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Woman tries to shoot down plane for being too noisy
Every now and then you come across a story that can be filed under "you can't make this stuff up". Such is the story of 69 year old Judy Davis from Fulton, MO. Apparently, ultralight planes had been doing practice runs all afternoon, and some of them had been flying pretty close to her house. Normally, when someone encounters aviation noise annoyance, they contact the airport, their local authorities, or the FAA.
Sadly, Mrs. Davis decided to skip all of that, and took matters into her own hands. With a gun in her pocket, she walked into the terminal building, announced that she was going to shoot down a plane, then waltzed right onto the runway and did just that.
Even though it wasn't clear whether she actually hit the ground, or a plane, a pilot coming in for a landing aborted his attempt while authorities "intercepted her".
The most surprising part of the story, is that the local police let her go on a $4,500 bond, once again proving that airport security is one big puppet show. While you and I were being searched for bottles of water, a 69 year old lady could walk right onto the runway of a municipal airport and shoot at landing aircraft.
Gallery: 10 things that will mess up your vacation
Filed under: North America, United States, Airports
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Babel Sep 1st 2009 9:40AM
right way! shoot down all the fracking planes!!
Tri Sep 1st 2009 12:28PM
You guys should post the link to the source news article.
Scott Carmichael Sep 1st 2009 2:10PM
The source article is linked under the "source" button below the article.
anon Sep 1st 2009 3:29PM
You mean buried under the article. You really ought to do a little fact checking and grammar checking while you're at it. "an pilot"? Come on. Also, small airports like this aren't a big security threat, so it's not like going to a international commercial airport and walking in their with a gun.
Sed Sep 1st 2009 8:22PM
"You really ought to do a little fact checking and grammar checking while you're at it. "an pilot"? Come on. Also, small airports like this aren't a big security threat, so it's not like going to a international commercial airport and walking in their with a gun."
If you're going to try to pass yourself off as the Grammar Police, you might want to try checking your OWN grammar. "A international"? "walking in their"? Come on, indeed.
slinkypomo Sep 1st 2009 2:13PM
LOL, Must not have been the TSA at that airport, those morons in the TSA would have run and hid from her.
RT
Nick Sep 1st 2009 2:46PM
That figures...flying is such a pain in the ass anymore and now look what happens, this lady tries to shoot down a plane and they treat her better that someone wearing a metal belt buckle...God forbid!
FAAfooey Sep 1st 2009 7:57PM
Calling the FAA does nothing. I have low flying planes buzzing my house all summer. They fly a bit above the treetops. If I call the FAA they ask, "Well, what's the call number on the plane?" Like I can see a number on a plane that is flying overhead among trees at 50 to 100 mph. They say they can't do anything unless I have a call number...even though they track EVERY PLANE IN THE AIR AT ALL TIMES and could surely pinpoint who was at a certain coordinate at a certain time. They are just too busy doing god knows what to fulfill their charge to enforce the law. I can certainly understand this woman's frustration.
scott Sep 1st 2009 9:40PM
FAA ATC does not track every single plane in the sky. it depends entirely on where they are in relation to the nearest radar array, and what obstacles are in the way. I know its a big surprise but a small aircraft flying 50 feet above the trees doesn't tend to be noticed on the radar scope from the radar array probably 50 miles away. Military aircraft do the same thing during war to avoid said radar. Also while it sure would be nice, google maps doesn't really interlink with the maps used by air traffic control, so even if they had full recordings of every movement of every aircraft finding yours would be a major issue. Now think of it this way, telling them that your being overflown by this plane with no identification to give them is like telling the police every so often this car goes speeding down the road by your house, the license plate number? oh well i couldn't see it, the police can't do anything and neither can the FAA. While what that pilot is doing is stupid and dangerous, another option is to continually report every time that a low flying aircraft passes by and with as many details as possible, depending on the size of your local airport they may be able to identify it on the ramp with less than a tail number. Also actually going to the flight office at said airport will do you wonders more than calling an FAA 1800 number.
Swampfeet Sep 11th 2009 12:18PM
Well the woman was white after all. Can't be a terris't if you're white.
Darrell Sep 29th 2009 8:45PM
If I'm white I can't be a terrorist?
Would you PLEASE explain that to Homeland Security?
They say that I am, and I'm about as white as you can get!
Oh FYI, Scott is right about the radar, close to the ground the plane gets "Lost" in ground clutter unless he is real close to the radar array, and a GOOD pilot can fly at tree-top level.
I do it all the time, as long as you KNOW the terrain and every structure that sticks up above the trees in your flight path, it's called flying by the seat of your pants and a lot of older pilots still do it when flying for fun, away from regular flight lanes.
And it is rude to correct a persons grammar online or in email, just because YOU use spellchecker doesn't mean that everyone does, and with the level of education I see in this country, I'm surprised that ANY of you can read at all!