Originally published at: Judge Issues Permanent Ban on Pilot - AVweb
Court ruling ends years-long dispute between aviator and airport officials.
US pilots don’t have “licenses” they have pilot certificates.
This guy sounds like a real peach…
I think he checks most of the attitudes that can kill you boxes.
- Anti-Authority. Attitude: “The rules don’t apply to me.” …
- Impulsivity. Attitude: “Do it quickly!” …
- Invulnerability. Attitude: “It won’t happen to me.” …
- Macho. Attitude: “Let me show you what I can do!” …
- Resignation. Attitude: “What’s the use?”
Could age be a factor? Doesn’t sound like rational behavior to me.
Interesting. It seems to have some of the attributes of the guy who crashed a TBM 700 in Montana recently and destroyed at least one other aircraft. His approaches were atypical.
All valid, but I query where the Airport Commission has the legal authority to ban a user.
If the airport is private then I could see it, but a “Commision” denotes a public use, and if they have accepted federal funds then they are subject to FAA regulations.
An Airport Commission typically looks after land use, operations and improvements, not deciding about the conduct of a certificated pilot.
This is the first that I have heard of an airport commission regulating a member of the public who holds a pilot’s certificate.
A tiny bit of research would at least trigger a minor need to dig a bit deeper on Mr Walsh’s ordeal with this particular airport “authority”. Once you read, the case isn’t as cut & dry as it appears on the outside.
Is it reporting? Yes.
Wouldn’t landing without permission at a towered airport be an FAA issue rather than an airport management one?
I am questioning whether there is actually any safety angle to this story.
And since when do we ever seek “permission” to land? Not a thing. A clearance is not permission. Nobody needs permission to land. It is inevitable, as y’all know well.
If he had failed to seek a required clearance, then maybe the FAA would take certificate action, but as there is no mention of that in the story, I assume that did not happen.
Given very limited facts, I find “not guilty” and I bet the good folks on the KACK airport authority, whoever they are, just have some beef with this guy. If same were to happen to anyone else on this forum, I would hope we would at least seek clarification or withhold judgement. Or at least not pile on. Right?
Sorry, not seeing a smoking gun here.
Kevin, I think you are inferring or maybe guessing a bit.
What exactly did this pilot do to evidence bad ADM?
Nothing in the article about losing his medical. Without more reportage, I think y’all are jumping to conclusions.
I too question the judge’s authority in this case. He has a valid certificate. Airport authorities are not in charge of regulating airmanship.
His described behavior is evident of bad ADM.
This is the number one item that tells you that. Rather obvious really.
“Anti-Authority. Attitude: “The rules don’t apply to me”.
The rest fit as well.
Agree. That is the recipe for disaster and quite possibly tragedy. He sounds like a good guy but he’s not thinking about others with that kind of conduct. It’s natural for people to want to rebel against authority and our logic is supposed to shut that down. However, he is letting his emotions control his actions. This behavior should be effecting his pilots certificate in my opinion. Is this going to be another airports problem now? The safety risks are still there. The rules and policies arent there beacause the “the governent” wants to turn people into sheep, it’s there for yours and everyones safety. There isn’t any room for FAFO in aviation.
Hold on right there! FAA issues and revokes pilot certificates based upon the judgement of FAA safety inspectors (which they explicitly declined to do in this case, btw). Also, there is the PBR. Before you drop the guillotine on this pilot, please take a look at the following excerpt of the court filings by the airport authority against him:
"…ignored taxi instructions issued by ATC. A transcript of communications
reads as follows:
ATC 3:12 “Twin Cessna N4O2NX taxi to the ramp via Charlie”
Walsh 3:16 “Charlie willing to use Foxtrot also”
ATC 3:19 “Charlie Foxtrot to the ramp approved.”."
Now, please! I ask you. Are these the people you think should sit in judgement of you and me when it comes to airmanship and safety?
I don’t think so. Unless you want to empower every podunk airport management employee to stop anyone on this forum from operating on the air side of a field near you, on the vaguest whim or misunderstanding, or outright ignorance of what does or does not constitute a bona fide safety violation (or some personal beef). If they want to ban him from the airport restaurant, that’s their business.
And he doesn’t sound like a good guy to me. He sounds like a PTA. And that is exactly why the PBR exists.
Think about it.
In the judgement of who? A civil law judge who knows nothing of aviation safety? Or of a Nantucket cop? Or, some town elected official? FAA looked at it and declined to revoke. So, Kevin, to whom exactly do you want to extend the right to ground you or me? I’ll take my chances with the FAA over any local yocal, thanks.
Not justice. This is exactly why we have the PBR.
A lot of stawman and hyperbole to unpack there.
I never said anything about any of the points you have made.
I never mentioned anything about grounding anyone.
I made an observation based on the information presented.
This pilot has issues. It may not end well or nothing will happen.
No strawman. They got a judge to sign an order banning him from the airport. After the FAA declined to take action on his certificate.
Not hyperbole. Can you respond to the proposal that we should have thousands of agencies able to stop you exercising your privileges instead of just one? Would you?
Yes, it would. Some on the forum feel that every local airport authority should sit in judgement of whether a safety rule was violated instead of letting the FAA handle that.
To clarify, the “permission” they mention was not a case of failing to get a clearance. They tried to ban him by requiring him to “get permission” from the airport authority before every operation. Needless to say, they do not have that authority on the air side, as long as they take federal money…