By Courtney Dentch
Two Florida pilots who alarmed holiday swimmers when they flew dangerously low over Rockaway Beach July 4 pleaded guilty last week and were fined $500 each, the Queens district attorney said.
Andre Paul Ackbar Morais, 28, and Daniel Oliveria, 31, who flew small aircraft that dragged advertising banners across the sky, entered guilty pleas Sept. 4 to misdemeanor charges of reckless aircraft operation in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens, said DA Richard Brown. The pair made their pleas before Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt, who sentenced them to a year of probation and a $500 fine each.
“The defendants have admitted their guilt and acknowledged that they flew dangerously low and close over Riis Park in a way that endangered lives or property,” Brown said.
Morais and Oliveria were employed by the Florida-based Aerial Sign Co., and were returning to the Monmouth Executive Airport in New Jersey after a day of flying over the Cape Cod beaches when they buzzed Rockaway Beach at about 6:30 p.m. July 4, Brown said. The defendants, flying in separate fixed-wing aircraft, flew as low as 25 feet over a swimming area at Riis Park, Brown said.
The two were chased by police helicopters and Air Force jets that feared the men might pose a terrorist threat on the holiday weekend as they flew extremely close to the Queens coastline.
During the chase, Morais’s plane nearly collided with a police helicopter.
The men were originally arrested that day when they landed at the Monmouth Executive Airport in New Jersey by federal authorities and were released after six hours of questions revealed that they were not terrorists.
Morais, of Tamarac, Fla., and Oliveria, of Hollyhill, Fla., were rearrested in new Jersey the next day when Queens authorities issued warrants for the pair.
They were originally charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and violating air traffic rules, felonies that could have brought sentences of up to seven years in prison if convicted.
The Federal Aviation Administration revoked commercial pilots’ certificates for Morais and Oliveria, and the two could face additional administrative action from the agency, Brown said.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
