AOPA Pilot Blog: Reporting Points

Amazing helicopter rescue story number one.  A California Highway Patrol helicopter crew is being crediting with saving the life of a 58-year-old man after his truck drifted into a creek that was swollen after heavy rains, reports the Napa Valley Register.  Swimmers had tried to rescue the man, to no avail.

Amazing helicopter rescue story number two.  The Royal Canadian Air Force’s 442 Transport & Rescue Squadron  managed to extract a snowboarder who was stranded in a steep ravine between Horseshoe Bay and Lions Bay in British Columbia, reports Canada.com. The squadron was able to make the rescue despite poor visibility caused by snow and wind.

I’m glad Alyssa is my flight instructor.  Ravindra Pal Sing, the former director of a flight school in New Zealand, was found guilty of assault of two of his students by a local court, reports AvWeb. Sing was accused of slapping one student and pushing his head into the side of the cockpit. The other student accused him of elbowing her and raising his hand in a “threatening” manner.

Nice trick, but it still won’t help the New York Giants get into the playoffs.  .  The FAA has investigated and debunked a YouTube video purportedly showing star receiver Victor Cruz catching a football that appeared to be thrown from an airplane, reports AvWeb.

A beach landing.  A pilot was able to walk away after making an emergency landing on a beach in New Jersey’s Bay Head, reports NBC Philadelphia.

Nice, but I’d rather have the real thing.  Top Gear’s James May, who is a pilot, was recently featured in Radio Times demonstrating how to make the ultimate paper airplane.  He said his creation was a cross between a Vulcan bomber and a Fairey Delta.

So that’s why my car had an extra kick!  Officials in New Jersey have confirmed that vendor Pasmel Property delivered aviation fuel instead of gasoline to six gas stations in four counties, reports the Asbury Park Press.  The fuel, designated as super unleaded (93 octane), is 104.7 octane and will not damage cars engines, officials noted.

A piece of the past in present times.  The Naval Aviation Museum Foundation paid to have a World War II  FM-2 “Wildcat” Fighter aircraft brought up out of Lake Michigan, reports NBC Chicago.  The fighter, which crashed in 1944, was part of a fleet used to train fighter pilots.

New Zealand clips glider wings.  A new rule passed by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand is forcing the Tauranga Gliding Club to stop offering trial flights after 55 years of operating them, reports the Bay of Plenty Times.  Under the new rule, the club will only be able to offer flights to those with a “genuine interest” in pursuing gliding.

 They really taught the the kids a lesson.  Students at England’s Sunny Bank Primary school in the village of Bury discovered an amazing site — the remains of a UFO that appeared to have crashed on their playing field, reports the Bury Times.  Students saw burn marks, holes and a green slime in the area, which was taped off while government officials investigated. it turns out the whole thing was a hoax created to teach the children recall and observation skills.

But it looked so real!  WGN-TV news anchors Larry Potash and Robin Baumgarten were just doing their job when they went live and began reporting on what appeared to be an aircraft accident in Chicago, reports the Herald Sun.  The problem was, the accident was fake, having been staged for the NBC television series “Chicago Fire.”

Rocky Mountain Low.  Pilot Carl Steven Gruber’s excuse that he flew 55 pounds of pot into Boulder Municipal Airport to provide medical marijuana didn’t fly with Judge Thomas Mulvahill.  Gruber was sentenced to two years probation and a $10,000 fine, reports the Daily Camera.

Those were expensive airplane rides!  Among the gifts Inland Waters CEO Tony Soave gave former disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was private jet flights totaling nearly $400,000, reports WXYZ-TV.  Soave, who also gave Fitzpatrick and his family an all-expenses-paid trip to Naples, Fla., says he did it because he didn’t want to lose the city’s business.

From private to commercial.  Juan Manuel Marquez, who will fight Manny Pacquiao on Saturday in Las Vegas, arrive six hour later than expected.  Why?  The private jet he was using had to make a U-Turn after the pilot discovered a problem with the tire right before taking off, reports Yahoo Sports. The pilot determined the aircraft would not be able to fly, so Marquez ended up catching a commercial airline flight.

We’ll end the week with this blog post from Huffington Post: The Emily Post Guide to Flying Private. Enjoy!

 Everyone loves a successful ditching!  All 29 passengers on an Embraer Brasilia turboprop were OK after the crew of charter operator Inter-Iles Air was forced to ditch the aircraft off the coast of Mozambique after a reported fuel leak, reports AvWeb.   The passengers and crew were rescued by fishermen in the area.

Why wasn’t he flying private in the first place?  Pittsburgh-based rapper Wiz Khalifa and his entourage were forced to charter a private jet to make it on time for a show in West Virginia, reports AllHipHop.com. The rapper was among 50 passengers on a US Airways Express jet departing from LaGuardia Airport that experienced a landing gear malfunction.

Get your birds straight.  A Philadelphia area animal rights group had a drone it was using to secretly film pigeon shoots at the Wing Point hunting grounds shot down, reports NBC10. The group claims a hunter shot down the camera, which sustained $4,000 in damage.

Case closed! Back on Oct. 19, I posted an item on an age discrimination lawsuit filed by a former pilot against Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries, which included an embarrassing set of rules for those flying on the company’s Gulfstream G550.  The Columbus Dispatch reports that the sides reached a settlement right after the judge in the case ordered Jeffries to undergo a second deposition. No further details were released.

Pelicans hitch airplane ride home.  A set of pelicans that were blown from their home in Florida up to Rhode Island during Hurricane Sandy will not have to fly back, reports the Boston Globe.  After a stint at the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island, local residents raised enough money to fly the birds back to Daytona Beach, Fla., on a private aircraft.

Talk about coming down from a high!  Pilot Russell Hansen and his passenger, Jacob M. Beaty-Martinez were arrested at Hensley Memorial Airport in Fulton, Mo., after police seized $450,000 in marijuana from a Cessna 172, reports the News-Tribune.  They were both charged with second-degree trafficking of a controlled substance.

Watch what you say! Morning sports radio host Dean Molberg was suspended for the rest of the Canadian Football League season after saying on air that he wished the Saskatchewan Roughriders plane would have an accident and several players would die, reports Huffington Post. It was particularly in bad taste because in 1956, four of the team’s  best players were killed, along with 58 others in one of the worst accidents in Western Canadian history.

It was the end of the road. Helicopter pilot Henry Rosenau finally had to face the music and receive a sentence of 10 years for using his rotor craft to smuggle dozens of loads of marijuana into the United States from Canada, reports the Province. Rosenau fought extradition from Canada for nearly six years, and his first trial in April ended in a hung jury.

Speaking of helicopters…Medi-flight helicopter pilot Owen Park was cited for harassing wildlife in Colorado after a group of hunters witnessed him flying low over a group of elk several times near Grand Junction, Colo., reports Field and Stream.  He was assessed 10 penalty points against his hunting and fishing privileges, and fined $200.

Foam party!! A hangar at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport had fire retardant foam deployed although there was no fire in the facility, reports KTNV-TV. A local news helicopter showed photos of a hangar with foam flowing out.

We’ll end the week with this video of a coast Guard helicopter rescuing two men whose boat had capsized in Lake Erie.

It’s a highway, it’s a runway! An unnamed pilot carrying two passengers flying a single-engine aircraft were forced to make an emergency landing on a stretch of I575 in Kennesaw, Ga., reports the Marietta Daily Journal.  The aircraft experienced engine problems.

It wasn’t a field of dreams. Pilot Charlene Fulton and her passenger managed to walk away after an emergency landing of her Cessna 172 in an alfalfa field outside of California’s Modesto City-County Airport, reports the Patterson Irrigator.  The accident happened when Fulton and her passenger were taking pictures and the plane lost power.

The only one missing was President Obama!  Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport found itself at the center of the presidential campaign when aircraft from Mitt Romney, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President Joe Biden all landed at nearly the same time, reports Reuters.  The visits were part of last-minute campaigning in the battleground state of Ohio.

Blommberg Businessweek: how to de-Romneyize an airplane.  Now that the election is over, the McDonnel Douglas MD-83 that presidential candidate Mitt Romney used for his campaign has been returned to USA Jet Airlines, reports the magazine.  The aircraft will get a thorough cleaning, a new livery and reconfigured seats. Romney also used a Hawker 400, a Learjet 35, a Cessna Citation, and an Embraer Phenom 300 during the campaign.

He’s now a hall of famer.  Former Livonia, Ohio, police officer Jim Work has become the latest inductee into the White Castle Hall of Fame after he used a helicopter in the late 1980s to deliver the chain’s addictive hamburgers to a fellow retired officer, reports Michigan Live.  More than 700 people applied for entry into the hall for 2102, but only 11 were selected.

Can’t she afford to buy her own aircraft? Singer Lady Gaga took to Twitter to rave about the Boeing 757 given to her by her concert promoter Live Nation, reports ABC News Radio.  She waxed poetic about the 757′s Internet acces and custom seats.

It’s a runway, it’s a highway. Pilot John Wright found himself making an emergency landing on I-95 in Georgia’s McIntosh County, reports WTVM-TV.  He was not injured.

The timing for this purchase was bad. Nigerian Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is getting some flak after taking delivery of a new $45 million Bombardier Global 5000 right after thousands of residents in his state have been displaced by the worst flooding crisis in the state’s history, reports the Osun Defender.  He traded in an Embraer Legacy 600 to buy the new jet.

Talk about the frozen tundra…A Cessna 207 enroute from Emmonak to Kotlik, Alaska, ended up making a tundra landing after developing engine problems, reports KTUU-TV.  The pilot and his passenger were uninjured.

Do the crime, do the time.  Jerry Edward Kuwata, a former executive at Lincoln-based aircraft parts company WECO Aerospace Systems Inc., is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to endangering aircraft, reports KSWT-TV.  He used uncertified parts and falsely certified that the FAA approved their use in aircraft repair.

Glad this one got caught.  Adam Gardenhire has pleaded guilty to pointing a laser at aircraft including a Cessna jet and a police helicopter, reports the Sacramento Bee.  He could get up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

China sets up a no-fly zone.  The Chinese government has started to clamp down on the sale of radio-controlled helicopters and planes, reports the Globe and Mail.  The government made the move as it tightens security as the Communist Party begins a major transfer of power starting on Nov. 8.

We’ll end the week with this cool time-lapse video by Duncan Aviation on the painting of a Gulfstream GV at its new facility in Lincoln, Neb. Enjoy!

Wait — this *isn’t* a runway?  A pilot in Michigan thought he was landing at St. Cloud Regional Airport, but in fact landed on a country road, reports the Sleepy Eye Herald Dispatch. The pilot, who said it was raining, noted that the weather was “less than ideal” for flying.

Look up – you’re being pulled over! The Wisconsin State Patrol reports it has given out 1,324 speeding tickets, 1,662 citations and made 2,197 traffic stops using three Cessna Skyhawks, reports the LaCrosse Tribune.  The patrol called its aerial enforcement program, ”a valuable traffic safety enforcement tool,” and plans to bring it back in 2013.

This time, the plane was not to blame.  Officials at Philadelphia International Airport say an aircraft was not to blame for a tire that smashed a hole into the roof of a local building, reports NBC Philadelphia. Instead, the damage is being blamed on a truck that lost a tire.

It was the accident that wasn’t, part 1.  Residents in the Wildomar/Murrieta/Temecula, Calif., region reported an aircraft accident after hearing a “loud bang” around 7 in the morning, reports the Temecula Patch. A search by the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was called off after it was determined the residents just heard a loud noise.

The accident that wasn’t, part 2.  On the other side of the country, the Warwick, R.I. Fire Department called off the search for a airplane that appeared to drop off the radar at the air traffic control tower at T.F. Green Airport, reports the Boston Globe.  No calls about a downed aircraft were made and searches by the Marine Task Force and the Coast Guard came up empty.

Airplane meets deer. A pilot and his student are fine after their single-engine airplane hit a deer while trying to take off at Ohio’s Carroll County Airport, reports WTOV-TV.  The owner and student pilot, Tom Erb, had just bought the aircraft.

Taking some air out of the campaign.  A blimp being used for advertising by the Mitt Romney presidential campaign was forced to do an emergency landing in Davie, Fla., because of high winds, reports the Washington Post.  The pilot and passenger were unharmed.

Yes, you just got pulled over — because of a plane. The Florida Highway Patrol has begun using a Cessna SkyHawk  to catch speeding drivers in the Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach and Broward counties, reports the Palm Beach Post.  An officer pilot tracks speeders from the skies and transmits the informantion to a patrol car on the ground, who then issues a speeding ticket.

I guess he wanted a certain look. Embattled Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries has been embarrassed by a set of rules required for the actors and models that serve as flight attendants on the company’s Gulfstream G550, reports Bloomberg. According to a 40-page document released as part of an age discrimination lawsuit filed against the company by a former pilot, Jeffries insisted on rules including: black gloves had to be used when handling silverware and white gloves to lay the table; males required to wear a belt, hat, gloves, boxer briefs and a “spritz” of the retailer’s cologne; and specific seating arrangements for the CEO’s three dogs.

He had a ticket to ride. Ultimate Fighter Champion Stephen Bonnar had a problem — he had to be in Rio de Janeiro for a championship, but his wife was in Las Vegas about to deliver their first child. UFC founder Dana White came to the rescue, offering Bonnar a ride home in his Bombardier Global Express, reports Flying magazine.

Speaking of tickets to ride… Amber Nolan is hoping to visit all 50 states…by hitching rides on general aviation aircraft, reports the Seattle Times.  So far, she has visited 11 states and flown in planes ranging from a Piper Lance to an Eclipse 500.

Nice haul.  The Australian Federal Police seized nearly $100 million in luxury goods from criminals in the past year, nearly double that of the previous year, reports CQNews.com. Among the items seized was a Beechcraft A36 and “multiple” Rolls-Royces.

The accidents that weren’t. An alleged aircraft accident in El Reno, Okla.,  turned out to be a controlled burn, reports KFOR-TV.  Fire companies and a helicopter searched an area in Fredericksburg, Pa., for a reported accident that turned out to be  plane doing a smoke show, reports the Lebanon Daily News.

Amazing! 90-year-old pilot and World War II veteran Vernon E. Bothwell Jr. managed to land his 1986 Woody Pusher when it went down after experiencing engine failure, reports WTHI-TV.  Bothwell was treated for a ankle fracture and a head laceration.

Mid-air miracle. Pilots of two Piper Cherokees are happy to be alive after theyclipped each other midair in the skies above Maricopa, Ariz., reports the Arizona Republic.  Despite heavy damage, both planes landed safely, one at Gila River Airport and the other at a vehicle test track, the newspaper reported.

If he can pose with the wreakage, then he’s OK.  Tony Vowels was flying his brand new experimental aircraft from Albuquerque, N.M., to Durango, Colo. when he went down into trees after attempting to land four times in a slight crosswind and an uphill breeze, reports the Silverton Standard.  His plane was destroyed, but Vowels only had a small laceration on his left hand, a bump on the back of his head and a bruised shoulder, the newspaper reported.

Maybe it was only cracked.  A pilot decided to forgo an emergency landing at Kansas’ Salina Airport after reporting a broken windshield, reports the Salinas Journal. The pilot opted to fly his damaged Cessna Citation jet  to Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, which has a Cessna Citation Service Center.

Isn’t it usually kittens that get stuck in trees?  An unidentified man found himself stuck in a tree 80 feet above the ground after his powered parachute malfunctioned, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  He was rescued by fire fighters about 45 minutes after the accident.

Speaking of cats… Bernard Harris and cat survived an acciddent after his Piper PA-28 struck power lines and went down about a mile south of Beatty, Nev., reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  The man was hospitalized in fair condition, but the town was without power for 14 hours.

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “takeoff.” Billy Wayne was forced to land his Cirrus SR22 in the parking lot of a strip club after experiencing visibility problems, reports CBS-42.  Wayne, who deployed the Cirrus’s parachute, was credited for his quick thinking in making the landing.

I guess he really needed to air it out.  An unnamed Kansas City Chiefs fan took out his frustration on quarterback Matt Cassel by hiring an aircraft to fly a banner over Arrowhead Stadium that said “WE DESERVE BETTER! FIRE PIOLI — BENCH CASSEL,” reports USA Today.  The team lost to the Baltimore Ravens, 9-6.