Police in Red Bluff, California, would like to talk to the pilot of a Beech Bonanza who walked away from a gear-up landing and then immediately got in another plane and flew away, leaving the immobile Bonanza on the runway. Authorities say they want to make sure the pilot is OK but they probably have some other questions for him. According to KRCR the 1980 Beech F33 shuddered to a halt on the asphalt about 9:00 a.m. It’s not clear if the belly landing was accidental or the result of a mechanical failure.
Whatever the cause, the pilot apparently needed to be somewhere else and got in another plane he keeps at the airport (type unknown), made several stops across northern California, picking up a passenger along the way. The passenger was dropped off in Ukiah and the pilot flew off. The passenger told authorities he knew nothing about the earlier landing mishap. The police have all the contact information for the pilot (the Bonanza is registered to a Point Arena, California, man) but he is not responding to their inquiries as of Thursday evening.
I see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing…
Is his name perhaps SGT. Schultz……..
No, it’s D. B. Cooper.
FAA will want to talk with him, too. Maybe also NTSB.
No one hurt gear ups are usually incidents and the NTSB don’t get involved. And if cheap enough to repair – the FAA might not be involved either.
But walking away and leaving a plane on a runway……. I’m sure the FAA have already sent the letter!
Regardless of the cost of repair, a gear-up landing is something about which the FAA wants to speak with the pilot because it indicates a possible lack of competence. And the question of cost of repair was dropped from the rule a long time ago.
If he doesn’t want the plane I’d take it on as a project. This is very odd to say the least.
We live in bizzarro world.
If I crash my truck into a tree, leave it there as I get into a car I left parked nearby, the cops would be all over this, especially if I proceeded to make “stops” with a “passenger”. At the least they’d be knocking at my door not sending inquiries.
Since this is an airplane, on federal land(?) and regulated by the FAA, the FAA just sends “inquiries” hoping the guy responds?
FFS?
Oh and quite likely my truck is impounded and I not only pay the towing fees to clear it off the road, I pay for the impound fees. I would think the pilot pays something for leaving a broken airplane on the runway, closing it down for some period of time. I looked up that airport, just unicom, so what a surprise for the next first time solo student who picked that airport for a landing/takeoff after this guy leaves (also, he was cutting take off tight, The runway is 5431 x 100 ft and part of it was unusable).
CTAF/UNICOM: 123.0WX ASOS: 120.775 (530-567-4344)
The term shady aptly fits this story and the pilot (IMHO).
“We live in a bizarro world.” NAH … California …
Ya know what…I’ll accept that one 🙂
Funny. You don’t here about “California Man” but you do here about “Florida Man”!
There is nobody at home raising and teaching the next generation of children. Same applies to so many upstart and 90 day wonder pilots. It’s gonna get a whole lot more “bizzarro” before it’s all over.
This could just as plausibly be a silver-haired experienced pilot. Let’s be careful about making judgements based on age.
That would be one more spunky silver haired, “experienced” pilot to go get in another airplane and pick up a passenger on his way to a business deal. But I suppose it is possible. Nobody home to raise the children started around WWII, so that leaves pretty wide margins on the age bracket.
Grand Theft Aircraft behavior right there… If he got out, slapped a hooker, and flew off on another plane, that’d be something.
It’s not theft if you own the airplane.
We had a gear up landing at my home base airport (1700 ft private, public use grass strip) with the pilot walking away from his airplane, leaving it on the runway late one evening. I came back from a trip later only to see the airplane sitting in the middle of the runway and switched to the crosswind runway.
It’s pretty rude not to let the airport manager know so a notam can be filed closing the runway, and even worse not to take care of your mess. It’s even worse after sunset when you might not see the airplane until its too late to go around. We hauled it off the runway to the grass so we could reopen the runway. At the very least, the pilot should have a long and painful chat with the local FSDO about cleaning up after himself.
There was a case of a stolen C172 that landed at the Fullerton Airport (KFUL). This could be the same guy.
What I don’t understand is … that Bonanza looks like a later model which means it’s worth lots of $$. Doesn’t look like it was badly harmed? What could be more important than protecting the machine. That wasn’t a beat up 1946 something. I think the pilot’s mental state oughta be checked. Beyond that — and as already said — he’s made us all look bad.