BUSINESS LAW 101 / Aircraft Crimes

By Albert L. Kelley, Esq.

Last week I wrote about trains. This week we take to the skies and discuss aircraft crimes. 

Imagine siting in your backyard and hearing a crash.  You run through your house and see a plane crashed in your front yard. That happened to a couple in South Bend, Indiana in December.  Now crashing an airplane is not necessarily a crime.  What made it a crime was that the pilot appeared to be intoxicated.  Even though the skies are not as crowded as our highways, it is still illegal to pilot an aircraft while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  It does not matter if the aircraft is flying, on the ground or on the water. Similar to operating a car while under the influence, the violation is in the control of the plane.  The difference is that a first DUI in a car is deemed a misdemeanor, a first DUI in an aircraft is a third-degree felony.

Now, let switch to one of the top movies of all time: Top Gun. If you seen the movie, you know that one of Maverick’s favorite activities is to buzz the tower of the airports.  In the movie this seems like harmless fun.  In the real world, if this was a civilian buzzing the tower, or a town, or anything else, they would be risking arrest.  Under Florida law, operating an aircraft in the air or on the ground or water in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another is a third-degree felony.  To determine if the pilot acted recklessly or carelessly, the court is to look at the standards for safe operation of aircraft as prescribed by federal statutes or regulations governing aeronautics.

If a pilot is convicted of ither of the above actions, the court is to notify the FAA, so they can determine if the pilot’s license should be revoked.

Lastly, we take on piracy. Piracy began as a maritime law, affecting ships on the high seas.  Piracy laws are based on the United States Constitution. Article I, Section 8, clause 10 gives Congress the power to “define and punish piracy and felonies on the high seas and offenses against the law of nations”.  In 1790, Congress passed a law stating that if an action that would be punishable by death if occurring on land, would be deemed piracy if it occurred on the open sea. Until 1897, the punishment for piracy was death. After 1897, it became life imprisonment at hard labor. This was changed in 1909 to just life imprisonment. Piracy is deemed a universal crime, meaning any country that can capture a pirate, may prosecute them.  No country is to grant them a safe haven. In 1961, Congress adopted an amendment to the Federal Aviation Act to create the crime of ‘aircraft piracy’.  This crime was defined as “to exercise control, by threat of force with wrongful intent, of ‘an aircraft in flight in air commerce”.  In 1994, Congress passed 49 U.S. Code § 46502 which made it a crime to seize or exercising control of an aircraft by force, violence, threat of force or violence, or any form of intimidation, and with wrongful intent. The attempt to commit air piracy did not require the plane to be in flight.  It was punishable by no less than 20 years in prison, and if someone died during the attempt, it was punishable by death or life imprisonment. 

In Florida, the legislature enacted a similar law to apply within the state.  They stated that anyone who seizes or exercises control, by force or violence and with wrongful intent, of any aircraft containing a nonconsenting person or persons within this state would be guilty of the crime of aircraft piracy, deemed a felony of the first degree.

Al Kelley has worked as an attorney in Monroe County for the last 32 years. He is the author of five law books available through Absolutely Amazing E-Books and the host of “Basics Of The Law”, a legal YouTube channel. He serves as the Vice Chair of the 16th Judicial Circuit Professionalism Panel.  He also previously taught business law, personnel law, and labor law at St. Leo University. This article is offered as a public service and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about legal issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida attorney.

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