It seems that CASA is still Not Happy, Jan, over this one
Channel Nine News back in March:
A TERRITORY cattleman has shrugged off threats to prosecute him for towing his son on a waterski with a helicopter.
Milton Jones, 46, said the Canberra-based Civil Aviation Authority was wasting its money.
"It's a witch-hunt," he said.
The authority has asked for unedited footage of the waterski-ing stunt shown in Network Ten's Keeping Up With the Joneses.
Mr Jones, who owns the 700sq km Coolibah station on the Victoria River, said he was towing his 15-year-old son Beau.
"He was home from boarding school. I only see him for a few weeks each year and we were just having a bit of fun.
"It was perfectly safe. I've been flying for 20 years and am very experienced. All the yahoo has gone out of me by now."
Mr Jones, who also owns the Albatross helicopter company and the Top Springs Hotel, said he was endorsed for low-level flying. The safety authority took out a search warrant to obtain the raw footage.
But Mr Milton's lawyer obtained an order for the video to be sealed and handed to the Federal Court.
A judge will decide next month if the authority can see the footage.
It is believed that several viewers complained about the waterski-ing scene in the reality television show, which was shown in 15 episodes last year.
Mr Jones became a hero in the hospitality industry last year when his Top Springs Hotel became the first liquor outlet to be prosecuted under federal emergency intervention laws for failing to record personal details of customers buying more than $100 worth of takeaway grog.
The law, which was lifted late last year, was despised by hoteliers - they said it was time-consuming and did nothing to reduce alcohol abuse.
Darwin magistrate Dick Wallace dismissed the charge, saying the law was "unworkable".
And from today's
Daily Telegraph (Sydney):
REALITY TV pilot and farmer Milton Jones could be banned from flying for a year over alleged safety breaches committed while filming his hit TV series.
pAviation authorities will begin their investigations into the star of Keeping Up With The Joneses on Wednesday, with the Northern Territory-based flight company boss facing fines of thousands of dollars.
Jones is alleged to have committed a host of safety breaches during the 10-episode series, which screened on Network Ten last year, including using a helicopter to tow his 15-year-old son Beau for water-skiing.
The investigation was launched when Civil Aviation Safety Authority investigator Mark Haslam allegedly saw on the program in November a series of safety breaches.
He then watched seven other episodes - available on Channel 10's website - and allegedly identified more breaches.
In March, the authority was granted a warrant to raid the offices of Jones's production company, WTFN, where they seized DVDs containing raw footage and out-takes.
Jones failed in an attempt to have the warrant overturned in the Federal Court this month.
CASA will begin its investigation on Wednesday when an injunction preventing the authority from examining the DVDs expires.
The court also heard that Jones allegedly breached regulations by using a helicopter to collect crocodile eggs without an appropriate licence. He is also accused of drinking alcohol within eight hours of flying and leaving a helicopter unattended with the engine running and rotors turning with children in the back.
The investigator told the court CASA needed to view the unedited footage to prove the offences had been committed - or whether they simply appeared to have occurred because of "an editing issue" or "poetic licence" for TV broadcasting purposes.
A court spokesman said that Jones had not lodged an appeal.
A Channel 10 spokeswoman said the remaining episodes of the series would be screened this year. Jones did not return telephone calls from The Sunday Telegraph.
I did comment that CASA wouldn't be happy
