http://www.myprivatepilotlicense.com/barefoot-bandit/

See ya above the clouds!

~Aaron

It also enables them to perform other acts of “bravery” that are not necessarily so overly antisocial and gain the accolades of us more ordinary folks. I think of some of the most successful gunmen of the old west who were known for their ability to cooly take aim while being shot at without any sign of fear. Some of them too gained “hero” status among those who were not their victims who were in awe of their feats.

I imagine most of us could have done much better with flying in the early stages without a burden of anxiety interfering . . . especially preceded by lots of simulator time.

While some sociopaths are in some sense “troubled” it is not a safe assumption to make–most are quite comfortable with themselves and are only troubled by the consequences imposed on them by the rest of us who are put out by their predatory behavior and who fail so see how they are such special people that the ordinary rules ought not apply to them.

Not to say that this individual is a sociopath, but something to think about.

We are going to pay a price for increased security requirements for Colton’s exploits–maybe by government regulation, certainly from insurance industry policy requirements. He has done our General Aviation Community no favors.

Good article, by the way! I must agree with you, Colton does appear to have some raw talent for aviation. Too bad the only sky he’s going to see for some time will be through steel bars and tall barbed wire fences. We don’t need him running loose–barefoot or otherwise–and giving GA a bad name.

Cheers from the Alamo,

Dave Hook

Bonanza babe, it’s just opinion, and nothing else. This is a blog, where my goal is to have a conversation about what’s going on in the world of training, and I thought his presence in the news, and it’s tie to GA, was appropriate to discuss. So of course it’s your business. That’s why I posted my opinion. And I’m very happy you posted yours.

My point here is that PC flight simulators have become incredibly realistic teaching tools, and the younger generation is especially adept at absorbing skills practiced on this software. Colton Harris-Moore is not the genuis so many are depicting, he simply exhibits the abilities of a great number of his peers after spending many hours “flying” planes on a computer. What differentiates CHM from the rest of the population is his total disrespect for the law and other human beings, along with a complete lack of common sense.

An earlier poster mentioned that Harris-Moore might have been a brain surgeon (?!?!?) if he went in a more positive direction. A kid with his personality would have to lie, cheat and steal his way through medical school if at all possible. He lacks the tolerance and discipline to accept orders and conform to regulations. He wants everything to be about HIM, and his wish will most deservedly come true in prison when the inmates pass him around like a two-dollar hooker. He ultimately proved his cowardice by holding a gun to his head and threatening the Bahamian police with suicide. When they would have none of his ruse, he threw his weapon into the water.

Yes, poor little Colton will go to jail and spend many years there. I wish it could be a lifetime sentence but that is probably not realistic in today’s world. I don’t mourn his missed opportunities and wasted so-called “talents”. There are far too many gifted young people who choose to accomplish wonderful things, starting early in life. I am personally acquainted with many of them as a member of CAP. They are the ones who earn my respect and admiration, not the felon who repeatedly converts useful and expensive vehicles like cars, boats and planes into potentially deadly weapons before destroying them.

Perhaps my own standards for assessing talent and dishing out admiration are quite a bit higher than yours, Ian. The final statement in your artice is, “If only he had taken the right path, he would have been a heck of a pilot.” No, Sir, he would have been one of those idiots AOPA begs us not to be: the low-flying performer of aerobatics who enjoys buzzing residential neighborhoods with his antics — until someone gets killed. Some behaviors are hard-wired into one’s psyche and overall personality, which is why keeping Harris-Moore locked up for a very long time will make our society, and our valued possessions, a little safer.

Here is a short list of some vocations and accomplishments:

Vocations
During Demara’s “careers”, he was, among other things, a civil engineer, a sheriff’s deputy, an assistant prison warden, a doctor of applied psychology, a hospital orderly, a lawyer, a child-care expert, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, an editor, a cancer researcher, and a teacher. One teaching job led to six months in prison. He never seemed to get much monetary gain in what he was doing – just temporary respectability.

Many of Demara’s unsuspecting employers, under other circumstances, would have been satisfied with Demara as an employee. Demara was said to possess a true photographic memory and was widely reputed to have an extraordinary IQ. He was apparently able to memorize necessary techniques from textbooks and worked on two cardinal rules: The burden of proof is on the accuser and When in danger, attack. He described his own motivation as “Rascality, pure rascality”.

His most famous exploit was to masquerade as Dr. Joseph Cyr, a trauma surgeon, aboard HMCS Cayuga, a Royal Canadian Navy destroyer, during the Korean War. He managed to improvise successful major surgeries and fend off infection with generous amounts of penicillin. His most notable surgical practices were performed on some 16 Korean combat casualties who were loaded onto the Cayuga. As the only “Surgeon” on board all eyes turned to Demara as it became obvious that several of the casualties would require major surgery or certainly die. After ordering personnel to transport these variously injured patients into the ship’s operating room and prep them for surgery, Demara disappeared to his room with a textbook on general surgery and proceeded to speed-read the various surgeries he was now forced to perform, including major chest surgery. None of the casualties died as a result of Demara’s surgeries. Apparently, this removal of a bullet from a wounded man ended up in Canadian newspapers. One person reading the reports was the mother of the real Dr. Joseph Cyr; her son at the time of ‘his’ service in Korea was actually practicing medicine in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. When news of the impostor reached the Cayuga, still on duty off Korea, Captain James Plomer at first refused to believe Demara was not a doctor (and not Joseph Cyr). The Canadian Navy chose to not press charges, and Demara returned to the United States.

Stinson Pilot

Consider the fantasy scenario: you’re stranded in a remote and isolated place where survival for any length of time is questionable at best. You’ve always been interested in how to fly a plane but have no formal training. But you’re smart, willing to take a chance to escape your desperate situation and the single engine Cessna sitting in that open field a few hundred yards distant sure looks like the only way out.

Now the big question: Can you do it? Can you fly out of there and survive? Although quite the undesirable ‘trailblazer’ to demonstrate the possibilities to say the least, Harris-Moore proved the answer is ‘yes’.