Court Opinion

ID: 9464615
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:38:21.177171+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:43.903080
License: Public Domain

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge,
concurring;
If Cobb and O’Connor had frightened a group of families on a picnic by an exhibition of speed and by driving recklessly close to them in automobiles, a state court most probably would have suspended their drivers’ licenses for a year and in addition imposed a heavy monetary fine, or perhaps a jail term. But Cobb and O’Connor chose airplanes for their reckless conduct and consequently had their licenses suspended for 180 days by the National Transportation Safety Board. They argue that this disciplinary penalty amounts to an abuse of the Board’s discretion. That argument is frivolous and presumptuous.
This is not the first time I have been puzzled by the lenient suspension the Board imposes on pilots who willfully endanger the lives and safety of the public, and who frighten others for their own amusement. The only potential abuse of discretion I can detect in these cases is that the Board is too protective of the pilots it regulates. I would have thought that a one-year suspension would be the minimum penalty the Board would consider for the conduct that occurred here, and further that the Board would have referred the matter to the appropriate authorities for criminal prosecution. See, e. g., Cal.Pub.Util.Code § 21407 (West 1965).