November 16, 2011

KTLA News - A pilot who buzzed the Santa Monica Pier in a military jet has been ordered to jail. David G. Riggs surrendered to authorities Wednesday to begin serving a 60-day sentence. The 48-year old was convicted of violating a rarely used provision of the California Public Utilities
Code that is designed to protect the public from careless and reckless pilots. Jurors found that Riggs endangered the public by making low-level passes over the Santa Monica Pier on Nov. 6, 2008, to promote a movie his company was making about a maverick squadron of Americans and
Russians on a secret mission to Iran. The 48-year old was also ordered to clean beaches for 60 days and to pay more than $6,000 in penalties and court fees.



During the stunt, Riggs flew a 1973 Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros, a
Czechoslovakian jet trainer that was popular in the Soviet bloc during
the Cold War.



Video captured Riggs buzzing the pier at speeds of up to 350 mph.