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A French paraglider pilot has been fined $1500 for flying low past a train near Queenstown earlier this month.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched an investigation after media reports that two French tourists stunned passengers when they flew past the Kingston Flyer train in motorised paragliders on January 9.
CAA said today it had issued one of the pilots with two infringement notices totalling $1500.
The first notice and $500 fine relates to a breach of minimum height rules. The other relates to the requirement to hold a New Zealand pilot certificate and attracts a $1000 fine.
The second paraglider pilot involved in the incident was understood to have left New Zealand and efforts were being made to find him to discuss the matter.
Civil Aviation director Steve Douglas said all paraglider pilots, including those visiting from overseas, must be members of the New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, hold a New Zealand pilot certificate, and abide by the civil aviation rules.
In a separate paragliding incident, CAA is investigating German tourist Gerry Mayr who flew a powered paraglider over Aoraki Mount Cook on January 16.
This was a less formal investigation than the enforcement action taken against the French pilots, CAA spokeswoman Emma Peel said last week.
No formal complaints were laid against any of the paragliders but the CAA initiated investigations after seeing media reports.
Ms Peel said the CAA was seeing "more and more" cases of dangerous paragliding.
"Hundreds of people are flying everyday and safely. As the population grows people who are not part of the aviation community are able to access crafts without the background information."
- NZPA
