Drunk pilot jailed for two years

[KLN94]

Drunk pilot jailed for two years
February 19, 2004

A PILOT who tried to fly a plane when he had a blood alcohol level in excess of 0.25 was sentenced to two years jail today.

John David Charlesworth, 56, formerly of the Melbourne suburb of Ormond, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to one count of conduct that places persons at risk of serious injury.

Judge Tom Neesham said the maximum penalty was five years imprisonment but partly because of Charlesworth's remorse he sentenced him to two years jail, eligible for parole in nine months.

The judge said he accepted that Charlesworth, when sober, was appalled with what he had done and had saved the community time and money by entering a guilty plea.

Earlier, the court heard that Charlesworth had broken a five year self-imposed ban on drinking with a few beers on March 14, 2003.

Judge Neesham said Charlesworth had recently lost his job as a manager with an airline, and was depressed and lonely when he went into a pub looking for companionship.

When he returned home he opened and drank a bottle of vodka which he kept in his fridge as a "talisman" against returning to the drink.

The next day Charlesworth taxied a Piper Seneca light plane carrying five passengers - including two young children - into a temporary picket fence at Tyabb airport, on the Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne.

Judge Neesham said passengers in the plane had screamed at Charlesworth to stop the plane and one man had waved his hand in front of his face to no response.

Witnesses had told the court they had been forced to duck in order to avoid being hit by the plane's wingtips in the aerodrome.

"I do not accept that your drinking on this occasion prevented you from knowing what you were doing ... I do accept that it clouded your judgment," the judge told a downcast Charlesworth.

Judge Neesham said that given Charlesworth had a blood alcohol reading of more than 0.25 per cent, the result could have been "catastrophic".

"Your offence was in my judgment very grave and the risk of serious injury was in the upper range of such risks."

Following a brief court appearance last year Charlesworth told reporters all he remembered of the day was waking up in the Frankston hospital.

"It was just absolute stupidity, there is no other word for it," he said.

AAP

www.news.com.au

[Wirraway]

Fri "The Australian"

Vodka-swigging pilot jailed for two years
By Louise Perry
February 20, 2004

PILOT John Charlesworth spent the morning of March 15 last year swigging from two bottles of vodka before asking some friends if they "would like to go flying".

The 56-year-old hung his head yesterday and fought back tears as he was jailed for being drunk while trying to fly a light plane with six people on board.

Charlesworth pleaded guilty in Melbourne's County Court to one count of conduct that placed persons at risk of serious injury. He was sentenced to two years in jail with a non-parole period of nine months.

The court was told Charlesworth piloted a twin-engine Piper Seneca, with one passenger on board, nearly crashing it on descent when he forgot to put down the landing wheels.

Later that day he got back into the same plane - this time with five passengers - and attempted to taxi around the runway at Tyabb airport, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, hitting large plastic barriers and a picket fence as he tried to take off.

After the crash, Charlesworth, who trained as a commercial airline pilot, was found to have a blood alcohol reading of 0.25 - five times the legal limit for driving.

The court was told the confessed alcoholic had not been drinking for six years before the incident, but after being retrenched he had begun drinking on the Friday night and continued drinking on the Saturday morning.

Prosecutor Penny Marcou said Charlesworth's passengers - a man, his wife, their two children and another friend - screamed at him to stop, and waved their hands in front of his face before he finally stopped the plane, asking repeatedly: "What have I done wrong?"

The plane narrowly missed injuring another couple standing on the edge of the runway, who dropped to the ground to avoid being hit by a wing.

In sentencing, judge Tom Neesham told Charlesworth, who was convicted of drink-driving in May 1997, that the accident could have been much worse.

"Given the extent of your drunkenness and the fact you were piloting an aircraft, the result could have been catastrophic," he said.

Charlesworth is likely to lose his pilot's licence immediately.

==========================================

[GA Driver]

Ok, I realise that this guy was seriously about to endanger some pax on board, and the potential for disaster was huge, but...
Do you think a drink driver would have received a similar sentence? Seems a bit high IMO.
:confused:

GA Driver

[compressor stall]

What the hell were the people doing in the aircraft with him? Surely in the confines of a seneca you would be able to smell the grog on someone that pissed?

CS :confused: :confused:

[Woomera]

GA Driver. You may see a similarity in event, however two distinctly different pieces of legislation are involved, one State, the other Commonwealth. I would think the potential for disaster would be distinctly different as well.

W

[GA Driver]

Woomera, I didn't realise that the legislation would be different. ;)
I agree the disaster risk would be different. However, in the particular area they were in, it is quite possible to avoid built up/populated areas and no one bar the pilot will know where they would have ultimately ended up, so the risk involved is speculative depending on who you talk to! but...

My point is, there are many drivers that are found with a higher B.A.C. reading than this and considering there is no B.A.C. limit for flying, I think it seems high that he will be imprisoned for 2 years when the possibility for a driver to do more damage still exists.

I am not saying he shouldn't be repremanded whatsoever, it is a very serious incident and they do have to kick bum when it's due!
Just seems high.

Cheers,
GA Driver. :ok:

[Highbypasss]

I heard that the pilot was actually UNLICENCED. Can anyone confirm this? And also heard that the A/C was a 337 (ABC Radio.....on ADF...) Is this a different occurrence?

.......................................H.:cool:

[Hung Starter]

In my opinion he got what he deserved.

Correct me if I'm wrong but is the legal driving limit 0.05?
Would this not make him 5 times over for a motor vehicle?
It baffles me how he even got in it and started it let alone taxi.
We all know the regs of 8 hours etc, but to me thats only a guide anyway and its upto the individual to know whether they are OK to fly. 8 hours is not always enough.
I have my own family too, and to hear of a bloke attempting to fly in that state with kids on board!!
Got what he deserved!

HS

[compressor stall]

highbypass,

you (or the media?) are confusing it with the reliner who stile the grasshopper from Kalgoorlie a couple of years back.

He too was pissed, and actually got it flying! Somehow landed on a road a little way south of Kg. He was just recently been jailed for 2 years, according to another thread somewhere in D&G started by the inimitable wiz :E

[the wizard of auz]

Geez Stalie, I thought you liked me.............. WTF does inimitable mean?? ;)
Hiblow, definately a differant case of idiots behind the wheel.

[Capt Claret]

GA Driver,

Whilst there is no published B.A.C. for flying, CAR (1988) 256, in part, states: 256 Intoxicated persons not to act as pilots etc. or be carried on aircraft

(1) A person shall not, while in a state of intoxication, enter any aircraft.
Penalty: 5 penalty units.

(2) A person acting as a member of the operating crew of an aircraft, or carried in the aircraft to act as a member of the operating crew, shall not, while so acting or carried, be in a state in which, by reason of his or her having consumed, used, or absorbed any alcoholic liquor, drug, pharmaceutical or medicinal preparation or other substance, his or her capacity so to act is impaired.

Penalty: 50 penalty units.

Most folk seem to remember 8 hrs bottle to throttle but many seem to forget point 2 above. The hard question, though obviously not in this individuals case, is, at what level of B.A.C. is one's capacitiy to act impaired?

[GA Driver]

Exactly Capt, it's going to vary from person to person although I don't think anybody is probably going to be too healthy at .25

That rule is also why I wondered why he got 2 years. Doesn't say anything about imprisonment, only 50 p .u.

Cheers,
GA Driver

[swh]

GA Driver,

There would be a whole list of breeches, I would not be surprise if he could have been looking at 50 years back to back if they addeded them all up...

unlawful interferance
damage to aircraft
flying the aircraft without the permission of the operator
not being assigned as the PIC by the operator
interfering with the aircrat control
not makng radio broardcasts
not being licenced
not holding an endorsement
not haveing passed a BFR
not having a valid medical
landing on a road
attempting to take off on a road
not doing W&B
no flight plan
no weather
no notams
no flight log
no chart
not carrying charts
not carrying licence and medical
not lodging a ASIR
....
intoxicated as well

any many more, just go through the index of the CARs

[FarCu]

Not saying he doesn't deserve what he got, but isn't the published penalty 50 penalty units. Does that mean a penalty unit is about 14.5 days in prison?
I'm not sure how penalty units work?

[Woomera]

Penalty units, regardless of legislation, are assigned a value by the Courts. I think the current value is $10,000 per unit?

Saves amending all our legislation every time the currency devalues! :} The Courts (or is it Parliament?) simply increases the value of a penalty point.

The sentence would have been dependent upon the legislation under which the person was charged. It may have been Criminal Code legislation or the more onerous provisions of the Civil Aviation Act.

[fruitbatflyer]

Seems this poor b@stard needs HELP, not time in the slammer.
Heavy fine, yes, pilot licence permanently revoked, yes, but jail - bulsh!t. Mandatory drying out in rehab is what should be demanded by the law. If they don't dry out, THEN the slammer would be fair.
As for the potential consequences of burying a bugsmasher into a schoolhouse - no worse than driving a train through a red signal?
What's the penalty for that?

[GA Driver]

Woomera last time I checked, penalty unit was only $110 and it didn't have to be +GST!

Cheers,
GA Driver:ok: