FAA revokes license of Blaine pilot

PRESQUE ISLE – The Federal Aviation Administration has revoked the license of a Blaine pilot who last November set an unofficial world record for the most consecutive takeoffs and landings in a 24-hour period.

In a letter dated Feb. 25, the FAA ordered Walter A. Mosher III, 30, immediately to surrender his commercial pilot’s license for what the agency termed Mosher’s “lack … of care, judgement and responsibility required of the holder of a commercial pilot certificate.”

Mosher will have a hearing this month in Bangor and expects to hear sometime today when that will be held.

“I have no idea what to expect,” he said Monday during an interview.

Last Nov. 23, Mosher set an unofficial world record for the most takeoffs and landings when he made 308 such flights with a Cessna 150 at the Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle.

The old record was 297 set in October 1999 in Australia.

Mosher has yet to get official confirmation of the record from the Guinness Book of Records. Regardless of what happens with the FAA, he said, the record would stand.

The FAA alleges that while making the record-setting flights, Mosher violated several aviation rules when he:

. Flew when weather conditions were less than the minimum requirements of 1,000-foot ceiling (cloud cover) and three statute miles visibility.

. Flew too low so that, had there been an emergency, he would have been unable to make an emergency landing.

. Flew too low over people and vehicles on the ground and a nearby residential area.

. Made illegal right-hand turns during some of his flights.

. Illegally attached a flare to the tail of his plane.

The FAA claims that the day before his flight, Mosher was advised by an FAA-designated pilot examiner/accident-prevention counselor that Mosher would need to meet the minimum weather visibility requirements during his flights.

In addition, the FAA has claimed that Mosher flew when other aircraft, flying under instruments flight rules, or IFR, were taking off and landing from a nearby runway.

In his letter of appeal dated Feb. 28 to the FAA and the National Transportation Board, Mosher noted that “various facts are missing from the itemized list of alleged federal aviation regulations deviations.”

Mosher, who has been a pilot for more than six years, said in his letter, and repeated Monday, that his plane was always on the ground when other aircraft were taking off or landing on a nearby runway. He said he was never flying when approaching aircraft were at least 20 miles away.

He also said the airport manager filed a notice to airmen, or NOTAM, into the FAA system advising all pilots using the airport that there was special visual-flight-rules traffic using the airport all day on Nov. 23.

In addition, Mosher disputes the FAA claim that he was given advance advice on weather information and said that at no time did a pilot examiner approach him.

“I am not a reckless pilot,” Mosher wrote. “Nothing I do is done without regard for safety.”

He noted that he sits on several boards dealing with safety, does search-and-rescue flights and gives rides to young people to encourage them to become pilots someday.

“It was my understanding that I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” he said Monday.