Heathrow guy fined

[FPVSteve]

£2,000 fine.... £160 plane destroyed, £200 surcharge...

But don't worry, it wasn't a drone pilot nor an FPVer .... it was a club member (Little Harlington Model Flying Club) flying a Tundra.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/22/pictured-model-plane-pilot-caused-chaos-days-gatwick-drone-scare-8376124/?fbclid=IwAR1El4i_eb-opneUZ92sKZ8xhvIDme1gMhe3V8ojwKxszQ0WcD3IPh0ft8w

Dear me.

[ClippedWing]

I don't know what to think!

[Ratty]

Eurgh!

We fly at Harlington. Hope this doesnt effect the club.

[Loopdreams]

I mean I guess he just wasn't aware of the rules properly and thought all the drone fuss had nothing to do with him but, what a doofus.

[Dillwhacker]

I'd say fair and reasonable.
Didn't throw the book at him, but made it plain that it was reckless to fly anything 500 metres from the perimeter of a busy airport.

[ched]

Looks like Little Harlington Model Flying Club (a BMFA affiliated club) is less than 1.5km away from Heathrow. So they are going to have great difficulty now gaining permission to continue flying there!

I hope his fine gets as much publicity as the event.

[FPVSteve]

The thing is... he was flying LoS, it wasn't like he was going to cause any issue.... they've done him for flying within the 1km exclusion zone though.

It's a bit overkill considering the fines they used to dish out for full sized, manned aircraft prosecutions only a few years ago.

https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAA/Content/Standard_Content/Data_and_analysis/Datasets/Prosecutions/CAA%20prosecution%20results%202011-12.pdf

So what they've done is made an example of him - the only drawback here is that he is a club member which kind of poo-poos the notion that all club flyers are safe....

[Ratty]

Turns out he is not a member of Little Harli, just your usual media facts being used.

From one of the committee....

"He wasn't a member of LHMFC. You'd think if this was being presented as evidence, it'd be pretty obvious to go ahead and check the facts. It's not like there isn't a website with contact details on it..."

[urbanfpv]

The thing is... he was flying LoS, it wasn't like he was going to cause any issue.... they've done him for flying within the 1km exclusion zone though.

It's a bit overkill considering the fines they used to dish out for full sized, manned aircraft prosecutions only a few years ago.

https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAA/Content/Standard_Content/Data_and_analysis/Datasets/Prosecutions/CAA%20prosecution%20results%202011-12.pdf

So what they've done is made an example of him - the only drawback here is that he is a club member which kind of poo-poos the notion that all club flyers are safe....

Yes, he's been scapegoated.  He's probably been flying there for years with no issues - or rather no-one wanted to shop him.  Given the quotes from the judge, it's clear that the judge was somewhat biased given the Gatwick and Heathrow sightings - which clearly this guy had nothing to do with.

Looks like the Tundra is a foamy with an AUW of around 1Kg.  It's unlikely this guy was flying recklessly - stupidly yes, given the previous incidents.

In some ways, this is vindication for drone pilots.  The press will be reluctant to report this given the lack of drones to hate about.   It's not made it to the BBC news front page I note!  That BBC cameraman which sighted the "drone" must be hiding in embarassment. 

Looking at the fines from that CAA document, most of them are half what this guy is having to pay.  Incursions by PPL pilots into restricted airspace is (or was when I was flying) a big issue.  There are likely to be many more of them than drone incidents.  The potential for collisions is much greater and more life threatening.

[BigT]

Nick Nook shared a link to the group: Little Harlington Model Flying Club.

Some of you may have seen this story in the news.

http://metro.co.uk/.../pictured-model-plane-pilot-caused-cha.../

The person in question is not a member of LHMFC. He is not in our records and we do not recognise his name or face.

You can see a previous post below from 2018 where we reported to the Police a plane flying in the field behind us over the A4 and close to the airport perimeter. The Police were not interested and asked me why I was wasting their time.

And


The article states he lives in Blunts Avenue, so it is highly likely he was flying from the playing field next to his house, which is also near the hotel mentioned. As far as can be told, he is not and has never been a member of LHMFC. He possibly used that to form part of his defence. Either way, it is somewhat bad news for the club to be named like that. If it was said under oath as a mitigation it should have been checked as true. If it was not then that's perjury.

And

It's not clear yet if he was a member of any organisation or had any form of insurance.

[BigT]

I'd say fair and reasonable.
Didn't throw the book at him, but made it plain that it was reckless to fly anything 500 metres from the perimeter of a busy airport.

He got the maximum penalty allowed under the current legislation