At a special sitting of Athlone District Court yesterday, Offaly business man Sean O'Brien was found guilty on all ten counts of a case brought against him by the Irish Aviation Authority. On July 7 2007, Mr O'Brien had landed a helicopter on the roof of the Texas shopping centre in Athlone in order to get a spare set of keys cut for the US registered helicopter. The charges brought against him included landing the aircraft without the consent of the owner on an elevated site which was not licensed by the IAA. He was also charged that he had operated the helicopter in a 'negligent or reckless manner so as to endanger life or property'. The case was brought by the IAA after a complaint was lodged by the car park operator Park Rite when one of their attendants had his hand injured when two doors to the car park opened in the down draught. In evidence Captain John Steele of the IAA said that the helicopter concerned was not permitted to land on elevated sites above a height of 10m due to the power of the downdraught which would have been strong enough to lift the attendant over the 1.5m high safety barrier on the edge of the roof.
Judge Anderson who heard the court said that he would convict O'Brien on all counts and ordered him to enter a bail bond of €200 on condition that he operates no machine capable of flying during the 12 month currency of the bond.
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