several passes on the beach as well as a SC DNR 182 doing the same thing. The 182 was actually cool though - he’d pass right over the water and he had blue lights in his wings and a siren that he’d turn on as he’d pass over us. Something I’d never seen before.
As far as the yellow mosquito plane, it’s only a matter of time until we read about him CFIT’ing into a bridge down here. If we have any other members on here from Charleston, I’m sure someone else can validate what I’m saying - he’s well known in these parts.
Busting FARS 
It’s called Natural selection…