Pilot fined for low pass over farmhouse

A microlight owner has been fined $8000 for a range of flying offences, including swooping his machine low over a Port Waikato farmhouse last year.

Peter John Barry, from Tuakau appeared in the Manukau District Court yesterday where he was also ordered to pay $130 in court costs and $900 in solicitor costs.

He had earlier been found guilty of operating his microlight aircraft in a manner likely to cause danger, operating below minimum height requirements, flying without a microlight pilot certificate, failing to make accurate log book entries, and operating the aircraft when it did not have a flight permit.

He was charged after he was seen flying microlight only 12 metres above a Port Waikato farmhouse in August last year.

The Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement today the court had signalled to microlight pilots how seriously it viewed the offending.

- NZPA