Pilot Did the Right Stuff in the Wrong Place, Prosecutors Say
A Temple City man was facing two misdemeanor charges of unsafe flying and possible loss of his pilot’s license Thursday for doing what his Citabria airplane was designed to do.
The Citabria (Airbatic, spelled backward) is intended for aerial acrobatics, and that is just what the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said Michael Newman, 23, did for two hours with the craft he rented at Van Nuys Airport on May 16.
Unfortunately, prosecutors said, he did quite a bit of it above commencement exercises at California State University, Northridge--at altitudes of 100 feet.
Newman, who told campus police he did not know why he did it, is to be arraigned in San Fernando Municipal Court.
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