[deltacharlie]

Microlight pilot fined for Manchester Class D airspace bust. He received a fine of £1,675 - how does that compare with the fine for flying without a valid licence of £600?
https://www.flyer.co.uk/microlight-pilo ... pace-bust/

[Dave Phillips]

Apples & oranges.

[Maxthelion]

He came forward and held his hands up to it after the infraction (and appeal by ATC for someone to own up). Given he had no radio and no chart, I'm sure he would have had a far larger penalty had he not come forward. It must have taken a lot of courage and I take my hat off to him for coming forward, regardless of the negligence he displayed in busting the airspace for such a long period(25 minutes).

[James Chan]

A magistrate can confirm but as I understand, there are different categories of offences and within those, if the sentencing involves a fine, then the person's weekly income and some other things are used to calculate it.

This ensures people convicted of the same offence but have different financial backgrounds can be penalised "fairly".

[Sooty25]

He was fined £1,675 and ordered to pay the CAA costs of £750.

Costs? What Costs? The chap came forward and owned up, no argument, no denial and yet they still managed to run up £750 costs.

And the problem with the fine is, it is just cash. £1,000 fine and re-do the navigation exam and practical exercises would have been far more constructive.

[ratman]

He was fined £1,675 and ordered to pay the CAA costs of £750.

Costs? What Costs? The chap came forward and owned up, no argument, no denial and yet they still managed to run up £750 costs.

And the problem with the fine is, it is just cash. £1,000 fine and re-do the navigation exam and practical exercises would have been far more constructive.

Sooty, you don't know what the next steps will be. The Court issues a fine based on the maximum possible tariff then reduces, where appropriate, due to a Guilty plea, means-testing and the severity of the event. In this case several aircraft were delayed to for a considerable total of minutes. The Court will not get involved in the licensing aspects; that is for the Regulator to decide.

As for costs, an investigation was required; the pilot didn't admit the offence immediately and work was done by many in the early days to trace the pilot for the safety other airspace users. Protecting the public does not come free; trust me £750 is very a very small amount for what needs to be done.

This was a great example of many people working together to get a proportionate and relevant outcome. This infringement had major impact on the operation at Manchester Airport; as it was the infringement resulted in delays, more fuel burn with the associated environmental impact.... it could have been worse from a safety perspective.

[Gertie]

Microlight pilot fined for Manchester Class D airspace bust. He received a fine of £1,675 - how does that compare with the fine for flying without a valid licence of £600?

Tiny tiny fraction of the delay costs incurred by the affected airlines and their passengers.

Do they ever sue?

[robert79]

Jeez. No radio, no chart, no tablet based nav solution and decides to go flying in the vicinity of class D.
What a twerp.

The only mitigation is that he fessed up.

[dublinpilot]

I don't know what to think of this.

On one hand, because he had no radio and no chart, he may not have realised that he'd infringed, and only found out when people started asking questions. So maybe he came forward as soon as he became aware that he infringed.

On the other hand, he may have only fessed up when it became obvious that he was going to be caught.

Flying without a chart sounds terrible, but maybe he was flying in an area he knew well and didn't need a chart. But then wx closed in or a distraction changed things, in ways that a chart wouldn't have helped. Not enough info to know.

Is there any indication that the incursion was intentional rather than accidential?

Am I the only one who is uncomfortable with decision to prosecute being based on (as I understand it) the outcome of the incursion (delays to CAT) rather than on the circumstances surrounding the incursion in the first place. People make mistakes all the time. I think the decision to prosecute should be based on wether they didn't do proper planning, didn't fess up, did it intentioanlly, had a history of prior incurisions or otherwise were an incursion waiting to happen etc. The outcome (delays to CAT or no delays to CAT) shoudln't really have a bearing on the decision to prosecute in my mind.

[Dave W]

"Didn't have a chart" is reason enough.

He clearly didn't "know the area well"; not well enough to deal with a foreseeable distraction, if that's how it happened.

[gfry]

I wonder if there is more to this one than meets the eye.

A few years back I bust L10 in a big way and had no ideas I had done so until Ronaldsway told me. As soon as I landed I got on tot he phone with Ronaldsway and Manchester to apologies. I also sat down with a instructor to try and figure out how I ballsed up so bad. I then wrote to the CAA.

There was no charge at all brought against me.

Here is the thread on my bust

https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=48280

Page 4 has my letter that went to the CAA.

[Dave W]

Very considered and honest thread, and letter, that. Also shows how anybody can make an error. I hadn't seen it at the time; such shame you ended up getting a drubbing from some, especially since very few (I suspect) would have been as open in publicly telling everybody as you were.

[GonzoEGLL]

Am I the only one who is uncomfortable with decision to prosecute being based on (as I understand it) the outcome of the incursion (delays to CAT) rather than on the circumstances surrounding the incursion in the first place. People make mistakes all the time. I think the decision to prosecute should be based on wether they didn't do proper planning, didn't fess up, did it intentioanlly, had a history of prior incurisions or otherwise were an incursion waiting to happen etc. The outcome (delays to CAT or no delays to CAT) shoudln't really have a bearing on the decision to prosecute in my mind.

Are we sure the outcome did have an effect on the decision to prosecute? Or was it just the duration of flight inside Class D?