Fuller report from the Times:
Helicopter terror pilot is jailed for three years
By Oliver Wright
A PILOT who deliberately flew his helicopter at an air traffic control tower just a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks was jailed yesterday for three years.
Shaun Lees directed his Bell Jet Ranger towards air traffic controllers at Coventry Airport and announced over his radio: “You are going to see the very worst of my flying.”
He then “buzzed” the control tower, at times pulling up just 30ft away and forcing incoming flights to be diverted.
Jailing Lees, a 41-year-old engineer from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Judge Martin Coates told him that what he had done was “practically an act of terrorism”.
“An aggravating feature of it was that it all took place just a month after those dreadful events in New York,” he said. “I have got to pass a custodial sentence on you. I have a public duty to do so. Anybody seeing those events would have no choice.”
Warwick Crown Court was told that Lees had decided to stage a protest against Peter Jackson, the airport manager, using the helicopter, which he had chartered from another airfield. Adrian Keeling, for the prosecution, said Lees had been banned from Coventry Airport a month earlier after his medical certificate had expired, which meant he was unable to get a security pass.
On the morning of the incident, Lees landed on the runway as two private aircraft, one bound for the United States and the other for Italy, were preparing to take off.
Lees had told the tower that he wanted to refuel, but then said he wanted to talk to Mr Jackson, who walked over and told him to leave or face being escorted off. Lees took off again, but hovered at the intersection of the two runways, forcing an incoming Cessna to pull up short as it landed.
At that point, Mr Keeling said, the airport was effectively shut down. Two aircraft due to land were forced into a holding pattern which meant that the pilot of one plane had to issue a low fuel warning.
As the US-bound aircraft began to taxi on to the runway, Lees turned to face it, hovering about 200 yards away. The pilot saw the manoeuvre as an intimidating gesture and aborted the take-off; his passengers disembarked. Lees told the tower that he wanted to talk to Mr Jackson about their dispute and flew towards the control tower, where Mr Jackson had joined about four air traffic control staff.
Staff described Lees making an “incoherent” rant as he hovered before them; they became alarmed when his tone changed, Mr Keeling said, adding: “They think he said something like, ‘I have had enough’. The nose dipped, the engine sounds were heard to speed up and the helicopter moved straight at the tower.”
When Kevin Lynch, a fellow pilot and friend, was called to try to intervene, Lees told him: “I can see the whites of Mr Jackson’s eyes.” An emergency evacuation was ordered as Lees continued to “buzz” the tower, at times pulling up about the length of the two rotor blades from it. He eventually landed on the glide path monitor, causing damage of about £15,000 and putting it out of action for several weeks.
He was arrested as he ran to a nearby air club. Because of the ordeal, one experienced radar operator had since been unable to return to work, while others had taken long sick-leave absences, Mr Keeling told the court.
Mr Jackson, a commercial pilot with 30 years’ experience, had suffered continuous sleepless nights since the events.
Mr Keeling told the court: “Mr Jackson and his staff in the tower thought the helicopter was about to ram them. They honestly thought they faced injury or even death.”
Lees had previously admitted endangering the safe operation of the airport as well as damaging the airport’s glide path monitoring aerial, which helps aircraft to land, for which he was not given any separate penalty.
Graham Cliff, in mitigation, said the incident had shattered Lees and his family, and he had been unable to work and was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress. He had spent a considerable amount of money training to be a pilot and was considered by fellow flyers to be highly competent.
The problem over Lees’s medical certificate had in fact been resolved by September 11, and Lees was angry that he was still barred from the airport.