Let's hope they catch this idiot and jail him for the maximum term (which is not long enough in my opinion).
No excuses - a totally stupid and foolhardy act and follows on from several other incidents in Perth of people shining lasers into pilots' eyes and one clown sending out false messages from a transmitter. The latter was caught in the act in a shopping centre carpark but true to form received a very light (non custodial ?) sentence and/or a reprimand.
The latest incident is another good reason why airport operators should "embrace" the real spotting community because many of us do find out of the way places near airports for spotting/photography and on occasions see things that should not be happening.
For instance, about five years ago in Perth when we had access to the old "mound" on the approach to runway 03, several friends and I noticed a 4WD parked behind bushes and the driver obviously did not want his car to be seen.
He was viewing through the fence and when we asked where he came in, he replied through a broken fence near a major road on the other side of the airport. We were angry at his actions as we had walked over 800 metres to this popular viewing spot so we pointed out the stupidity of his actions, as it was a blazing hot January day and his hot exhaust pipe could have ignited the tinder dry undergrowth. This guy wasn't perturbed so we discreetly called the security people and they had a car on the spot within 5 minutes.
Our "friend" didn't get the connection at first but when security warned him and then asked him to leave, he gave us a real verbal spray. But his actions were totally irresponsible.
Had my spotting mates and I not been there, security would have been unaware of the guy's presence and who knows what may have happened.
That is just one incident of several that Perth spotters have witnessed over the years.
|