They found the person in Melbourne doing fake radio calls !

[mcoates]

Man charged over airport radio hoax calls

[Lantern10]

String him up.

[Band a Lot]

The man will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon.

With a good lawyer he can claim $5,000,000 in damages because he was abused by - name the latest trend.

[cooperplace]

excellent! there's obviously some feverish activity behind the scenes. The magistrate will take a dim view of these offences.....

[IFEZ]

Good stuff..! I hope they throw the book at this cretin. He needs the pineapple treatment with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately the way the judiciary is going here at the moment, he'll probably get the wet lettuce leaf treatment instead

[Pinky the pilot]

Now, now Lantern10 and IFEZ;

He was probably abused as a child or maybe wanted to be a Pilot or ATC but couldn't make the grade.

Let's give him a fair trial first.....

then string him up!!

he'll probably get the wet lettuce leaf treatment instead

Sadly, that is probably close to the truth.

[Desert Flower]

Pinky, would you believe it was suggested that I might do this when I first tried to get a license for my handheld all those years ago?

DF.

[KRviator]

Pity ASA came out and said there is no threat to aircraft from the calls. If they had made a bigger brouhaha over it and the possible safety ramifications the magistrate might actually deliver an appropriate punishment.

As it is, I reckon we'll be lucky to see him get fined more than $5000.

[Lead Balloon]

You make a point with which I agree. And one which shows why the smooth rhetoric about "no risk to safety", that is so often trotted out by spin doctors in the wake of incidents that did in fact pose a substantial risk to safety, can have unintended consequences.

There are offences for making false calls of distress and interference with air traffic services, improper use of telecommunications equipment etc, in which the resources diverted to dealing with hoaxes may be relevant considerations in sentencing, safety risk or not.

[lee_apromise]

I hope he will pick up some soaps dropped on the shower room floor in prison.

[Lead Balloon]

For the record, being charged is not the same as being found guilty and convicted.

[Eric Janson]

Why isn't this individual being charged with Sabotage under the Montreal Convention?

I would hope some of the crews involved would also file charges.

Time to send a clear message that this behaviour is unacceptable.

[Lead Balloon]

Gosh.

Didn't take long for thread drift into complete fantasy land.

[jas24zzk]

Didn't take long for thread drift into complete fantasy land.

Not really leadie, all valid claims. It only comes down to an analysis by the thieves in suits as to whether such options would generate a payable result (i.e will they get paid, as squawk mentions)

Interesting they haven't said they have charged him for unliscenced use of the VHF gear....which would be worrysome if he is actually qualified to use it.
Ya never know...early days of the arrest....more charges are probably pending.

[Centaurus]

Did they ever find the disgruntled pilot who did the same thing during the 1989 affair (note the politically correct term)?

[Stanwell]

So glad to hear that they got him.
The moderate thrashing with a wet lettuce leaf will, no doubt, be a lesson.
Not too hard, though - he has simply been misunderstood. OK?
Yeah, right.

[troppo]

19 year old suffering from autism and depression and not on medication...
Playing the sympathy card already.

[onetrack]

He'll be scolded for being a naughty boy, and his radio/s will be taken from him, and he'll be given a community service order, and ordered to stay away from radios. You can bet on it.

[Pinky the pilot]

He'll be scolded for being a naughty boy, and his radio/s will be taken from him, and he'll be given a community service order, and ordered to stay away from radios. You can bet on it.

I suspect that you are 100% correct there, onetrack.

[josephfeatherweight]

But apparently he "hacked" into the ATC frequency!!!
That's pretty nifty!