Man Faces Trial in Model Plane’s Crash With Blimp
A Redondo Beach man accused of ramming his model airplane into an airborne Goodyear blimp was ordered Thursday to stand trial on felony charges of assault, vandalism and tampering with an aircraft.
The collision tore a foot-square gash in the blimp’s side, but the pilot landed safely.
Following a preliminary hearing in Compton Municipal Court, Judge Morris B. Jones ordered John Moyer, 28, to stand trial on charges that carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
William MacCabe, Moyer’s attorney, presented no defense during the hearing, but said afterward that his client never saw what happened to destroy his model airplane on Sept. 30.
“All my client knows is that he was flying his plane, he lost sight of it, the blimp came flying around and then somebody told him his plane had gone down,” he said.
Blimp pilot L.J. (Nick) Nicolary testified that he and his six passengers felt the craft shudder as they approached the blimp’s Carson landing base, but never saw what hit it.
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