Morgan Freeman grounded.

naunga

naunga

New Member
From IMDB.com:

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Movie star Morgan Freeman's flying dreams have been dealt a severe blow - he has been grounded by America's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for breaking altitude rules. The Driving Miss Daisy star was reprimanded when he failed to observe landing regulations at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, and now he has no idea when he'll be able to take off again. The actor explains, "I'm being censored by the FAA and they're going to ground me. The hardest thing about flying is holding altitude. It's a three-dimensional effort. "I was grounded because I was flying into Teterboro and it was a very busy day. In every airport they have what you call an approach which is how you're going to get in with step downs - flying technique for lowering altitude. "But you don't go to these altitudes until you're told. So I'm going into Teterboro and I was at 3,000 feet coming down from an altitude of 21,000 feet. I'm looking at the approach plate, which reads what altitude your plane should be at, and it says I should be at 2,000 feet in the air. So I better get down there and I got down to 2,000 feet. "And the control tower said, 'What are you doing?' And I said, 'I'm following the approach.' They said, 'You weren't cleared for 2,000 feet, go back up.' If you change your altitude by five hundred feet the computer automatically catches it."

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First off we all know that holding an altitude can be difficult for a pilot. Straight and level sucks, but...and here's where I start going off:

Any idiot who knows that the airport they're flying into is busy and doesn't have their sh*t together before entering busy airspace is a tool.

Then Freeman is making himself sound like the victim. Please. You busted the airspace and you're the PIC. Deal with it, but no you're a big movie star and so you've gotta make it some political deal. Boo hoo, I was in controlled airspace and f'ed up, now the FAA won't let me fly. Hey, buddy, up there you're no better than the rest of us.

In my short flying career thus far I've made mistakes and I correct them. I fly very conservatively, and I work extremely hard to fly by the book as much as possible, and I expect nothing less of my fellow pilots. Which is why I get tweaked when someone screws up and then makes excuses, "Oh the airport is busy", "Oh I'm a big(?) movie star and rules don't apply to me", "My Dad was president, so I can fly into IMC without a IR and not die". , "I can't be expected to listen to EVERY radio call in the pattern, I'm just one person." That last one happened to me. I was in 123PF and the other guy was in 456PF, hearing that I had a similar call sign I didn't shorten mine and neither did ATC. We take off on parallel runways and ATC tells me to turn crosswind. Thankfully I'd seen the guy in the other plane before and knew he was a moron and I watch him turn right in front of me. Lucky for him the controller at BKL that day was the chick who don't take nothing from nobody. So she tore him up instead of me.

Anyhow. To Morgan Freeman I say, "F you man! I hope the FAA keeps your entitlement-minded arse on the ground permanently, because if you can't take responsibility for your own actions, you're a danger to the rest of us."

Okay, I'm done.

Naunga
 
I'm betting Miss Daisy was in back haranguing him about his altitude. And he was saying: "But Miss Daisy, the controller hasn't cleared me down there yet".

I'd like to know what kind of airplane. Usually the clebs have a rated safety pilot in the right seat. TEB is no place for a novice (if he is one, I didn't know he was a pilot).

Great actor though.

As for this: "F you man! I hope the FAA keeps your entitlement-minded arse on the ground permanently"

What's with the "entitlement-minded" crack? You got something against people owning airplanes, or just actors? Seemed like a relatively minor mistake and I didn't get any whining from Freeman.
 
So was this a press conference? Or was he being attacked by reporters and gave them some explination of what happened in a way they could understand? Contex means a lot here. YOUR assumptions that he has a hand out mentality might well be wrong, and he could have been being dogged by reporters and just said something that got quoted. Did you think of that?

Now think about this for a second; we're all going to bust a reg. in our fly careers. It's almost impossible not to. You don't know the situation, you were not there, and you have not heard the transcript of the incident. For all you know, he might have thought he heard "Cleared for the approach" (which I would assume would be happening soon if he were at 3,000) and looked down at his plate and thought "Oh, next step down fix is 2,000, I want to make that." Espically if he was on a non-percision approach. Maybe he was trying to capture the glideslope? The point is that you don't know, and you don't do anyone favors by playing monday morning quarterback and ripping apart another pilot when you don't know the whole situation.

Your assertions are spurious and without a soild foundation from what you have presented. If there is more that I have not seen of this, then I appologize; but with what you have presented here you seem to be doing nothing more than making assumptions about a sitaution that you could have easily been in yourself and easily at that. It's real easy to think you hear "cleared for the approach" and start down. I do it all the time.

BTW Do you have your instrument rating yet?
 
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I'm betting Miss Daisy was in back haranguing him about his altitude. And he was saying: "But Miss Daisy, the controller hasn't cleared me down there yet".


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Don't you sass me, Hoke. I don't want to stay at this altitude any longer. Now, start getting down this instant.
 
Did a little search.

Found that Freeman was in the Air Force at one point (not a pilot).

And that he owned(s) a Piper Arrow based in Mississippi.

I've never heard a bad word about this guy.
 
Okay here we go...

First off. I don't know the context of his comments. He could've been mobbed by reporters etc., but my contention isn't that he made a mistake, but rather he didn't simply admit to it.

It happens, to everyone. It's happened to me, but when I make a mistake I own up. "Yes, I made a mistake. I will accept the consequences for my actions like a responsible adult."

My beef is with these two quotes, "I was grounded because I was flying into Teterboro and it was a very busy day."

No you're being grounded, because for whatever reason you violated a clearance. Again, I know mistakes happen. I just expect people to take responsibility for them, OR at the very least, knowing about the world we live in, say something like I'm not commenting until the lawyers get things hashed out.

The second quote is this, "I'm being censored by the FAA and they're going to ground me."

Maybe it was simply a poor choice of words, but again nowhere does he say, "I simply made a mistake". His comments make him come off that he's not responsible for what happened and that his grounding is unfair and/or unjustified.

He sounds like the little kid who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and then says, "well the cookie jar is to blame, not me".

And no, I don't have an IR yet. I know that flying VFR is busy airspace is hairy enough, but when I bust a reg and end up on the 6 o'clock news you'll hear the following from me: "I made a mistake".

End of story.

Naunga
 
It doesn't seem to me that he thinks he should get celebritiy-entitlement. With some minor differences Freeman's defense sounded like what a lot of other pilots would have made. The only harsh thing that I hope happens to him is his instrument instructor calls him up and b*tches him out for his error.
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. . .but when I bust a reg and end up on the 6 o'clock news you'll hear the following from me: "I made a mistake".


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Not me. The FAA has to prove that I messed up before I admit to anything....
 
So long as he doesn't pull out the race card against the FAA. for his grounding.
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If those were in fact his words and he gets proven otherwise (radar data, etc), then there'd be no loss in fessing up. 709 ride maybe (or maybe not), and he's back in the game, like everyone else that's ever endured a suspension.
 
should be out of Oxford, MS thats where he lives. I went to Ole Miss last year and we saw him a lot.
 
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First off. I don't know the context of his comments. He could've been mobbed by reporters etc., but my contention isn't that he made a mistake, but rather he didn't simply admit to it.

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My contention is you are relying way to much on the accuracy of a news account.

Here's hoping you never make the news, but if you do I hope the aviation public won't be dumb enough to rely on one news article to completely condemn you, as you did Freeman. (As in: "F you man! I hope the FAA keeps your entitlement-minded arse on the ground permanently"). Man you really seem to have some issues there.

BTW, I'm sure Freeman said the FAA was going to "censure" him, not censor. That's a completely accurate statement which does not presume any blame shifting on his part. And it shows how smart the reporter was.
 
The last time he flew into our airport, he had a Piper Seneca V. A close relative lives in our area and he visits quite often.

FYI:

With full-power takeoff and climb every time, Seneca V gives you up to nearly 20,000 feet in standard conditions. With a 25,000-foot service ceiling and optional built-in oxygen system, you can cruise above the weather with ease.

Maximum cruise power gives you 182 knots at 10,000 feet and well over 200 knots at 25,000 feet with an even, smooth, soundproofed ride.
 
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My contention is you are relying way to much on the accuracy of a news account.

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I concede that point.

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Here's hoping you never make the news

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Thanks. The same to you. Nobody ever (well most people) wants to be on the news, because the news rarely report good things.

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Man you really seem to have some issues there.

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I really don't. I am just really tired of celebs thinking that the world must cowtoe to their whims. I got a belly full of celebs during the election telling people what's right and what isn't according to them. The same goes with politicians, but at least for the most part politians have more education than acting school.

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BTW, I'm sure Freeman said the FAA was going to "censure" him, not censor.

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Well, all I can do is go by what was quoted in the story, and that was "censor". I agree that if the word was "censure" it completely changes the tone of his comments.

Don't get me wrong I'm not hatin' on the guy for messing up or even on him personally. I've never met him so I can't comment on his character. Stuff happens, and if he was misquoted, etc. then fine, but my knee jerk reaction to stories like this is that celebs typically don't want to take responsibility for their actions. OJ Simpson (come on, who out there really thinks he was innocent), Michael Jackson, Robert Blake, etc.

Alright...I'm off my soapbox...until someone else pisses me off
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(I must be channeling Eagle today).

Naunga
 
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OJ Simpson (come on, who out there really thinks he was innocent)


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Well, he was found 'Not guilty' by a jury of his peers....
 
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It doesn't seem to me that he thinks he should get celebritiy-entitlement.

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That comment wasn't really directed toward him, but rather celebs in general who pull this crap.

Like I said elswhere a lot of celebs seem to think that they don't need to participate in society.

Dumbasses like Alec Baldwin who say things like, I'm leaving if Bush is re-elected, or Ron Artest who thinks that being suspended is a crock since all he did was beat the crap out of some (former) fan.

I'm not saying that Freeman is like that, but you can't always tell when these celebs are involved.

I certainly don't want anyone to be grounded for no good reason. So I hope that if he really is typically a safe pilot he is back in the air ASAP.

Naunga
 
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