Not Ticking People Off with our paramotoring takes on a new Twist. Thanks to Ken Morrison

I’ve had a guy walk out of his house with a shotgun once. He leaned against an out building and just stood there watching me fly (legally and with permission) from an adjoining field owned by his neighbor (my friend). He never pointed the gun at me and, believe me, If he had, I would have called the police.

None of that matters if you wear the bullets to your funeral.

Some Florida Flyers have recounted stories of 1) having a really mad neighbor who they tried to avoid and 2) finding bullet holes in at least one of their wings. So there are real risks to bear. And yes, I know that shotguns don’t go that far but I’m not willing to play the range game. If it’s got a barrel and bullets it can easily inflict fatalities.

So I wasn’t terribly surprised by what Ken sent me except for the sheer number of hits. This person played the target lobby a lot of times.

Although this law says aircraft, there may be some recourse for ultralighters.

Crimes and Criminal Procedure – 18 USC Section 32
Sec. 32. Destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities

(a) Whoever willfully –

(1) sets fire to, damages, destroys, disables, or wrecks any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States or any civil aircraft used, operated, or employed in
interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce;

(2) places or causes to be placed a destructive device or substance in, upon, or in proximity to, or otherwise makes or causes to be made unworkable or unusable or hazardous to work or use, any such aircraft, or any part or other materials used or intended to be used in connection with the operation of such aircraft, if such placing or causing to be placed or such making or causing to be made is likely to endanger the safety of any such aircraft;

(3) sets fire to, damages, destroys, or disables any air navigation facility, or interferes by force or violence with the operation of such facility, if such fire, damaging, destroying, disabling, or interfering is likely to endanger the safety of any such aircraft in flight;

(4) with the intent to damage, destroy, or disable any such aircraft, sets fire to, damages, destroys, or disables or places a destructive device or substance in, upon, or in proximity to, any appliance or structure, ramp, landing area, property, machine, or apparatus, or any facility or other material used, or intended to be used, in connection with the operation, maintenance, loading, unloading or storage of any such aircraft or any cargo carried or intended to be carried on any such aircraft;

(5) performs an act of violence against or incapacitates any individual on any such aircraft, if such act of violence or incapacitation is likely to endanger the safety of such aircraft;

(6) communicates information, knowing the information to be false and under circumstances in which such information may reasonably be believed, thereby endangering the safety of any such aircraft in flight; or

(7) attempts or conspires to do anything prohibited under paragraphs (1) through (6) of this subsection; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty
years or both.

(b) Whoever willfully –

(1) performs an act of violence against any individual on board any civil aircraft registered in a country other than the United States while such aircraft is in flight, if such act is likely to endanger the safety of that aircraft;

(2) destroys a civil aircraft registered in a country other than the United States while such aircraft is in service or causes damage to such an aircraft which renders that aircraft incapable of flight or which is likely to endanger that aircraft’s safety in flight;

(3) places or causes to be placed on a civil aircraft registered in a country other than the United States while such aircraft is in service, a device or substance which is likely to destroy that aircraft, or to cause damage to that aircraft which renders that aircraft incapable of flight or which is likely to endanger that aircraft’s safety in flight; or

(4) attempts or conspires to commit an offense described in paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subsection; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. There is jurisdiction over an offense under this subsection if a national of the United States was on board, or would have been on board, the aircraft; an offender is a national of the United States; or an offender is afterwards found in the United States. For purposes of this subsection, the term “national of the United States” has the meaning prescribed in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

(c) Whoever willfully imparts or conveys any threat to do an act which would violate any of paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (a) or any of paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (b) of this section, with an apparent determination and will to carry the threat into execution shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1984 AMENDMENT 
Amendment by Pub. L. 98-473 effective Oct. 12, 1984, see section 2015 of Pub. L. 98-473, set out as a note under section 31 of this title.