On October 31, 2015,
student pilot Brian Woodhams lost control of his Piper Cherokee while landing
at the Perry-Warsaw Airport in upstate New York, approximately 60 miles
southeast of Buffalo. The aircraft departed the runway and ended up with its
nose in a ditch.
Acting U.S. Attorney James
P. Kennedy Jr.’s office said in a news release that Woodhams was carrying his
15-year-old son as a passenger at the time of the accident, a charge the
student pilot initially denied. Federal regulations stipulate that a student
pilot may only share the cockpit with another fully licensed pilot who acts as
PIC.
During the initial
investigation by FAA safety personnel, Woodhams claimed to be alone at the time
of the accident and that his son, who was treated for injuries at the scene,
ran to the airplane following the accident. A few days after the Halloween
accident, investigators confronted Woodhams with an eyewitness statement that
claimed to see the young boy inside the aircraft just after the accident, a
claim the pilot again denied.
Woodhams filed an incident
report with the NTSB 10 days after the accident indicating he was flying alone.
In January 2016, Woodhams
was interviewed by a special agent from the DOT and stuck to his story of being
alone in the cockpit, but for an unexplained reason entered a guilty plea a few
weeks ago while appearing before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo in
Buffalo. The charge against the pilot carries a maximum penalty of five years
in prison and a $250,000 fine.
(Evangle Luo of TTFLY shared with you)
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