Inebriated Joyride Lands Student Pilot Behind Bars

Authorities in Harrison, NY, early Wednesday arrested a 20-year old student pilot they accuse of flying two friends on a drunken joyride in a stolen Cessna 172.

But they say he made a pretty good landing.

Phillipe Patricio, of Bethel, CT, is accused of flying with a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 -- twice the legal limit for driving a car. Neither of the two 16-year old passengers in the aircraft at the time of Patricio's arrest were charged.

When the 172, which had taken off from Danbury, CT, at about 0130 Wednesday morning, landed on a taxiway at Westchester County Executive Airport in New York, it was met by an airport security officer. That was at 0415, according to Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano. When the security officer opened the door of the aircraft, "a significant number of beer cans" fell onto the ground, he said. Spano was quoted by the Associated Press.

The aircraft was nearly out of fuel at the time it landed, said Westchester County Police Commissioner Thomas Belfiore. That the pilot was able to safely land the 172 on an unlit taxiway in the dead of night while drunk was, he said, impressive.

"There has been some internal talk about that accomplishment," Belfiore told the AP.

Spano furiously accused officials at Danbury Municipal Airport, some 30-miles away, of failing to maintain proper security in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.

"We can only make ourselves safe here," Spano said. "It still leaves us vulnerable to what happened."

But Danbury Municipal's administrator, Paul Estafon, rejected the criticism. He said his airport is completely surrounded by a fence and is patrolled by police.

New York has no laws specifically prohibiting flying while drunk. Instead, Patricio was charged with DWI -- driving the aircraft along the taxiway while drunk, authorities said.

The FAA is investigating the incident. The preliminary incident report said Patricio flew through Class C Airspace without a clearance. The owner of the aircraft was identified Arrow Aviation of Danbury, CT. The man who answered the phone there said the company had no comment on the incident.

FAA Preliminary Incident Report

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 1727V        Make/Model: C172      Description: 172, P172, R172, Skyhawk, Hawk XP, Cutla
  Date: 06/22/2005     Time: 0415

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: None

LOCATION
  City: WESTCHESTER   State: NY   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT ENTERED CLASS C AIRSPACE, LANDED WITHOUT CLEARANCE, AND WAS OPERATED
  BY A NON-PILOT, WESTCHESTER, NY

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   0   Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:    0   Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA

  Departed: DANBURY, CT                 Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing: 
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

FAA FSDO: GARDEN CITY, NY  (EA15)               Entry date: 06/23/2005

FMI: www.faa.gov