No good stunt goes unpunished!
Landing in the shallow surf on a city beach could land goofball pilot Jason Maloney in hot water with the Queens DA, whose office has launched a criminal probe into the loopy pilot’s antics, a law-enforcement source said.
Maloney, 24, of upstate Cornwall, could be charged after the criminal investigation with reckless endangerment or violating city codes for landing his single-engine Piper Warrior on a Rockaways beach Monday, said the source.
“The Federal Aviation Administration has the lead in this investigation, and at this point we will wait to see what the results are,” said a source when asked if the Queens DA was close to an arrest.
Also, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., the chair of the Public Safety Committee, called for the FAA to yank the joy-riding pilot’s license.
“I ask that this incident is fully investigated. Mr. Maloney must face the strictest punishment. A pilot who abuses the privilege of flying, at a minimum, should have his licenses revoked,” Vallone wrote to the federal agency yesterday.
Maloney rented his wings from East Coast Aero Club, a company based in Bedford, Mass. It’s unclear whether the plane will fly again, said Mark Holzwarth, East Coast Aero’s owner.
Holzwarth said he’d left the plane at Stewart Airport in Newburgh for charity work.
It was there “so we could teach some New York City kids how to fly. And this is what I get,” he lamented.
He wouldn’t say if Maloney was involved in the charity work.
Maloney, a student at Georgetown medical school in Washington, was back home yesterday, after spending much of Wednesday in a hospital in Newburgh.
During the flight, Maloney made some dopey-sounding radio calls to a JFK air controller.
He never declared an emergency but set down on the beach after claiming one of his two passengers was sick.