Pilot watches theft from his home from C-182

I'll just say that I won't be found doing 1,320' diameter circles over a house at 300' AGL or flying along roads at 500' AGL while keeping my attention fixed on happenings outside the aircraft.
 
He used a 'special cell phone' from his plane to call police. Yeah - suuuuuuuuurrrrre, special all right.
 
3393RP said:
I'll just say that I won't be found doing 1,320' diameter circles over a house at 300' AGL or flying along roads at 500' AGL while keeping my attention fixed on happenings outside the aircraft.
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Personal limits are a good thing. :yes:
 
docmirror said:
He used a 'special cell phone' from his plane to call police. Yeah - suuuuuuuuurrrrre, special all right.
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I have not read the article, but I would suspect that his cell phone would Bluetooth connect to his audio panel and he was able to use his normal headset and PTT.
 
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BillTIZ said:
I have not read the article, but I would suspect that his cell phone would Bluetooth connect to his audio panel and he was able to use his normal headset and PTT.
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And what frequency would that 'special' cell phone be transmitting on? (NTTAWWT)
 
docmirror said:
And what frequency would that 'special' cell phone be transmitting on? (NTTAWWT)
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I do not understand (NTTAWWT).

I would expect standard cell frequency.
I expect the "special" was how he connected through his audio panel to the phone. Granted that capability is not so "special" anymore.
 
BillTIZ said:
I do not understand (NTTAWWT).

I would expect standard cell frequency.
I expect the "special" was how he connected through his audio panel to the phone. Granted that capability is not so "special" anymore.
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NTTAWWT = Not That There's Anything Wrong With That
 
You know if I was gonna steal a trailer from some guys house first thing I'd do is walk around and look in all the windows while ignoring that pesky 182 circling overhead. I figure I'd spend at least 10 minutes on site conspicuously poking around and casing out the situation before I'd feel safe enough to hook up that trailer and heist it.
 
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docmirror said:
He used a 'special cell phone' from his plane to call police. Yeah - suuuuuuuuurrrrre, special all right.
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Glad I'm not the only one who caught that. Ha

EDIT: Oops, a full day behind! Guess everyone caught it. I use a Zulu2 with bluetooth for the cell, it is awesome.
 
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Silvaire said:
You know if I was gonna steal a trailer from some guys house first thing I'd do is walk around and look in all the windows while ignoring that pesky 182 circling overhead. I figure I'd spend at least 10 minutes on site conspicuously poking around and casing out the situation before I'd feel safe enough to hook up that trailer and heist it.
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:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Well, it didn't have a siren or red lights! Maybe he should have turned his stones on. :rofl:
 
3393RP said:
I'll just say that I won't be found doing 1,320' diameter circles over a house at 300' AGL or flying along roads at 500' AGL while keeping my attention fixed on happenings outside the aircraft.
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Well if you can't fly at 500 agl then its good that you have limits. I don't see anything dangerous about it.

He really got lucky to see him when he did, but hey better lucky than good. Im glad he got caught.
 
flyingmoose said:
Well if you can't fly at 500 agl then its good that you have limits. I don't see anything dangerous about it.

He really got lucky to see him when he did, but hey better lucky than good. Im glad he got caught.
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I can fly at 500' AGL just fine. It's looking out the window and doing the Starsky and Hutch car chase part I would skip.
 
3393RP said:
I can fly at 500' AGL just fine. It's looking out the window and doing the Starsky and Hutch car chase part I would skip.
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Better to not look outside while flying at 500'? It's Florida. Flat as a pancake and roads that are straight for miles.

Sent via teletype
 
An article at cnn says the pilot circled his house at 800', and then down at 300' while watching the theft.

Excerpt from the cnn article:

"The flight path and the landing procedure here in Labelle flies right over our property anyway," the 56-year-old retired auto parts store manager said. "So we always make a circle over our property."
As they reached an altitude of 800 feet, his wife noticed something odd.
"My wife says, 'Honey, there's somebody at our house. There's a truck parked in our driveway,'" Zehntner said.
Zehntner dropped the plane to 300 feet and buzzed their ranch home.
​
His address (which I found using Google) is a semi-rural location, and it looks to me like he would fly within 500' of structures if he circled his house at 300'. So I wonder if he wouldn't have been better off not granting an interview, especially one where he specifies his altitude.
 
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Apache123 said:
After spending a few years stationed in Florida, my wife and I "understand."

I showed her those articles and she said wtf, then I said "Florida." Her response was, "ahh, alright."
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Its not been the same since Castro emptied the nut houses and helped them all to immigrate to Miami. Now you should have a passport to go anywhere south of Boca Raton.
 
I'm sure I'd have done the same thing. Granted I'd have no reason to be doing a quarter mile circle nor would I have any reason to be doing it at 300 feet. I suspect the pilot wasn't doing that as it'd make it harder to track the target.

I'd also just communicate it with ATC and keep communicating it with ATC while I followed them until fuel no longer permitted it.
 
cheap weenie said:
Better to not look outside while flying at 500'? It's Florida. Flat as a pancake and roads that are straight for miles.
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According to the linked article:

The skilled pilot said he dropped the altitude of his Cessna 182 Skyline down to about 300 feet and began running a tight ¼ mile circle above his house, all while a stranger went window to window and was peering into the empty home as they watched from above.
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There are quite a few obstructions around Labelle taller than 300' AGL:

http://vfrmap.com/?type=vfrc&lat=26.741&lon=-81.428&zoom=10

and he was without a doubt over an inhabited area with structures.

He followed the suspect:

The pilot said he flew his Cessna at about 500 feet and followed the thief into the town of Labelle, losing him at one point. Zehntner said he ironically caught back up with the thief in front of the Hendry County Courthouse.
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I don't see any way that flying at 500' over the town of Labelle would not be considered illegal, and the Hendry County Courthouse is about 3,000 feet from the threshold of Runway 14 at the Labelle municipal airport.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&s...ei=QtTkUMKHJeqc2QWL_IGgAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CIwBELYD

So as I said originally, the pilot was exhibiting poor judgement and his quotes in the news media should result in some pointed questions by the FAA.
 
Beating_A_Dead_Horse_by_livius.gif
 
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