On his way to this weekend’s Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot in West Point Kentucky:
Allen Harvey Friedlander, of Southfield, Mich., was piloting the plane when it crashed on an outer road that circles the fair grounds between gates 1 and 6 about 8:30 p.m., FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
No one else was on board the Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee, which was registered to Friedlander.
Eight machine guns, three upper receivers — or gun parts used for assembly — and several thousand rounds of ammunition were removed from the plane, according to Alicia Smiley, a Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman, but the amount and types of guns removed was unavailable.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the weapons, which are being held in Louisville police’s property room, Smiley said.
Full Story – HERE
My guess is he was bringing all the guns to the Knob Creek shoot to make some money off rentals. (Now Confirmed HERE)
Interview with the Pilot:
Hopefully the man makes a speedy recovery, and the ATF gives him his guns back.
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Some how the ATF will find a reason to keep the guns, and maybe even charge him with something. Man I wish i could go to Knob Creek, guess ill have to wait for videos on youtube.
That’s brutal, I hope they don’t charge him with anything. It’s not like he meant to crash.
His plane was on the road though. It might be illegal in Kentucky to transport machine guns via airplane on a state or county roadway.
Yea, knowing them it wouldn’t matter that the plane actually “crashed” and was not landed there on purpose. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt though.
Sounds like he should have filled up on fuel before filling up on firearms!
*ba dum ching*
Sadly, he’ll probably get them back in a few years, rusted.
I wonder if insurance would cover something like that. It definitely should.
Damn Oceanic Airways.
At least the giant whirling column of smoke will be a lot easier to explain.
haha
“Hopefully the man makes a speedy recovery, and the ATF gives him his guns back.”
I hope the ATF gives his guns back (provided everything was legal).
The FAA may need to deal with him a little more harshly than the ATF.
I’m assuming they are legal since he was brining them to one of the most popular public events. Stranger things have happened though I guess.
What kind of FAA trouble do you think he will have?
It’s hard to say what the FAA will do. I had a conversation with an FAA examiner once about this type of issue, and he said it can involve anything from a formal warning and conference with officials to certificate actions (suspension or revocation of his license). He said that all factors are taken into account, both those that led to running out of fuel and the results. So, I imagine the fact that he crashed in an area where there were other people (because the plane came to rest on a road) and the fact that he caused significant damage to the airplane are factors that are going to work against him.
I think it would be more understandable if he had gotten into bad weather and disoriented over a wilderness area with no nearby airports and ran out of fuel. There were dozens of places along his route to refuel if headwinds were causing him to burn too much fuel.
I think he said himself in one of the articles I read that this is probably going to end his flying days. I would imagine the FAA would, at a minimum, require some additional training with an instructor before letting him fly solo again. And maybe just as important, I can almost guarantee that his insurance company would require a certain number of hours with an instructor before covering him again!
FYI – Federal Aviation Regulations (part of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations) make it illegal for a pilot to take off without enough fuel to get to his intended destination and continue to fly for 30 minutes after reaching it during day-time visual flying conditions.
Good point… since it was gas he ran out of, they probably won’t be sympathetic.
Having to deal with the BATFE, but also the FAA in one fell swoop! Not a great day.
An old saying:
There nothing more useless to a pilot that runway behind you, altitude above you, and gas left in the fuel truck. Or
You’ve never got too much fuel unless you are on fire.
Some good sayings moi!