Security News > 2020 > January > Whirlybird-driving infosec boss fined after ranty Blackpool Airport antics
The managing director of a Manchester-based infosec firm has been fined for flying his helicopter into an air traffic control zone without permission - having first launched a rant at tower controllers.
Joel Tobias, a helicopter owner and pilot who was described by the Manchester Evening News as a "Wealthy businessman", was fined £1,600 plus £870 in legal costs after his on-frequency rant at air traffic controller Andrea Tolley.
Tobias, who owns his own Eurocopter EC-120 registered G-HVRZ, was flying his family between Lytham St Annes and Blackpool when he radioed Blackpool on 31 July last year for permission to enter its air traffic zone.
British aviation law says pilots of aeroplanes entering ATZs need to radio air traffic control before doing so.
CAA prosecutor Alison Slater told the court that Tobias "Gave Miss Tolley no time to ask him to pass his message, as radio protocol requires," and that he "Did not give his location, altitude, destination or request permission to enter the aerodrome traffic zone."