Pilot arrested in Florida for flying too low
 

Osceola helicopter pilot charged with flying recklessly

Helicopter pilot arrested for buzzing cars

He said he had to fly that low as his load was too heavy....discuss.:suspect:

"Vorstman was arrested and charged with operating an aircraft in a reckless manner without violence. He was booked into the Osceola County Jail" - News Report

Was he arrested without violence, or was he operating without violence??

Is it possible to operate an aircraft 'with violence'??

The guy should never have been issued with a licence, as he quite clearly has scary eyes.

FF

I suspect he has many happy years flipping burgers ahead of him.
In the drive-through no one can see the eyes :}

My handling was described as "agricultural" in training - I guess operating "with violence" would be just a couple of degrees less sensitive on the controls?

I recall a September morning not quite 15 years ago where that was done. See also "divine wind" as a point of reference.


If he was flying low, to take advantage of ground effect due to his load being so large, perhaps he can convince a judge that it was OK to do that. Not betting he can, but I suppose it won't hurt to try.

FW cropduster I knew had a fondness for low flying, well he would, wouldn't he, except he did it when not cropdusting. Allegations were made by a witness to an episode where an aircraft was seen to fly beneath a bridge, so said cropduster was up before the beak. Not I says he, the wingspan of my aircraft is X feet, whereas the gap between the bridge pylons is X-Y feet, so my aircraft couldn't fit. Case dismissed. What was left out of the story was the fact that he side slipped through.

"John Mollica, a manager of the Fallen Sparrow tattoo shop next door, who has taken a tour in that same helicopter says he's never a close call like this before."

There's just so much wrong with that short sentence !

Just to add some context to the picture in the news article. The fence you see in the news is the one surrounding the Helipad.

Low flying ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_KwNaIRAXU



:eek:

Hmmm... looking at the pictures and vid in post #1 it looks like them R44's have shrunk a bit from what i remember. It certainly caint be the photo lies now do it. Look at the reporter putting his fingers up to measure how close the chopper is - Muppet reporter...:hmm:

So... which way were the wind blowing on the day, and how do all the surrounding structures and heavy vehicle traffic affect the wind.




.