Nowhere to land for pilot
The Hualapai Nation tribal police cite a pilot for flying his ultralight plane over tribal lands.
By CYNDY COLE Sun Staff Reporter Thursday, January 22, 2009
After flying over the western Grand Canyon a few weeks ago, pilot Lionel De Antoni landed to find his motorhome had been towed and tribal police were waiting for him.
He was cited by Hualapai Nation police for trespassing via ultralight plane and not buying certain permits to fly over the tribe’s land. In addition to building a walkway over the Grand Canyon in 2007 and conducting boat tours on the Colorado River, it now appears the tribe is asserting rights to the airspace over its million-acre reservation, in line with a constitution in place since 1991.
Other pilots who frequent routes over the Grand Canyon report no such fees, but have heard some tribal requests to avoid flying over certain cultural areas.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the tribe is overstepping its jurisdiction in fining the pilot as much as $25,000 for violating its airspace.
“A tribe has no authority over airspace and cannot charge people for using it,” said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. “The federal government has sole jurisdiction over the nation’s airspace.
De Antoni said he became homeless for simply flying.
“Never I set foot on the Indian land. Never,” said De Antoni, whose native language is French.
For recreation, De Antoni flies a tiny ultralight plane, in which he uses his feet as landing gear and is the only passenger. Parts of the plane are small enough to carry in a backpack.
For work, he conducts tours about the Grand Canyon by bus, mostly along the South Rim, for European tourists.
After having his motorhome towed from nontribal federal land, he spent three weeks in a motel room without a vehicle or home. Now he’s looking for an attorney.
“I feel bitter about the whole situation,” he said.
Following a court appearance before a tribal judge in Peach Springs on Tuesday, De Antoni got his motorhome out of impoundment, while the lawnmower-sized engine of his plane and his camera are still being held as evidence, he said.
“They even said I took photos for a German magazine,” he said. “I don’t know where they got that.”
As of Wednesday, neither the police chief nor the prosecutor in the case would spell out the tribe’s rules on flying over Hualapai land, except to say De Antoni was being prosecuted on trespassing charges and for failing to have the proper permits.
The prosecutor said it was a tribal matter and ongoing case, so she would not comment on the facts.
Ron Graham
This guy is lucky he didn’t get shot down!
Most reservations are large and remote enough that trespassers not wanted on/over them could easily be made to vanish, never to be seen again.