Man Flies Plane Onto Golf Course To Save Time...

Mar 4, 2008

Man Flies Plane Onto Golf Course To Save Time
Son Was Late For Tennis Lesson At Club Across The Street

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. (CBS) ― A man apparently decided to fly his plane onto a golf course in north suburban Lincolnshire so his teenage son would not be late for a tennis lesson.

Police came to the Marriott Resort Crane’s Landing Golf Course, at 10 Marriott Dr. in Lincolnshire, around 1:50 p.m. Saturday for a call that a plane had landed on the course.

Robert Kadera of Lake Villa and his 14-year-old son were standing outside the aircraft, a 1949 Piper Clipper, which was sitting in the middle of the golf course about 20 feet south of the retaining wall that separates the golf course from Route 22, police said.

The pilot said it was not an emergency landing, but rather, the boy was late for his tennis lesson at the Lincolnshire Club nearby on Rout 22, police said.

Thus the pilot had decided to fly the boy to the golf course and walk across Route 22 to the Lincolnshire Club after landing, police said.

The pilot told police he made several attempts to land before touching down.

“[Kadera] wanted to get back into his plane and take off again,” Lincolnshire police Detective John-Erik Anderson said.

But police found out the aircraft was leaking fuel, and investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration also responded.

Ernie’s Towing in nearby Vernon Hills used a flatbed trailer with a crane attached to it to tow the plane to their yard, where the plane was impounded for police. Route 22 was shut down during part of the incident and the removal of the plane.

The FAA investigation continues, and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office is trying to determine if criminal charges are warranted, police said.

Kadera was at Ernie’s Towing Service in Vernon Hills on Monday afternoon, replacing the plane’s skis with tires.

He was planning to move the plane off the towing lot.

He said he did not want to make a comment until he found out what police were going to do about the incident.

What a MORON! I think the FAA should revoke his medical due to mental incapacity, or find some other way to ensure this guy is never at the controls of aircraft again.

Kadera was at Ernie’s Towing Service in Vernon Hills on Monday afternoon, replacing the plane’s skis with tires.

What’s THAT all about? :confused:

This guy should have is aircraft taken away (and given to me) .
There are days where I feel like I may be forgetting a reg, or have to get the FAR’s out to “make sure” about something, and then there’s guys that pull stuff like this and make me a little more confident in any questionable decision making I may have made.

With all of the hard to see hole markers, the hills of the terrain, all the trees, powerlines, would probably make me think twice about it in a power out, let alone for the lad’s tennis lesson. Sounds like more money than brains here!

The gentleman in question is Christopher N. Kadera

Someone educate me here, with the exception of trespassing, exactly what law or laws has he broken?

Interesting that the reason the plane was on skis is because he kept it on the frozen lake behind his house for the winter! :open_mouth:

WGNTV click on the right side AUDIO to hear the pilots version.

Other than trespassing, the FAA is yet to decide if any rules/laws were broken? Apparently the golf course was snow covered, bbut due to the aircrafts passes as he surveyed a landing site, 911 received several calls about an aircraft in distress.

PS; the kid never made to his Tennis event.

He broke all laws of common sense! :stuck_out_tongue:
…and he gave the G.A. community a big black eye!

And can anyone imagine how many golf games were perturbed by this idiot??? :laughing: :laughing:

Given the fact that there’s about a foot of fresh snow on the course, I’d say not many.

See Banter Thread

Not knowing the lay of the land he landed,…

91.119 first comes to mind especially with the mulitple attempts at landing and with the several 911 calls reporting an aircraft in distress makes me think he was over a populated area…

91.13 wouldn’t be unreasonable either.

Allen

You assume he has a medical. If I ever lost mine I’d buy a plane. The government can’t take personal property from you, under normal circumstaces. *This doesn’t get away from normal far enough to have his plane taken away.*IMO

Can you lay out what those 2 Regs are for those of us not familier with the FAA’s Big Book of Piloting…

I Get the feeling though, that Trespasing is all he’ll be nabbed on, especially as the FAA hasn’t directly addressed any Regs that were broken…

Seems to me they would be ready with that stuff in a situation like this…

risingup.com/fars/info/part91-13-FAR.shtml
risingup.com/fars/info/part91-119-FAR.shtml

Allen

When you think about it, one does not need a drivers licence to buy a car. I’d suspect no different for airplanes.

Sec. 91.119 - Minimum safe altitudes: General.

Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes: (emphasis added)

I don’t think they can get him on careless and reckless either. No harm to anything = no foul!

I am thinking not of the part on landing, but the low passes (circling) in finding a landing spot as stated in the article.

Of course, like I said earlier, I don’t know the lay of the land, but 911 calls saying an aircraft in distress makes me think he was over populated areas. That part would also meet the 91.13

Allen

His attorney buddies will argue that no one lives on the golf course and those on surrounding properties aren’t close enough to matter.

I’ll be surprised if he gets a parking ticket from the local township.

(You have to remember that we’re discussing a wealthy gentleman. I’ve already formed my mental image of him, elderly “absent minded professor” type engineer and former Navy pilot. Of course a 65YO man with a 14YO son also means he has a young and nubile trophy wife at home! :wink: )

No doubt you are right on that, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the FAA to use those FARS as a violation. Article does say it’s still under investigation… Hope he is an AOPA member with the legal adviser add on. :confused: to get him off the hook on this one.

I do wonder how low he was manuevering to set up to land, and whether he was deciding which direction to land in based on wind conditions causing the 911 phone calls.

Personally, like you said, no foul no harm, is the way I see it, and like you also said, I doubt there were any people on the course with 12 inches of snow so he wasn’t endangering anybody on the golf course.

Of course, if he gets off on this, then this may set a “precedent” for the next silly person to do the same thing, to save time and land on a golf course and they expect to get away with it.

He must be nimble :wink: and still be able to fly a plane.

Allen

The golf course is adjacent to a large Marriott hotel and resort. It is surrounded by shopping centers and an upscale residential area. Since wacky Chicago golfers do go out in the winter and hit their florescent orange golf balls around in the snow, there could have even been people on the course at the time. At best, you would have to say that he used questionable judgment and got lucky that no-one/nothing got hurt.

I bet his lawyer could get him off any charges for recklessness as long as he can prove he yelled “FORE” on unicom before entering the pattern.