Confused Virginia Pilot Terrorizes JFK

[Matt Molnar]

WING DING-DONG
CONFUSED VA. PILOT TERRORIZES JFK
A blundering small-town pilot nearly caused a disaster over Kennedy Airport when he steered his single-engine plane for a landing in front of a Boeing 747 and forced controllers to reroute other airliners out of his meandering path.

Hundreds of lives were endangered around noon Saturday because 69-year-old John Prendergast of Sterling, Va., couldn't find his way to Republic Airport in Farmingdale, LI.

"I don't know what he's doing -- he's going everywhere," sputtered a controller as he radioed warnings of an "unknown aircraft" to passenger jets. [Full Article]

[coachrowsey]

Could've been bad. Glad it turned out ok.

[moose135]

I think "terrorizes JFK" is a bit strong, but then, it is the NY Post we're talking about. Looks like he made a relatively small course error heading towards the Island. If the map is at all accurate, he may have seen the bridges at Cross Bay Blvd and mistook that for Captree - I suppose if you're not familiar with the area, it could happen. It didn't say, but I wonder if he was talking to FRG - trying to figure out why the airport wasn't where he was expecting it, and FRG trying to figure out where he was. Glad it all worked out in the end - I'm sure he won't ever make that mistake again!

[Matt Molnar]

Listen to the ATC recording.

[cancidas]

I think "terrorizes JFK" is a bit strong

i agree! wonder if he requested flight following. he'd be a moron if he didn't in unfamiliar airspace...

[Matt Molnar]

I think "terrorizes JFK" is a bit strong

i agree! wonder if he requested flight following. he'd be a moron if he didn't in unfamiliar airspace...

Negative, he never contacted anybody, hence the problem.

[Big Tim #70]

I love how the article makes the controllers sound almost incompetent. They referred to them as "Sputtering"...

I thought they did a pretty good job juggling the heavies around and vectoring the NYPD Helo into an intercept.

I’ll bet the guy saw the Jones Beach water tower and thought it was the Robert Moses Tower, then headed Northwest which would have brought him right to FRG (had it indeed been the RM tower).