Hmmm, guess I don't see why it would be significant if someone on the ground were acting like an idiot as well. Neither ground nor air idiocy that endangers others is excusable. If your point is that scrutiny and penalties should be equally applied regardless of whether the irresponsible act occurred in the air or on the ground, I guess I am in agreement with that statement. Someone driving recklessly should be held just as accountable as someone flying recklessly. . .
Which is why I cringe at everyone posting here that this idiot should lose his license. If a driver of one of those jeeps on the beach had been caught recklessly driving the jeep and endangering others around him he would have been ticketed for reckless driving which would incur some amount of a fine but it would not mean his license would be taken. Yet everyone wants to instantly talk about pulling this guys license and prevent him from ever flying again.
I am sorry if this does not sound like the correct way to approach this guys act
(did I mention I thought he was an idiot?) The truth is he pulled a bonehead stunt that has far reaching ramifications that far surpassed his ability to begin to think about in his euphoric state of mind he was in at the time. He should be punished but in the same manner as the jeep driver would be punished.
Here is a bit of perspective for comparison of this boneheaeded act. Just recently in our fair city (OKC, OK) a man decided he was perfectly capable of driving himself around in his vehicle even though he had just consumed large amounts of what he labeled as "Moon Shine". He proceeded to exit the Interstate at a high rate of speed onto a city street where several vehicles were stopped at a stop light. At the back of the pack of cars waiting on the light was a small car with a mother and two children (a 2 yo and a 5 yo) strapped in their secure car seats in the back seat. This
IDIOT did not stop. He plowed into the back of this car at a high rate of speed. The 5 yo boy was pronounced dead at the scene. The 2 yo is still in the hospital in serious condition.
The
IDIOT was arrested and taken to jail. He had past multiple arrests for DUI and at the time of the incident, was driving without a license due to the prior DUI's. A day or two later he was brought up in front of the judge. The judge released him from jail on bond (I don't know how much the bond was but this was not a wealthy man so I am sure it was not much). Just yesterday, after public outcry, the judge called the man back to court and subsequently revoked his bail and sent him back to jail.
My point of telling this is: Here we have a repeat DUI offender who had been caught multiple times and had been
"punished according to the law" on several occasions but yet still had the opportunity to retain his right to drive a motor vehicle. It wasn't until he actually killed someone (and especially since it happened to be a 5 yo boy) that the public outcry was strong enough to get him off of the streets.
Given that, here we are, demanding this particular
IDIOT have his licensed revoked and never be allowed to fly again. This is the inequality that I read in JDRhodes' post. Yes this
IDIOT needs to be punished. However, the punishment should not be as severe as to prevent him from ever flying again. This reminds me of the two
IDIOT Northwest pilots who tuned out to the world for an hour or so while flying to Minneapolis this past year. Everyone protested these pilots should never be allowed to fly again because of one boneheaded mistake.
The problem with this concept is that we all make bonehead mistakes that can, may and sometimes do have dire consequences. Should we all be subject to permanent removal of our privileges the very next time one of us succumbs to our own stupidity and makes one of these mistakes too?