Pilot says next time he'll drive to the match

LINCOLNSHIRE, ILLINOIS -- Next time, a Lake Villa pilot will use his car, not his airplane, to get his son to a tennis match on time.

In an interview Tuesday morning, Robert Kadera told WGN radio host Spike O'Dell that he should have gotten permission from the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort to land on the golf course there.

Kadera, who did not return calls from the Daily Herald, also said he thinks he might be arrested for an incident Saturday afternoon when he landed his Piper PA-16 Clipper on the course.

"I guess it was on fairway No. 7 is what they tell me," he said.

Lincolnshire police were getting 911 calls as Kadera made several landing attempts. Police arrived at about 1:50 p.m. to find Kadera and his 14-year-old standing by the plane, which was about 20 feet south of a retaining wall on Route 22.

"The boy was standing there with a bag of tennis balls and his shoes," Lincolnshire Police Chief Randy Melvin said Tuesday morning.

Kadera said the plane was near his Lake Villa home, parked on Deep Lake, which is frozen.

"He was late for his tennis tune-up," Kadera told O'Dell. "Traffic on Saturday is really bad."

The plan was to land on the golf course, then cross Route 22 to the Lincolnshire Club, police said.

"The golf course had plenty of room to land right across the street from the tennis courts so we thought it would work for us," he told O'Dell.

Kadera said not getting permission to land on the course was a mistake. He said he "might get arrested" and said charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct were possible.

Melvin said the department is completing a report and expected to forward it Wednesday to the Lake County state's attorney's office for review.

"The state's attorney may just tell us instead of state charges go ahead with local ordinances," Melvin said.

The Federal Aviation Administration also is investigating. Pilot training and registration will be part of that, authorities said Monday.

When asked, Kadera said he didn't think the landing endangered the public.

"I don't think so. There was nobody playing golf with a foot of snow on (the course)," he said.

He added that his son never did get to the tennis match.

"I think next time, I'll drive," he said.

Comments (2)

det ret rpd narc: stupidity at it's best.... landing a plane in a foot of snow on a golf course....How in the hell did he plan on taking back off? The plane would have sunk in the snow unless it had skis on it. Could have caused the plane to flip over and could have caused death to his son and himself...what an idiot...I hope that the FAA takes his ticket for a while.... 1 March 06, 2008 thesarge: ... death to the pilot w/o injury to innocents or damage to the golf course would have been just and funny as hell. I hope by the time the dumb ass gets out of prison his "ticket" is long out of date. 2 March 06, 2008

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