GLIDE & SEEK AT JFK FLIER'S STUPID STUNT
New York Post
August 21, 2009
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08212009/ne ... 185669.htm
A wingnut piloting a motorized paraglider buzzed two Kennedy Airport runways, landed in a cargo area and flew off before he could be arrested.
The flaky flier circled into the pathway of planes at around 8 p.m. Sunday.
"Looks like some guy on a parachute -- pretty stupid," one pilot radioed a controller as he waited to take off.
At the time, the glider was an estimated 1,000 feet in the air.
"If you're a paraglider or using a home-built airplane, you're pretty stupid flying near there," said Steve Abraham of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
The flier briefly landed next to a Brazilian airline's cargo hanger and base, then buzzed off in the bizarre contraption.
"Looks like he hit the ground, dropped something off and now he's airborne again," another pilot on the runway radioed.
NYPD and Nassau County Police helicopters were dispatched to search for and escort the flier back to ground, but came up empty.
The seven air-traffic controllers on duty at the time never spotted the parachute pilot on the ground or on their radar.
"They found nothing and could see no one," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters, who added that the glider was spotted by pilots over two runways.
The controllers played it safe, cautioning planes in the area to look out for a "kite" or "paraglider."
Port Authority cops looked everywhere on the airport for the flier.
"This kind of thing is a concern," said PA spokesman Ron Marisco.
There are no laws prohibiting paragliding or parasailing on Jamaica Bay, which borders the runways.
Just weeks earlier, a small-town pilot got lost and nearly caused a disaster when he steered his single-engine plane dangerously close to a Boeing 747 and forced controllers to reroute other airliners.
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Originally Posted by Gerard
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