Canada has a new "Ace"

[atpl53]

A nomination to the 'Darwin Awards'.

[2.5milefinal]

I know a guy with a similar record. Last I heard TC took his license away, for life.
He still owns an airplane and he still flies it. TC did their job, i guess its up to the cops now.

[Phlyer]

I know a guy with a similar record. Last I heard TC took his license away, for life.
He still owns an airplane and he still flies it. TC did their job, i guess its up to the cops now.

I thought you were going to say he went to work for TC.

[jeta1]

lovely.

[Bushav8er]

I heard of one the other day. Guys owns an aircraft, has all kinds of time on it - no licence.

I would hope that TC/RCMP would match purchases with licences, not that anyone can't own an aircraft without a licence, but should be a flag to watch them. We don't need these guys buzzing around amongst us.

[C-Check]

That crash has got to be an exception.

Usually these people are only a danger to themselves.

License or not, I would wonder what would cause a guy to fly his 170 into a helicopter?

I know of afew guys, farmers etc flying around in the bush country without any paperwork. All the power to them, I figure.

Rule books are only of paper. They will not cussion a sudden meeting of metal and stone.

[C-Check]

I would hope that TC/RCMP would match purchases with licences, not that anyone can't own an aircraft without a licence, but should be a flag to watch them. We don't need these guys buzzing around amongst us.

That would mean alot of red flags. Many owners are not pilots. All things considered, I don't think those type of clowns represent much of a danger and RCMP and TC resources would likely be better spent elswhere in terms of 'bang for the buck'.

[xsbank]

Y'know, my old dad (dead now) was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain and after the war he flew many friend's aircraft (he never flew commercially, or was even tempted) in many many airshows - Delta, way back when and Abbotsford in the early years, doing aerobatics.

He never had a license.

He felt that it should be a right to fly an airplane if you knew how. This attitude to freedom used to be very prevalent in the US before Homeland Paranoia was formed. Most of the aircraft he flew did not have electrical systems and if they did he never turned on the radio.

Remember light signals?

I have mixed feelings about all this because I have 2 ATPLs that I have to maintain (actually three if you include Bermuda) but I can see the appeal of a simpler time. They only started licensing ultra-lights recently and you can still parasail and meat-bomb without one. Its the training that counts.

Remember where we all came from.

[Bushav8er]

xsbank - I agree. The difference is that they were taught and know how to fly. Today its the same with military pilots - they have a military licence but not always a civilian one.
Planes today are, for the most part, a little more complex then the Cubs, Moths and Fleets of yesterday, but even then, they had instruction first.
The people I'm referring to never had anything more than a lot of money and attitude and were never taught but go ahead and buy a plane and fly it - the ones I heard of were/are C206 amphibs! From what I've seen the people with this attitude are also very poor pilots even when trained.

Flying is easy, but why should they get away with by-passing all the work, instruction and regulations? Again, do we really want these goofs flying around with us?

[Turkey]

Sounds like the government should force this guy to have an SMS system. Then he'd be safe.

[flyinthebug]

Sounds like the government should force this guy to have an SMS system. Then he'd be safe.

LOL! Now that was classic!!

[Shiny Side Up]

Its funny that a lot have brought the RCMP into the discussion, when in reality when someone does something stupid in an aircraft, it is totally out of their jurisdiction. Its an odd little bit it seems. Realistically, you could hop out of your airplane, run across the ramp to where a patrol car was parked, tell the nearest Mountie that you didn't have a licence, and the only thing he really has the power to do is make a phone call to TC, just like any other citizen can - Granted that when the complaintcomes in they would be more likely to get on the ball sooner to investigate it than they would a complaint from someone else. He could attempt to detain you on other grounds, but once you were back in your airplane, you would be out of his hands - unless you maybe were going to make a direct attempt to kill another person from or with your airplane. Mind you, if that person was in another airplane, it would then probably still be out of his hands.

In my experience there are more people out there zooming around without licences than you think, or would wish. I even know of where TC caught one of these fellows, red handed so to speak and they...(wait for it)... did nothing. Or close to it. They strongly suggested that he go to someone to get some formal instruction to get a proper licence. Since he had no licence, their logic was they had nothing they could take away from this fellow.

Once again though, the main issue at hand is the idea that people have the "right" to do something. No one has the "right" to fly an airplane, its a priviledge you earn. Someone's father above had earned that priviledge (though in honesty, I still wish that he had simply formalised it in the form of a licence) many out there unfortunately don't.

[Sasquash]

Shiny side up;

Just to clarify, the RCMP has the authority and have enforced the Aeronautics Act in the past. I did when I was a member, but then again I had a Canadian Aviation document. In reality however, most members do not have current knowledge of the Act and regs and will, as you rightfully pointed out, contact their TC contrepart for assistance. RCMP & TC, 2 big happy families !!!! ( taser them, we'll suspend them....)

[Shiny Side Up]

You are right in the fact that they do have the ability to do so. It is however the only issue I have ever seen the Mounties hesitant to act upon, and that's issues regarding airplanes, and I believe that unless there was some immediate danger present, the action would be taken as we've described above: Before any action is taken, advice is sought from the nearest TC person, but they and I both know how that goes. I get the idea that its the one area they do not want to tread, and most would probably rather get into a shootout with an armed suspect than have to enforce Air Regs. Reasonably so - as you said, most probably don't have as much experience with where aviation law sits, and since the final judgement on right or wrong in the case of the law sits with a TC inspector rather than the court, it places them into that big area of liability. If you think of it, there are probably tons of training that come with how to proceed when a person is doing something with a motor vehicle right from simple traffic violations to driving while impaired to high speed chases, but nothing on what to do if some idiot buzzes a house.

[square]

You should just go out and turn his master on at night. It'd be weeks before he got it going.

[hairdo]

{2} He is a member of an ethnic group who every few years try to rule the world, no matter how often they get their butt kicked it does nothing to change their attitude.

Ok, so he's American. Now, for the award, I would have to agree with atpl and say Darwin Award... that is if he lives long enough to recieve it.

[Koizie1]

What about all the guys flying IFR or night with no ratings beyond PPL or in some cases CPL. I would say its rife, I've know aviaiton company owners who do this. When you think about it how often have you been ramped, I've been flying almost daily for 4 yrs, never been ramped yet. No one is employed directly to do this beyond maybe majot airports. If farmer joe isn't endangering anyone but himself I wouldnt care personally, in fact as someone else said 'power to him'. If they're flying people around who dont know they dont have a license, then thats a bit different.

As for awards for clunks neighbour, I would say 'Best use of his nine lives' award.

[P-50]

I know a few guys like you speak about. In my opinion if they stay over the farm and out off everyone's way who cares if they have a piece of paper or not.

[armchair]

If farmer joe isn't endangering anyone but himself I wouldnt care personally, in fact as someone else said 'power to him'.

Really? If we all thought like this, perhaps we should eliminate any licensing requirement for solo flights in uncontrolled airspace and away from all aerodromes? Do you think Farmer Joe actually never flies into an aerodrome for fuel, or maintenance, to take a leak, for lunch or just for fun? Like giving your 15 year-old son the keys to your Camaro and tell him to stay in the laneway.

I know a few guys like you speak about. In my opinion if they stay over the farm and out off everyone's way who cares

Same as above... really... do you seriously think they just "stay over the farm"?

I agree that flying is indeed like driving a car and you must have a valid permit to do so. Licensing brings structure (even as flawed at is seems at times) , and without structure you have chaos. Flying is a wonderful priviledge that must be earned, including formal training and flight tests , plus the paperwork. Vast majority of pilots do so. Funny how some complain that TC is abdicating its enforcement responsibilities, but letting farmer joe and rogue uncle fly illegally whenever they want is OK as long as they dont bug anyone esle. One day they will, and it could be you.

[buss]

I'm curious about insurance. I'm pretty sure you can't get auto insurance without a valid license. I suppose you can fly without but after five uninsured accidents life gets expensive.

[mcrit]

Hmmmm...a gong for this fellow......Find a piece of his wrecked airplane and make him an iron cross out of it.

[fortis risk]

Deleted.

[2.5milefinal]

The system is a little buggered up, you guys have to admit.
If I go out and do something bad while hunting, lets say shoot two moOse instead of only one. I could get my gun(s), boat, plane and or my truck taken away, by the COs.
But if I am operating a flying machine without a license, nothing gets taken away.
I have to admit to sticking it to the man is okay sometime, but come on
...sorry for the slight hijack clunckdriver

[armchair]

I'm curious whether the people who think farmer Joe should be licensed, think he should have to register his firearms as well.

Personally, I think the Govt should stay out of our business as much as possible and I know some farmers who have a lot more accident free time than some of the posters on this forum. If they don't hurt anyone and don't fly commercially then good on them. Stick it to the Man!

No wonder pilots are no "College" material. "Stick it to the Man!"... LOL, you must be quite the role model! I sure hope you're not an instructor.

People who fly aircraft illegally do harm to our industry in ways which may not be readily apparent, but they do. They have no respect for rule #1, so heck, all rules dont apply to them. The concept of Farmer Joe is a bad example here too. The people we should be worried about, for example, are those who are licensed privately, but will fly IFR without an IFR ticket. They will fly a twin without a multi-engine rating. They will fly people they dont know for a fee and disguise this as "friends" who share the gas bill. They fail a flight test or fail a medical but keep on flying. They will push the enveloppe outside what their license allows, and those are the truly dangerous types, and those are the ones TC should go after - not Farmer Joe.

Once you break an aviation rule and get away with it, which in fact is most of the time, then your conception of right or wrong gets muddled and you feel like its OK to break them whenever you like.

[iflyforpie]

Once you start down the dark path....