I’d think the CAA’s have better things to do than to police aviation forums. In general, I guess it will be a coincidence if they see something which is serious enough to start an investigation, yet I would not put it out of the scope of possibility.
Particulary, if someone claims to do something illegal over and over again and when it is quite obvious who the poster is, he/she/it may be faced with a “surprise” ramp check all of a sudden? Or if some other form of “forum police” gets enough of such posts and gives a hint to the authorities? I understand that has happened a few times.
I personally thing people should be careful what they post on the Internet, be it in a forum, facebook or whatever. You can be identified and if you put up proof of something which will upset the law/neighbours/wife/RSPCA/boss/someone else and put it up there for everyone to see, then, well, you’ll just have to live with the consequences.
Apparently the guy in that video lost his job… he has to know if his stunt was worth that. As far as “distraction to the pilot” goes, I’ve seen worse passengers.
The way I heard it the pilot was under scrutiny by the FAA prior to that.That just gave them an excuse.
Michael is right if they have it out for you they can make your life miserable. Just like the Tax office.
In the US everything is now a privilege that can be taken away. Even your freedom.
The reason J Edger Hoover lasted so long in his job was because he had mountains of dirt on all the right people and that kept everyone in line. Mostly politicians. What is happening now with the 4th Amendment would make even J.E. Hoover blush.
Its not that the FAA is trolling these sites where the problem comes in. Its when someone reports a violation to the FAA which usually starts an investigation. So if someone says something here no big deal but when someone reports unsafe FAR busting practices by a pilot that backs up what he said on the internet with actions that others have witnessed. Things will start to happen.
Digging up an old thread… can anyone remember any case where this happened, anywhere? Apart from the US where it apparently did happen.
Peter wrote:
Digging up an old thread… can anyone remember any case where this happened, anywhere? Apart from the US where it apparently did happen.
If it’s happened to anyone, it must have been “The Flying Reporter”.
Most of his videos go on for half an hour on one “terrible” tiny mistake he committed and how bad of a pilot he is. It’s like he enjoys the flagellation.
He’s a clever bloke though and I doubt he actually breaks any laws in his videos 
Of course, my comment was tongue in cheek
The one case that made me take this whole thing of posting on YT more carefully is the following:
This pilot got reported to the CAA by a neighbour who claimed he was flying low and recklessly. Now, the pilot proved that he was not upon submission of his SkyDemon track. But what would have happened if the complaining neighbour had come accross the video on the internet and the pilot had no counter-evidence from SkyDemon (or FlightRadar) to prove his case?
It would be a situation in which someone who reports you has “some” form of evidence, even if that evidence didn’t hold up. It would then be a matter of inferring the altitude, altimeter setting, position of the aircraft etc. all from the video, but this is already prone to errors and interpretation of an interested party…
Sure, 99.999% of times nothing is going to come out of this. But I am paranoid about that 0.001% because strange things are happening all the time recently.
Edit: Even when one has a SkyDemon track, I have found that it sometimes skips the signal, or produces “altitude peaks”, those are artifacts in the track but maybe some idiot looking at them could think one actually flew that? The same with FlightRadar.
Here is a 300ft artifact which could put you in trouble depending on the situation:
Peter wrote:
can anyone remember any case where this happened, anywhere?Yes, one of my very first videos have been reported to the CAA. I guess, it was not a random stranger how saw the video, but someone from “inside” I should know. I was reported, because in the below video, I flew directly from Meschede (which is not a customs airfield) to Switzerland. Apperently, the anonymius person how turned me in, didn’t know that there is a special procedure for this practice (see the link below). In addition, I did call the customs before the flight, just to be sure and they did allow me to go. The CAA however didn’t knew about this rule (and also not about my call with customs), so they did some investigations. The guy how did this investigation even didn’t knew that Switzerland was already part of Schengen, so he asked me not only about customs, but also about immigration. After a friendly phone call and e-mail, the case was dismissed. In the end, I will never know how reported me, but this person should have had knowledge about the customs status of my airfield. Even the most persons from my aeroclub don’t know anything about it, as they simply never fly abroad or at least never outside the EU.
Frans wrote:
I guess, it was not a random stranger how saw the video, but someone from “inside” I should know.
Frans wrote:
the anonymius person how turned me in, didn’t know that there is a special procedure
Unfortunately, this is all too common. Person spots something they “believe” to be illegal, they report it to the authorities, authorities are not aware that the flight took place under a special approval or regulation, an investigation is started that sets a whole bureaucratic wheel rolling from which escaping is, at the very least, a stressful event and at worst can escalate out of proportion very easily. Kafka put this beautifully in his famous book, mandatory read for everyone in my view.
Most people who will report stuff are either:
a) directly affected by the event (neighbour who saw a low flying plane which interrupted their quiet tea time)
b) seeking revenge or a personal attack to someone else they know and don’t like for whatever reason
Alpha_Floor wrote:
The one case that made me take this whole thing of posting on YT more carefully is the following
It starts with doing YT videos of “spot mistakes” then load of others “being reported” and another batch “on lessons learned” and “being good pilot”, I doubt CAA give a hoot, let’s call that drama as it attracts more YT viewers, who wants to watch “EGKA-EGKA via Alps destination boring stuff”? YT viewers wants live pilot errors, pax pranks, live ATC/PIC hand fights, Barton FISO running ATZ like LHR CTR, angry AG operator given instructions and yelling for PPR, 6ft tall customs officer tearing up my Gendec paper after Brexit in Netherlands
If you want real stuff on being self-reported and procecuted, here is one where gliding for fun on weekend with a GoPro does cost you flying Phenom Jet for a living on weekdays !
https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/impromptu-air-show-act-nets-seven-month-suspension/
I can see more potential for hassle with insurance – because that is civil law, and the balance of probability, whereas a prosecution needs beyond reasonable doubt (or the equivalent in other countries).
