Man attacks plane with machete!

[wishiwasupthere]

Man hit plane with machete | Northern Territory News | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | ntnews.com.au (http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/02/17/124581_ntnews.html)

A MAN attacked a Territory plane with a machete in an effort to stop his promised wife leaving, a court has heard.
Darwin Magistrates Court heard that Karlson Bara, 24, was at home on Bickerton Island when he heard his wife was leaving on a charter plane with her family.
He picked up a four-pronged fishing spear and machete and sprinted to the airport. The Katherine Airlines charter plane was sitting on the runway with the pilot and four passengers inside.
The court heard Bara demanded the pilot not start the plane and let his wife off. Bara hit the windscreen with the machete.
The pilot got out and went some distance away until Bara left, but three times when he tried to get back in the plane Bara threatened him again.
Eventually community members convinced Bara to leave and the pilot took the plane and passengers away and reported the incident to police.
Bara's Aboriginal legal aid lawyer Stewart O'Connell said his client had not known his wife was leaving, and did not mean to cause damage but simply to stop her.
Magistrate Daynor Trigg said Bara had an extensive criminal history, and that damaging an aircraft was particularly serious.
He said the situation would have been "terrifying" for the passengers waiting on the airstrip in the plane.
Mr Trigg said air travel was the safest and sometimes only mode of travel for remote areas of the NT.
"If pilots are unwilling to fly places and airlines are unwilling to send aircraft in case of risk to their pilots or their planes then it makes these communities unliveable," he said. He sentenced Bara to 10 months' jail, with a non-parole period of eight months.

[tinpis]

I would have given the prick some Hartzell machete.


http://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/cannibal.gif http://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/avion.gif

[VH-XXX]

or some Scimitar blade action or the Hartzel Handhake, either would be a suitable solution.

[framer]

I remember someone doing a couple of short sectors out of Ngkur before realising the plane had had the chop chop the evening before from a a machete or similar. I guess it's not a new course of action up there.

[sms777]

That's amazing! Not wearing an ASIC, carrying a prohibited article, scales the 10 feet barbed wire fence.....
I know.... if he was challenged it would have been racism
:E

[PA39]

:\Trying to "cut" his flying costs??

[xxgoldxx]

can't possibly be true...

ersa has this as a security controlled AD ....

are you telling me all that money on my ASIC was to no avail...?

[MakeItHappenCaptain]

I remember someone doing a couple of short sectors out of Ngkur before realising the plane had had the chop chop the evening before from a a machete or similar.

And just how, exactly, would you miss this during the pre-flight????:confused:

[gupta]

SMS has got it right:

Dept Honcho:
It shouldn't have been able to happen because of the excellent security measures we implemented Minister
Dept Head:
Tighten up the rules, chaps - obviously a terrorist in training
Albo:
Order in the House! - the budgie smugglers were responsible

[ules]

vh kbz ??? wtf... is that for real

[the air up there]

Bit of gaff tape will fix that old girl right up.

And regarding the original post, it's not the first such incident I've heard of. Gives a whole new meaning to 'surviving GA'.

[longrass]

What are the legalities of the pilot defending himself?

Since he was most likely strapped in his seat, with the doors locked, would it be fair to say that he was possibly unable to remove himself from the near and imminent danger? Should he have used deadly force (propeller, firearm, fire extinguisher) would he be up on manslaughter?

[VH-XXX]

There are very specific rules on the legal right for the pilot to defend himself / the aircraft or the occupants thereof, but then again it is not in flight so they may not apply. As a pilot you inherit the powers of a constable which is along the lines of any means necessary. I should look them up, it's in the airlaws book and online.

[ZappBrannigan]

There are very specific rules on the legal right for the pilot to defend himself / the aircraft or the occupants thereof, but then again it is not in flight so they may not apply. As a pilot you inherit the powers of a constable which is along the lines of any means necessary. I should look them up, it's in the airlaws book and online.Any powers gained as a pilot are in addition to those available to the general public. And any member of the public may use reasonable and proportionate force as appropriate and as specified by law - can't recall the NT law but it's Section 462a of the Crimes Act here in Vic. So yes, the pilot could have defended themselves or their pax, regardless of any pilot-specific laws.

Police are not permitted to use "more" force in defending themselves than the general public - they merely have more legal use of force options (spray, baton, firearm etc.).

If a pilot was somehow legally carrying a firearm, and had a reasonable belief that his/her life was under imminent threat from the machete-wielding idiot, then they could legally discharge that firearm to protect themselves - same as police.

Where Police use-of-force differs is they are able to use it for more than defence of themselves or others - to effect an arrest, regardless of the imminent threat to themselves, for example (of course, still has to be reasonable, proportionate and necessary). Similarly, pilots have additional arrest powers in-flight.

Defending the aircraft itself on the ground is another matter.

[Brian Abraham]

vh kbz ??? wtf... is that for real
Sure is. Parafield, when an errant aircraft chewed up the Seneca with its prop.

[frigatebird]

That is a great photo, Driver. Remember when it happened and the photos first came out, the slices just seemed so ..symmetrical.., reminded me of sliced bread.

Carried an owner of a Gas Supply retail company once who wouldn't shut up when I was trying to brief the passengers before takeoff. After a few words, let him stay on for the flight, then knocked off and went home. At 5 o'clock that Friday afernoon, he lobbed up at the flat with tools to disconnect my gas bottle to take it away. Eventually got him on the phone to the general manager and he left without the bottle. We never said anything to each other after that, but when I went to his restaurant where he used to also play the piano, when I walked in and sat down, and our eyes met, we would have a little smile at each other.

[Desert Flower]

Sure is. Parafield, when an errant aircraft chewed up the Seneca with its prop.

It was a Seminole, not a Seneca.

DF.

[Nose wheel first]

Reminds me of the time a few years back when one of the locals at Oombulgurri decided to take on a taxiing 207, then a stationary 206 with a cricket bat.... all this after trying to remove a passenger THROUGH the pilot - who was closing the door at the time - from the back of the 207.

Said local was given a polite tap on the jaw with a bunched fist and as he was gathering his whits on the ground the pilot involved ran around the front, jumped in and fired her up..... The unhappy local thereafter threw the cricket bat at the 207, missed, and so decided to have a go at an innocent, bystanding 206.

Needless to say he was soon "assisting" the police with their enquiries and the cricket bat was taken as "exhibit A".

The comment was passed at the time that consideration was given to the possibility of giving him a "Hartzell Haircut" :}:}

[Brian Abraham]

Quite right DF. Will take remedial identification classes.

[framer]

And just how, exactly, would you miss this during the pre-flight????http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/confused.gif
Quite a few people asked the same question :)

[alidad]

The next chapter will begin when some dipstick from CASA decides that he has flown the aircraft with an invalid maintenance release. Should have written up the damage and had it inspected by a LAME prior to escaping the machette attack................

[j3pipercub]

gooooooood one alidad, you just gave em the idea! :}