Cites Incident At Teterboro, Says He's In Dutch With FAA

ANN Note: The following story has been reported in recent general media coverage... though some of the details seem to have been mashed up in translation. The quotes are particularly intriguing... as we doubt that most licensed pilots would put any such matter quite as has been reported. The quotes sure seem to have been edited/assembled rather disjointedly by someone who is not that familiar with aviation--especially for what we're told by some sources is a routine altitude bust. The FAA confirms the bust but hasn't given us details, but we're working it and will follow up, as appropriate.

F rom World Entertainment News Network...

Movie star Morgan Freeman's flying dreams have been dealt a severe blow - he has been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for breaking altitude rules.

The "Driving Miss Daisy" star said he 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."

(This article appears by arrangement between Aero-News Network and World Entertainment News Network)

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