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#1857661
Not seen this posted elsewhere on this Forum, so.....

Ouch ! Is this a record fine?

CAA / 8 July 2021

Pilot fined £175,000 for falsifying licence and acting as a pilot without an appropriate licence

A private pilot has been convicted of two charges of knowingly making false entries to his pilot's licence, and one charge of acting as a pilot without an appropriate licence on seven flights.

David Harbottle, of Lancing, West Sussex, was convicted of the charges (6 July 2021) following a trial at Brighton Magistrates' Court. He was fined £50,000 for each of the false entries, and a further £75,000 for acting as a pilot without an appropriate licence. He was also ordered to pay costs to the Civil Aviation Authority of £16,500 and to pay a £120 victim charge. The fines and charges total £191,620.

Commenting on the case, a spokesperson for the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “The Civil Aviation Authority's prosecution, the subsequent convictions and substantial fines show that the CAA and the Courts treat offending of this kind with the upmost severity.”
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1857662
It was a considered and deliberate act, rather than an act of inattention. Sympathy is a little difficult for punishment being applied - however the punitive amount does make one wince when compared to other more common criminal acts.

Presumably it was means-tested? I'd hate to think some family could be financially ruined for this.

https://www.flyer.co.uk/pilot-fined-175 ... g-licence/

Flyer News wrote:He later forged Certificates of Revalidation for an MEP and an IR rating he required for the seven flights he undertook and back dated them to 2016.
#1857663
Ouch indeed.
But presumably the fine was set by the court, not the CAA?
It's a bit difficult to know what to think about " treating offenses of this kind with the utmost severity" without knowing what he actually did. Are we talking about some "Parker hours" in the log book to revalidate? Or what?
Edit - ah ok @Dave W has given a bit more detail.
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By Ibra
#1857664
Dave W wrote:It was a considered and deliberate act, rather than an act of inattention. Sympathy is a little difficult for punishment being applied - however the punitive amount does make one wince when compared to other more common criminal acts.


Compared to this guy? I have to say we (private pilots) are easy chickens to fry by judges when it comes to ANO & Courts compared to say someone flying B737 with 300 innocent pax for 10kh, who can get away with it with 2000£ :lol:

Not defending the guy (who is an as***le by his record) but the next time you deviate from your assigned level by more than 300ft and get a black mark on your criminal records or lose your skin, I can tell you how it’s done if you were flying BA or AF with union or company behind your back :thumleft:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Salme
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1857666
Ibra wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Salme

Wow! :shock:

...had once had a private pilot license, but it had expired and it never qualified him for passenger flights. As a result, he was fined 2,000 Euros (£1,700 or $2,700) and was banned from flying for 12 months by a Dutch court, which rejected the prosecutor's request for a three-month suspended jail sentence.


(2010)
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By James Chan
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1857672
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By Ibra
#1857688
TopCat wrote:
Dave W wrote:Yes: See above.
Forgery and deliberate back-dating.

Yeah but other than that.


I think he was this guy? who paid in Conventry more than a TBM visiting Ukraine :lol:

I think he had one of the lost comms incidents when 8.33khz frequencies got rolled (people not checking Notams or not using SkyDemon) but apparently he knows how to open hell doors with ATC/CAA :twisted:

https://www.flyer.co.uk/pilot-fined-aft ... -coventry/
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1857691
OK he committed some serious (to the CAA) 'paper' offences:

No schools were wrecked, no puppies died.

But £175k? Seriously?

CAA lives in Cuckoo Land.

Who, in the greater scheme of things was inconvenienced/harmed/gave a terpenny ferk?

Why not just take his licence away permanently.....?
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By GrahamB
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1857693
@PeteSpencer
The magistrates, not the CAA, would have set the fine according to the guidelines, taking into account any aggravating or mitigating circumstances. We weren’t in court to hear the prosecution case, nor the defence, as presented.

In this case I imagine the guilty was quite a wealthy individual.
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