Florida Man™ Lands Helicopter On Friend's Lawn, And In Hot Water

"user314" (user314) 08/19/2019 at 15:02 • Filed to: Florida Man, Floridalopnik, Helicopterlopnik

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Image of the offending R44 courtesy City of Coral Springs, circa nineteen sixty-something

A Florida city has issued a citation to a man who landed a helicopter in a friend’s backyard as a stunt when he showed up for a party.

The city of Coral Springs says Kfir Baranas pulled off the chopper trick in June in violation of an ordinance against unauthorized landings and takeoffs of aircraft.

But Baranas, 41, is fighting back, arguing that as a licensed pilot he should be allowed to land where he did because he wasn’t flying in restricted airspace, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   reports.

“It’s private property,” he told the paper. “Why should the city prevent that?”

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The paper quoted a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration as saying there is no FAA regulation prohibiting the landing if the pilot had the approval of the property owners and it was a “safe operation.”

She was also quoted as saying that to land there, the pilot would have to have the approval of the Florida Department of Transportation.

The agency wasn’t commenting, nor were Coral Springs officials, the paper reported.

Baranas has refused to pay the $500 fine and instead is taking Coral Springs to trial in September.

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > user314 08/19/2019 at 15:15

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This picture was taken in Coral Springs.

I can’t be bothered to find any more. It’s a boring place.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > user314 08/19/2019 at 15:16

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I support the pilot. How are you supposed to have an “authorized landing” if t he destination has no ground control?

Now, I’m sure he violated some noise  ordnances but the actual act of landing an aircraft on private property shouldn’t be regulated

user314 > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 08/19/2019 at 16:19

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I haven’t quite reconciled how to feel about this yet. I’m more curious that Coral Springs has an ordinance specifically against “unauthorized landings and takeoffs”  though. Wonder what led to that being passed?

ttyymmnn > user314 08/19/2019 at 17:12

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Kf ir?

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > user314 08/19/2019 at 17:13

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Rules like that always have an incident behind them.

ttyymmnn > user314 08/19/2019 at 17:14

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Well, if there’s an ordinance, there’s an ordinance. It’s probably there so rich f**ks with helicopters don’t turn the neighborhood into a heliport. Whether or not the FAA restricts the airspace would be moot.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and even though this makes sense, the law often does not make sense. 

user314 > ttyymmnn 08/19/2019 at 17:23

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1st thing I thought of too...

ttyymmnn > user314 08/19/2019 at 17:25

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I used to see those flying around VA Beach back in the 80s. They were part of an aggressor group based at  NAS Oceana.