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RAF pilot who 'buzzed' Open golf crowd at Carnoustie fined £1,500 by court martial



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AN RAF pilot has been fined £1,500 for swooping over a golf course where the 2007 Open was being played.
Flight lieutenant Marc Rodriguez, 29, based at RAF Cranwell, in Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to flying below 1,000 feet over the Carnoustie course in Angus on 20 July.

A court martial heard that within minutes of take-off from RAF Leuchars, Rodri
guez, a flying instructor, turned to a student and said: "Let's go and have a look at the golf."

He then took command a 150mph twin-seat Grob Tutor aircraft and headed towards Carnoustie, flying as low as 400 feet over the crowded course.

Rodriguez then flew low over the tenth hole and the 18th before regaining height and flying back out towards the North Sea and his original flight path.

However, a spy satellite was tracking the flight and recorded all his movements. "He even dipped the right wing of the aircraft so he could have a better view," Jim Morris, Squadron Leader, prosecuting, told the hearing.

The court martial heard Rodriguez had flown more than 1,600 hours in the aircraft, often on dangerous missions over Iraq.

Last night his legal team were considering an appeal against the severity of the sentence.





The full article contains 221 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 15 April 2008 11:47 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: British armed forces
 
1

Matt there,

somewhere 16/04/2008 00:52:16
Better to have court-martialled the idiots who sent our service personnel to Iraq and Afghanistan without proper equipment. Oh, silly me! Government ministers are above such considerations!
2

why can't I use my own name???,

musselburgh 16/04/2008 08:12:33
Court Martialled for buzzing the old fuds at Carnoustie?? Shows what golf club connections can wrangle, eh?

I agree with post #1. It's all about money, the way Britain is run. ANYBODY within Defence Procurement needs a severe, public dressing-down for what they've done.
3

McMillar,

Fife 16/04/2008 09:03:35
Good man! sounds like a laugh....tiger spotting.
4

Euan,

Edinburgh 16/04/2008 09:32:44
Ok, he deliberately strayed off-course to go and watch the Golf, but it was hardly a Tornado jet he was flying, it was a 150mph Grob Tutor aircraft!

It's not as if he was bombing across Carnoustie with full afterburner on was it?!!

Tom Cruise would be very disappointed with this poor effort!
5

donald,

glasgow 16/04/2008 09:57:01
Whit aboot the rest, buzzing oor coos?
6

Mad,

Here, when not over there! 16/04/2008 10:09:25
What poor reporting!

"...a spy satellite was tracking the flight and recorded all his movements" - I think you will find that it was a simple data dump of his GPS, better known to this low-grade reporter as sat-nav a little bit like the sort many people have in their cars!!

"The court martial heard Rodriguez had flown more than 1,600 hours in the aircraft, often on dangerous missions over Iraq." Having flown out there myself I would give the guy a chest full of medals if he had been flying dangerous missions in a Grob!!

If you are going to publish a news article then at least get someone that knows what they are writing about. Laughable!!

MM
7

Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 16/04/2008 10:58:39
He should have done it in a jet fighter at supersonic speed!

That would have been a PROPER buzz!
8

Mad Jock,

East Lothian 16/04/2008 11:19:00
1000ft? That's not really low flying now, is it? My father flew his Mk1a Mustang between the chimneys of the Royal Infirmary in 1944, and it was my mother, a radiographer nurse at the time, who got the bollocking, for her "wayward" boyfriend. So, even without a "data dump", they knew who the guilty party was, but my father was never reprimanded. Of course, his job was low level tactical armed photoreconnaisance, so he had to practice at all times!
9

Loki - The Scourge of the Schemies,

EH1 16/04/2008 12:02:15
Why the fuss? Surely the sight of a low-flying aircraft was far more entertaining than watching grown men in lemon-check Crimplene trousers and natty mittens whacking a small ball with a stick?
10

JPF,

16/04/2008 13:31:27
My cousin 'buzzed' an enemy ship off South Georgia in 1982 - he was trying to get close enough (in an unarmed spotter aircraft) to see the weaponry on board, and they blew his plane out of the sky. I believe your Prime Minister at the time was Margaret Thatcher.

Juan Pablo Fernandes.
11

Maurice,

Fife 16/04/2008 18:19:16
I wonder what would be said if it was Prince Harry?
12

gentleman2012,

Uxbridge 21/04/2008 15:41:49
Marc was a VC10 tanker pilot, on which he spent many hours refuelling over Iraq. This was a relatively minor indiscretion, captured on TV (rather than by satellite) and an example clearly "had" to be made. Who knows how much this court-martial must have cost, at a time when the RAF, like all the armed forces, are hurting for funds?
13

gentleman2012,

Uxbridge 21/04/2008 15:52:26
Re JPF's post. I'm sorry about your cousin but in 1982 buzzing a warship near South Georgia (a Royal Navy ship in a declared war zone?) was not a clever idea especially if he was flying, I suspect, an Argentinian aircraft. Regardless of who was our Prime Minister, the real criminals on the day were the politicians and generals who sent your cousin on such a dangerous mission.

 

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