Man allegedly shot at planes

Steve

Steve

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"Allegedly"


http://www.thekathrynreport.com/2010/09/man-allegedly-shot-at-planes-accused-of.html

"According to the arrest warrant complaint filed by Texas Ranger Corey Lain with Justice of the Peace Stan Mahler, Riley is accused of attempting to murder two crop duster pilots in 2007 and 2008."

"Game Warden Brent Isom of Young County reportedly recovered video evidence during the search of Riley’s ranch that shows footage of a plane and several shots fired as the plane comes near the camera."

"Riley also allegedly admitted to Lain to firing the gun in the video recording but said he was intending to scare the pilot and admitted to firing in the direction of a crop duster on another occasion but said he aimed to the right of the plane and didn’t believe he struck it."
 
I'm told that crimes committed against you whilst aviating are federal? There was a story circulating around about an aerobatic pilot that was met at the airport by a guy with a gun that threatened him if he didn't stop flying "over his house." I'm told the FBI visited the guy and straightened him out about his threats.
 
I bet potshots at airplanes are fairly common. Fortunately it is a big sky.
 
I flew in an RV 6 that has a nice dent in the underside of the wing from a slug that hit it while flying over a farm in Kentucky I believe. I'm betting schumcks like that would never think of shooting at a person or a car but hey its a plane so its ok in their minds.
 
Years ago, I was told by one of the pilots of the Fuji Blimp that the maintenance crews had to repair bullet holes on a semi-regular basis.
 
CrashAxe said:
Years ago, I was told by one of the pilots of the Fuji Blimp that the maintenance crews had to repair bullet holes on a semi-regular basis.
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Now THAT's a target Cletus can hit with his squirrel gun.
 
If you ever get around a group of cropdusters, they will have a whole pocket full of stories about getting shot at.

We had a lady call the sheriff one day because "that big yellow plane keeps chasing my horses!"... Yes ma'am, we're burning 17-18gph of avgas (it was an AgCat) and flying scarily close to the treetops and power lines just to go chase your horses - it's how we get our kicks.
 
I was warned about doing mapping in the mountains during hunting season, but I don't know what anyone expected me to do about it.
 
That is outrageous. Not the shootings, the fact the pilot didnt fly back over his house and drop a few cinder blocks. Outrageous!
 
stagecoachco said:
Wear a "safety orange" vest !?!?!!
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I did better than that, I flew an orange airplane!

284675.jpg


Ha! It's still orange (at least when this picture was taken).
 
dmccormack said:
I saw that airplane at 4G7 last spring!
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Interesting. That's the N-number I have the most time in, something like 2,000+ hours. The mapping company I worked for in Colorado sold it to another one in Ohio (?) a number of years ago. I found that picture on the internet.
 
NotSure said:
That is outrageous. Not the shootings, the fact the pilot didnt fly back over his house and drop a few cinder blocks. Outrageous!
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Shooting down airplanes is one thing what would likely be swept under the carpet in the news after about 5 minutes. A plane attacking anyone even in self defense is bound to fall under the category of terrorist activity and would be top story in the national news for weeks on end. Welcome to Amerika the paranoid.
 
One of the trainers (C152) where I did my primary training had a bullet hole in it. On a side note, I flew one of my friends up to RDU International last Friday, and coming back into Concord, I flew near the Charlotte Motor Speedway. After the tower gave me a clearance to land, and I landed, tower came back on and gave me further clearance to taxi to the ramp. After that, he came back and said, "N525JG", Concord tower, advise when ready, (thinking the worse) I said I was ready. He then said 2 airbus crews reported a laser being emitted from the track that was being pointed at them. Charlotte approach wanted to know if I saw anything as I was descending near the track. I said I hadn't seen anything, but really wasn't paying attention to the track as I was on a base-to-final leg. Things like that happen in aviation, be it a gun or laser. People on the ground think if you do it to a plane, there are no consequences.
 
fgcason said:
Shooting down airplanes is one thing what would likely be swept under the carpet in the news after about 5 minutes. A plane attacking anyone even in self defense is bound to fall under the category of terrorist activity and would be top story in the national news for weeks on end. Welcome to Amerika the paranoid.
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Awww, man, you mean we can't "go to guns" and return fire in self-defense?
I guess I'll stick to shooting back with a Canon.

Ryan
 
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