Paramotor forum.NL

Enschede - De politie heeft vrijdag de piloot van een straaljager aangehouden die zonder brevet vloog en een noodlanding maakte op het gesloten vliegveld in Twente.

De 67-jarige Britse piloot vloog met een leerling vanuit Denemarken naar Duitsland, maar week vanwege een storing en slecht weer in Duitsland uit naar Twente, meldt het Korps Landelijke Politiediensten zaterdag.

De piloot en zijn Duitse leerling vlogen in een oud militair lesvliegtuig, een Lockheed T33, dat tegenwoordig in particuliere handen is. Ze bleven ongedeerd.

Het vliegbrevet van de piloot bleek ongeldig en is door de luchtvaartpolitie ingenomen in opdracht van de Inspectie Verkeer en Waterstaat.

Het tweepersoons straalvliegtuig landde op Enschede Airport Twente, dat al sinds begin 2008 gesloten is. Er wordt momenteel gesproken over een doorstart van het vliegveld.



http://www.radio1.nl/contents/14277-arrestatie-na-noodlanding-op-vliegveld-twente

Piloot vrijgelaten na noodlanding vliegveld Twenthe
ENSCHEDE - Het Korps landelijke politiediensten (KLPD) en Inspectie Verkeer en Waterstaat hebben vrijdag 26 maart 2010 een onderzoek ingesteld naar de noodlanding van een Lockheed T33 op vliegveld Twenthe. De piloot is aangehouden voor het vliegen zonder geldig brevet. Het KLPD heeft het brevet namens IVW ingenomen. Hij is zaterdagmiddag in vrijheid gesteld


De Lockheed T33, een oud militair lesvliegtuig, tegenwoordig in particulier eigendom, was onderweg van Denemarken (Bellund) naar Duitsland (Niederrhein). Het vliegtuig moest uitwijken naar het (inmiddels gesloten) vliegveld Twenthe vanwege een technische storing en verslechterende weersomstandigheden in Duitsland.

De piloot, een 67-jarige Engelsman en zijn Duitse leerling bleven ongedeerd. De piloot is zaterdag om 14.00 uur in vrijheid gesteld. De Ofiicier van Justitie heeft hem een boete van EUR 2000 opgelegd. De piloot had wel een vliegbrevet, maar geen bevoegdheid om te vliegen met dit type straaljager.

van het T-33 team gelezen....

I was part of the team which prepared the T-33 for the ferry flight from Denmark (Engineer). We followed the T-33 in a Piper Seneca with tools and parts.
The original plan was to fly the aircraft from Billund in Denmark (after we tested all systems the day before) to Nordholz German naval base near Cuxhafen for refuelling and from there to Niederrhein (Weeze) airport and fom there to HHN. The first leg worked well without any trouble.
Since the originally planned ferry pilot couldn´t come, a wellknown British test pilot with years of fast jet experience from the RAF and in the civilian world was hired (the new operator, who is a professional pilot with an ATPL as well and flies Boeings every day for his living, doesn´t have a type rating for the T-33 yet, so he was flying as student pilot).
The aircraft is American registered and from what I understand the Americans accept the British test pilot licence (which means that the pilot can fly ANY aircraft without needing special type ratings). Unfortunately the Dutch authorities did not share this interpretation, claiming that he would need a type rating. In any case, it was never planned to fly into the Netherlands
After T/O in Nordholz the aircraft generator tripped and could not be reset. By then Nordholz was closed (we were the last aircraft to leave the airbase before they closed for weekend).
At first this was not a problem, since we were flying VFR anyway (the weather was predicted to be ok for all the way to Weeze) and it was coordinated with Bremen FIR (the T-33 crew switched off radio intermittently to conserve energy fromn the batteries). Also, for a T-33 cruising at 220 kts, the distance from Nordholz to Weeze is only about 20 minutes.
Then the weather in Weeze turned temporarely IMC due to rainsqualls and since they could not afford to wait too long (they had more fuel than enough on board, but the batteries would not last that long), they decided to land on the longest available runway (the flaps on the T-33 work electrically). The fields on the German side of the border were all too bad weatherwise, so they decided to land in Twenthe, WHICH ACC. TO THE CURRENT MAPS AND AIP IS STILL OPEN. The crew also obeyed all procedures applicable to such a situation.
They circled the airfield, and saw people and aircraft there on the ground, but couldn´t contact the tower. Seeing the runway clear, they landed and got held by the Mareschall Chaussee. We tried to land there as well, but got told by Dutch MIL info that we had to divert to the nearest airfield in Germany (Nordholm) and then get to Twente by taxi.
The Dutch aviation police checked the aircraft and found it ok and even praised the decision to use Twenthe for a precautionary safety landing as good airmanship, but they took offense on the British test pilot not having a valid type rating for the T-33. On orders of their superior from Schipol they had to arrest him and bring him to AMS (as I said, the British and American interpretation is that a test pilot DOESN´T NEED A TYPE RATING, HE IS GOOD FOR ANY AIRCRAFT TYPE IN HIS TEST PILOT CLASS). The pilot is a flight instructor on fast jets in the UK and has flown and instructed on the T-33 before.
Now they have offered to release him on paying a fine of 2000 Euros or to face a judge on Monday, who would likely aquitt him, but going to court still is a gamble. From what I understand now the issue is that they didn´t have an entry permission into the Netherlands (since it was never planned to fly into the Netherlands, the operator never applied for one, the decision to land in Twente was solely made to avert a possible danger arising from the generator failure and the temporary IMC at the German airports).
I don´t know yet what he decided on.
The T-33 has not been confiscated. We will see that we can repair it in Twenthe ASAP and then ferry it out to HHN (obviously with the necessary paperwork.
It obviously means that we will have to bring some ground support equipment into Twente, like a GPU for starting the engine.
BTW, the Dutch police were very friendly and apparently not very happy to have to arrest the old pilot.