Reckless pilot to jail

[Pilot DAR]

Some really reckless flying results in jail time:

Sask. pilot gets 9-month sentence in N.W.T. death - Saskatchewan - CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2012/01/09/sk-northern-airplane-death-1201.html)

The text is:

A Saskatchewan pilot has been sentenced to nine months in jail for his role in a fatal airplane accident in the Northwest Territories.
Parker James Butterfield, 24, pleaded guilty (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2011/10/21/north-bleach-pilot-guilty.html) last year to dangerous operation of an aircraft in connection with the May 20, 2010, incident that killed William James John Bleach, a friend and fellow pilot, in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2011/10/21/mi-north-william-bleach-fb.jpgWilliam Bleach, seen in an undated photo, died days after the May 20, 2010, incident in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., where he was struck in the head by the wing of a low-lying light plane. (Facebook)The sentence was handed down Monday afternoon in a Regina courtroom. The Crown had asked that Butterfield serve as much as 18 months in jail, but a Queen's Bench judge sentenced him to half that much time.
The judge has also banned Butterfield from flying for two years.
"I'm devastated," Bleach's mother, Marilyn Bleach, told reporters outside the courthouse.
"I was hoping that there would be a longer-term incarceration, I really did. And I am shocked that he doesn't lose his licence."
Bleach, 26, was standing on the tarmac of the local airport with a video camera, filming a single-engine Cessna 207 that Butterfield was flying, when he was struck by the wing of the low-flying aircraft.
Transport officials have said the aircraft's right wing clipped Bleach's head. He died in an Edmonton hospital several days after the incident.
At the time of the incident, Butterfield and Bleach were working in Fort Good Hope for North-Wright Airways Ltd., which flies people and freight between eight remote communities in the Northwest Territories using a fleet of 21 small aircraft.
In sentencing, the judge said Butterfield is remorseful and poses a low risk to reoffend. At the same time, jail time is warranted for operating an aircraft dangerously, the judge ruled.

[n5296s]

Flying low enough to hit someone in the head with the wing of a 207 is quite an achievement - means that the wheels were less than a foot off the ground, in fact more like a few inches unless the victim was a giant.

[Katamarino]

Flying low enough to hit someone in the head with the wing of a 207 is quite an achievement - means that the wheels were less than a foot off the ground, in fact more like a few inches unless the victim was a giant.

I'm guessing it was banked.

[NazgulAir]

I'm guessing it was banked.
That's even worse, banking into a person instead of banking away to avoid... that makes it look almost intentional.

[dublinpilot]

Bleach, 26, was standing on the tarmac of the local airport with a video camera, filming a single-engine Cessna 207 that Butterfield was flying,

Huh?? Did he not see it coming??

I find it hard to visualise how this happened, with Bleach watching the 207. Were they both playing chicken?

[Russell Gulch]

Like the incident at Husbands Bosworth, the videoing was pre-arranged.

[RTN11]

From the way I read the report, it was a pre-arranged filming of some low flying that went badly wrong. Perhaps he was banking the aircraft close to the ground to try and get a shot of a low pass.

Either way, I'm surprised how short the sentence is. What would be the sentence for causing death by reckless driving?

[cct]

These days it seems a few weeks - and suspended

[Flying Lawyer]

What would be the sentence for causing death by reckless driving?

In the UK: Sentences for causing death by driving (http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/web_causing_death_by_driving_definitive_guideline.pdf)

See page 11 of the document for causing death by dangerous driving.


FL

[astir 8]

Pre-arranged filming risks:-

a) Pilot pushing the limits "showing off" to the camera

b) Cameraman divorced from reality/sense of danger because he's seeing it happening through a viewfinder.

The famous "f*** me, f*** me" video of a well known presenter being surprised by a very low flying Spitfire is a great laugh, but illustrates the problem. The margins were not great and the cameraman didn't even duck.

[Flying Lawyer]

cjboy
the court certainly knew more about the situation than anyone reading about it on an internet forum.
Precisely. :ok::ok::ok:

An important point that's often overlooked.


FL

[Flying Lawyer]

astir 8
The margins were not great and the cameraman didn't even duck.

The margins were greater than they appear to be on the video.
Given who was flying the Spitfire, I wouldn't have ducked.


FL

[Dave Gittins]

Flying Lawyer

And he is so sadly and badly missed

[treadigraph]

The margins were greater than they appear to be on the video.
Given who was flying the Spitfire, I wouldn't have ducked.


At least 20 feet I believe.

Have you ever seen the pic of Ken Ellis flat on the ground at Bembridge after the same individual, P-40 mounted, came in low for the finish during the Schneider Trophy one year?

Edit: just to say that the P-40 was quite high by the usual standards of his low passes - but Ken was probably just playing it safe!

[NazgulAir]

Didn't an aircraft landing on runway 25 at Shoreham once hit a pedestrian walking on the perimeter road?

[Pilot DAR]

Given who was flying the Spitfire, I wouldn't have ducked.

It's more auspicious to risk being hit by a Spitfire?

A pilot can care about the safety of others, and obviously demonstrate that in the way they fly...

A pilot can not care, and be oblivious of other's safety...

Or the pilot can be overtly reckless, and point a plane at another person. If driving, it would be "dangerous driving", a criminal offense in Canada.

Whenever I hear a pilot say "watch this" it causes me concern.

[peterh337]

I would think that deliberately aiming a car (or plane) at somebody would be a lot more than "dangerous".

You can get done for "dangerous" driving without any evident intent to harm any specific person.

[Flying Lawyer]

Pilot DAR It's more auspicious to risk being hit by a Spitfire?
I was referring to the pilot (http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/200715-sqd-ldr-ray-hanna-afc.html), not the aircraft.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/63093121.jpg



A pilot can care about the safety of others, and obviously demonstrate that in the way they fly...
He did.


FL

[Pilot DAR]

He did.

In this instance, I shall not disagree, or agree....

[NazgulAir]

In this instance, I shall not disagree, or agree....
So you're sitting on the fence doing what?:confused:

[Pilot DAR]

So you're sitting on the fence doing what?

... not standing up to blindly condone what appears to me to reckless flying, were I to witness it of an unknown pilot ('cause that's where this whole thread began)...

... But recognizing that there are a very few exceptional pilots, who really are in their own realm, whom I am not qualified to criticize.

You can't accept someone leaving their mind open?

[Dave Gittins]

Ray Hanna was truly exceptional.

and gave me more hours of pleasure over the years than a whole case of Mars bars.

[P6 Driver]

The margins were greater than they appear to be on the video.
Given who was flying the Spitfire, I wouldn't have ducked.

The soldier killed at South Cerney some years ago probably thought the C-130 was also being flown by a professional up to the point at which it hit him. Any pilot, regardless of ability or reputation can make mistakes.

[kaz3g]

Yes... a court may take evidence over days or even weeks before coming to a decision. They hear a lot more than can ever be apparent on an internet list or in a newspaper article!

kaz

[NazgulAir]

You can't accept someone leaving their mind open?
Of course I can. But to say what you said without making some point is not adding much to the discussion. I agree that we shouldn't come to conclusions prematurely.