Armed woman, 69, arrested after forcing plane to abort landing

Judy Davis went onto the runway and fired a gun. She was upset because the plane had repeatedly flown too close to her house; she had hoped to shoot it down. (Associated Press)

Comments

[twerp]

So, instead of "get off my lawn," it's "get out of my air!"

[Torgo]

Another badly written article. Did she announce her intentions in the terminal, and then they let her go out and try?

[sometimesilie]

LOL! that's some good crotchety.

[Sheila]

Commercial passenger plane? Fed Ex? Piper Cub?

Good line, Twerp.

[nellagain]

Torgo,

Less cosmopolitan airports often have only a fig leaf when it comes to runway security. I've been in one (recently) where I watched a varmint wriggle through a hole in the fence on its way to the yummy dumpsters.

[FatSean]

Firing a weapon at an airplane? She's a terrorist.

[pms]

they freaking let her go?????????? Why didn't they charge her with terrorism? They should have shot this dumb b#tch then put her in a padded room for life. Just amazing that a kid with a boxcutter in his car in a school parking lot from his job at a grocery store would get charged with something much more serious than this freaking lunatic.

[Lambiepie]

and kids that write essays about shooting anything get arrested as adults and charged with terroristic threats?
amazing lack of consistency in laws in this country

[Navy Chief]

the big question here is if the airport was there when she moved in. If so, deal with it. If not, then she's been there a looooong time.

[Biker Trash Princess]

She tried to shoot down a plane with a .22 caliber handgun??? You would've had to have been one hell of a good shot to bring that off.

[Matt M]

I don't understand this badly written article. Did she walk onto the runway and shoot at a plane, as it was landing? If so, she was about to get squashed. And how did she get onto the runway, anyway? What I suspect is that she was on the area beyond the runway, and the security fence.

Did she then go into the terminal, and tell them about it? If so, how did that work? "I shot your damned plane, and I am going to do it again!"?

I am sure that it is annoying to live in the landing pattern of an airport. It can't have been a surprise to her that the airplanes were noisy, though.

[Torgo]

Perhaps she had been watching the movie Patton too much.

In any event, guns are old fashioned. She should have gone with a up-to-date green laser pointer.

[Phranqlin]

She's just exercising her 2nd Amendment right to be a terrorist.

[bugga_boo]

Sounds like dementia... and yeah, how they hell did she make it out onto the runway with a gun?

Poor journalism here.

[Sigh]

Remember, old ladies are above the law. And famous ex-atheletes. And rich old white men. And the police. But not you.

[twerp]

Sigh, had Martha Stewart been a man, I have no doubt she wouldn't have had to serve time. So, I agree with that statement!!

[Caffeinated Katie]

She should have just gone the Homer Simpson route and gotten on her roof with a broom while screaming "get out of my airspace!"

I live about 2 miles from the Atlanta airport and I don't even notice the noise anymore.

[petep]

Better explanation here:

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=343788

Apparently, Fulton field is a small operation with a tiny runway, and a grass strip (remember landing on those?).

Lots of training takes place there, with many take-offs and landings. The woman in question lives adjacent to the field.

The "terminal" is probably just a small storefront building.

[twerp]

"(remember landing on those?)"

No. No, I don't--but I'm not 2000 yrs. old either.

Maybe if I were the same age as Medusa, I might have some recollection of it.

[BB]

I can't believe they let her go. She doesn't like the noise so she attempts to MURDER everyone on the plane! In most places, just TALKING about doing what she did lands you in jail. Why is she free when she actually did it!???

[BB]

Also, 69 is not very old. Don't let her give the excuse of being a "little old lady". Bunch of crap when they suddenly act frail. She can't be too old or she wouldn't have been able to make it onto the runway or shoot a gun.

[Navy Chief]

@twerp - age has nothing to do with it. It's all about the size of the airplane. Picture a Piper Cub or similar and your on the right track.

[Zoot]

Jim - the picture with the story is perfect!

[kestrelmas]

Just texted a friend of mine who happens to live in MO asking him about this. He said everyone and their grandma has guns.

'nuff. said.

[Sheila]

My mother was a darned good shot, but I don't recall her blazing away at aircraft.

[thomas]

Anyone recall from years back the medieval weapons/baker enthusiast who fired bread dough from a catapult in an effort to re-route low flying jets??
As I recall he was successful without being labeled a terrorist or an eccentric.
Personally, I'd launch frozen seagulls.

[sometimesilie]

thomas, just don't let them catch you pre-freezing them...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2007/09/17/2007-09-17_man_fined_14175_for_killing_189_seagulls.html

[The Hermit]

If it had been my grandma, she would have hit the plane!
She never missed if you could get her to set her corn cob pipe down for a minute.

[Charles Brobst]

Domestic terrorist. Shoot her!
Or put her in a nice home without guns.