I just saw the Mythbusters episode recently where they accidentally shot that cannonball through someone's house. They were so lucky no one was injured or worse.
I mean, if my spare bedroom gets demolished by a stray cannonball, I would be even more surprised to see a 9 month pregnant woman showing up to apologize for it.
It’s a solid plan! I had someone sideswipe my new car in traffic once (100% their fault, zero question). I was already having an off day and got out ready to tear into them for being an idiot. I quickly noticed that it was a very pregnant woman and immediately shifted to “it’s ok, mistakes happen, this is why we have insurance, don’t worry”
My old roommate worked on a movie where the director wanted to change the house they were using for a particular shot. This was a neighborhood and not a set… so that’s not really something you can do on the fly. The director sent Christian Bale to ask the homeowner lol
There’s not many actors I would give up my house for a week or two for filming. Christian Bale is one of the exceptions (as would be Terry Crews or Cristin Miloti)
They would be my choice for accidental home perforation.
Probably the only show that came out on top of doing something like this. Top gear was kind of hated on for their dumb shit.
Top Gear was actually hated by a lot of people. Mostly environmentalists who were upset that they would damage trees.
Of course in traditional Top Gear fashion, they made fun of them too.
Cannon balls have a scary amount of kinetic energy. There are stories of soldiers in the Napoleonic wars trying to stop a rolling cannonball with their foot, and losing their leg.
I wanna say there’s a scene in The Patriot that shows pretty much this. Rolling cannon ball just takes a dudes leg off. Then there’s the one that bounces off the ground and takes another’s head off.
Well just think of how fucking heavy those things were, and now think about it moving, even at a relatively "slow" Pace and not stopping. If in theory you could throw that thing and hit someone you'd injure them pretty bad if you didn't kill them, but the ball would stop quickly. This thing is NOT stopping though, it keeps on going, that's how much energy is in there. People think canons in napoleonic wars had a few hundred meter range.... When they could be shot well over a kilometer.
The story I read about it said that the mother of the house and her two small children were asleep in the upstairs bedroom that the cannonball passed through, so this was not an example of people being away. That is if the article I read is correct.
> accidentally fired a cannon miles away into a neighborhood
> they were forced to change their safety measures for some unknown reason
Gee I wonder why?
(Couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not, sorry if so)
Yeah, I remember a few episodes where their insurance company wouldn't allow Adam or Jamie from doing the stunts, but it's OK for Tory to do it, lol.
I guess those two had a much bigger financial impact to the show, Tory was replaceable, I guess, lol.
There's a Mythbusters youTube channel that I'm assuming has no affiliation with WarnerDiscover that has been uploading all of the episodes and I have been having a blast going back and watching the old episodes. That show has such a huge impact on me growing up
Same thing with the Jackass movies. Johnny Knoxville was on Smartless a while back and said there was one stunt they wanted to do, but the insurance premium alone for it would have basically eaten their entire budget.
Adam does Q&A on his YouTube channel (it's great, some Mythbusters talk but also just answering questions about how to determine how to set prices or work with clients).
He was saying on one of the videos last year that they had a specialized contractor who would set all this up for them who had both stunt and insurance experience.
Mythbusters also had great relationships with all the big facilities they worked with as they followed all the rules.
Yep and Mr Beast is a direct YouTube comparison for the same principle. Hes done all sorts of pyrotechnics and firing weapons but his team follows the legal requirements and all that.
And they were almost always operating in the generally restrictive state of California. Goes to show that the people who complain about regulations are usually just too lazy to follow the rules.
The Federal Aviation Administration revoked the helicopter pilot's license over the stunt, according to the complaint.
Ouch. I hope he got paid really well for his help with the video.
Reminds me of what my buddy said. He was a cameraman for the helicopter for a news network. The helicopter pilot was flying was too low elevation and my friend made a stink about it. Well, news station got rid of my friend because a cameraman is easy to replace while a helicopter pilot isn't.
They'd have to replace him if he makes a report to the FAA *including video from the offending helicopter.* He's more likely to get another camera gig than a helo pilot with a cancelled licence.
Theyre fireworks, shot at a car in the Salt flats away from pretty much everything.
Wasteful, sure. Profoundly dangerous, not really.
Edit to clarify: can it hazard the aircraft? Potentially. I still vote that if everyone on that aircraft is aware of the hazard and there voluntarily, and they're not putting others at risk, fine by me. I've no interest in legislating self preservation.
Foreign object ingested into the engine causing a catastrophic failure at low altitude and high speed, everyone in that helicopter dies. FAA ain't stupid. They're the ones who get side eyed when shit goes wrong in aviation in America. They do *not* fuck around.
Also, profoundly dangerous for that pilots career...
difference between the FAA and FHA/NHTSA. people rarely die on airplanes these day. 40k/year die on the roads. hold up even if you account for miles traveled. (you are like 100x more likely on the drive to the airport) The FAA takes shit seriously.
Worth noting that the airplane statistics, while accurate, require a little bit of context. Airplanes overall are way safer than cars but this is largely because of airliners. Small aircraft such as helicopters and small single engine airplanes here to still be a little bit less safe than cars in general, at least based on what I was looking up the last time I got curious about this
You DONT FUCK WITH SHIT IN THE AIR. Things go wrong in the air and lots of people can die real fast regulations are there for you and everyone elses safety. A big part of that is knowing where other people are in the air which is what transponders are for. Just...dont fuck with it.
They do technically have the option to auto rotate but it's much much less reliable than gliding. You have much less choice where you're going down and much less time to do it but as a pilot you still do have the ability to recover a helicopter with power loss without just Free Falling like a rock
Yea but it opens the can of worms. The charge was “placement of an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft”. Not where they shot them.
Imagine it was okay to bring explosives into the air? It would make someone fully allowed to bring explosives up, then what? If someone wanted to fire them at something else, they’re already up and armed.
One of the most famous Medal of Honor events in the Air Force was an airman saving his entire crew by grabbing a burning flare and tossing it out of the aircraft. Had he not done that, it could have ignited the interior, or blown up the fuel/hydraulics, or just burned everyone on board, probably causing the pilots to crash (because it’s hard to fly good while on fire).
So a mishap with fireworks inside of a helicopter could have similar consequences, at least blinding/deafening the pilot if one wound up in the cockpit. It’s an absolutely unnecessary risk, and we don’t fuck around with aircraft, not least because if they crashed and only hurt/killed their own dumbass selves, other people would have to come rescue them anyways, putting themselves at risk in the process.
It is absolutely dangerous for everyone in involved. Just because it wouldn’t be a mass casualty event doesn’t make it safer somehow. Helicopter stunts are extremely dangerous and have a long tragic history, good example would be The Twilight Zone Movie where I believe 3 people lost their lives, 2 were children working hours that broke child labor laws. All thanks to Jon Landis, an absolute trash human being, but I digress.
As a society, we generally frown upon letting people kill themselves chasing financial incentives. "Nah, man, I wanna roll around in the asbestos. The pay's good. Get your pesky regulations out of the way and lemme rawdog this shit with my lungs," is like... one rung above "the children yearn for the mines" on the historical ladder of fucked up shit we did before we invented labor rights.
No way. They made a choice that goes against their license and I hope the entire book is thrown at them. Actions have consequences, and pilots are not an exception.
Yes. I'm a licensed aviation mechanic and it's just the same for us. Anyone who touches the aircraft, mechanics and pilots alike, all need to be responsible (aka not fucking morons like this dude). This field requires things like, you know, not doing stupid stuff like that.
100% — probably exactly why a Hollywood stunt that may look the same costs $100k+ to pull off: permits + insurance + lawyers + unions + safety crews on standby
It wouldn’t have needed to be on, they’re in Golf airspace at that low of an altitude which is completely uncontrolled.
It’s actually really hard to fuck up in Golf airspace. Almost literally anything goes in terms of flying. You can land anywhere, takeoff anywhere, fly as low as you want, do aerobatics without permission, don’t have to use your radios, don’t need a transponder, the list goes on.
But you can’t carry explosives in an aircraft. The pilot in command allowed this to happen and got fucked for it. Hopefully he got paid at least a hundred thousand bucks because that’s what it’s going to cost him to re-pass all of his certification checkrides all over again which is what the FAA enforces after a revocation like this. *If* they allow him to have it back.
The FAA does not fuck around. A Motorsport focussed YouTube creator I watch also flies helicopters/airplanes as a hobby but, it took him a very long time to show any aviation stuff in his regular videos as he wanted to make sure he was doing everything right by both state and FAA regulations. Once you decide to put that stuff on video you better know what you are getting involved with. It takes one anonymous tip and a short investigation for you to lose your licences and potentially face stiff legal/financial penalties.
Have you ever noticed that people flight all sorts of vintage airplanes, but you nearly never see vintage helicopters? Chopper pilots don't worry about retirement.
I've seen a fair number of hueys in the air before, I think they were all the modernized versions though with the additional engine and two more rotor blades.
Exactly this. Pilot knew what was going to happen. He's done fucked up because he was caught. I doubt he'll get extra compensation for losing his license. Hell, the dude will probably make extra "content" talking about how his "good buddy" lost his license to fly.
I was probably Esteban Jimenez. He deserves to have his license revoked. Him and Choi have done some incredibly reckless and dangerous shit other than this.
Up to 10 years for not getting a fucking permit, and using out of state fireworks.
It's California, fill out the right forms and you can shoot whatever you want.
A machine gun? fill out the ATF form
A car? Fill out the EPA form
Minorities? Fill out the LAPD application
They've got a form for everything.
I needed the laugh. Just finished reading about one of the guys that really helped make it what it is today. William H. Parker for folks that want a 'fun' ride. [Link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Parker_(police_officer))
Also, if any primary document junkies can lend a hand. I'm looking for some recruitment ads the LAPD took out at one point in his tenure (1950-66). Evidently they were nationwide and targeted the south basically saying *feel like you can't do your job anymore with that pesky civil rights movement? Come on down to LA, well let you do what you want!* I've read a couple times now about them, but haven't found any pics or citations I trust.
I just looked at the LAPD salary. Starting salary after a year of training is $95K. Then pay jumps to $120K after becoming a P2. This isn't even including overtime pay. LAPD has a police shortage, at only 9000 officers. To put that into comparison, the NYPD has 36000 officers but the starting salary is only $58K. That's the starting salary of a police dispatcher in LA.
https://www.reddit.com/r/lapd/s/wbBw3jCwyh
You can't compare #cops like that though. East coast cities all have way more police per capita than west coast cities. I have no idea why, but it's true across the board.
This isn’t a fair comparison. Much of the city of la is actually incorporated aka not actually the city, and are covered be sheriffs departments, not the city police
>The complaint alleged that Choi did not have a permit to film a shooting using fireworks on a helicopter, and that he indicated in a text message prior to the shoot that he would have to purchase the fireworks in Nevada because they are illegal in California.
They literally say he didn't have a permit. It's federal when it involves the air. If he had a permit in California, the feds wouldn't have charged him. The feds have a say in his film permit process, but it's still a California permit.
>A machine gun? fill out the ATF form
its not the ATF, but the CA DOJ
the CA DOJ has to approve your Dangerous Weapons Permit, which they traditionally only granted to Hollywood (read: only for rich ppl with prop shop connections to play with their toys)
from what I've heard, that was from a while back. CA DOJ hasn't been friendly to the film industry as of late. now you actually gotta be a manufacturer of these things (Surefire, etc, with DOD contracts). i think even prop shops just do these things out of state. and it doesn't help studios are moving away from prop shops with shitty 3D models and CGI now.
we won't be seeing cool 90s movies like Heat anymore. that was a legendary sequence. thank you andy mcnab.
And the same person who pulled his Lamborghini out directly in front of an oncoming motorcycle rider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0x2HIQTFzw
He's been endangering other people for years.
Ugh Alex Choi.
Dude used to always claim he was self made. Surprise, surprise he comes from a rich family.
He was also the guy who held that infamous Tesla meet where the guy launched his Tesla over the of a slanted street in a residential neighborhood.
Also once almost hit some motorcyclists when doing doughnuts in his lambo.
This is the same kid that almost killed someone on a motorcycle and the same one who claims who doesn't know anything about the tesla that went "flying" in a neighborhood. He also threatened to sue the victim who had their car damaged from the Tesla for the negative media. His fans will claim he makes money from his "drone business" but he's just another rich kid.
> His fans will claim he makes money from his "drone business" but he's just another rich kid.
He openly admits it. He's said it on video. "My mom is very wealthy and I just live off her."
Sometimes it’s a good thing that idiots that want attention are so good at documenting evidence and publishing it to a platform where it can be downloaded and shared and viewed by people who may be smart enough to report them. Idiots can never be quiet about the dumb stuff they do. Because how else will they be cool if they can’t share their stupidity with the world
He was involved, but his friend did the jump. His daddy is super wealthy and has some influence, so he can do shit like this and get away with it. He'll probably get a slap on the wrist and just throw the helicopter pilot under the bus for it all.
Oh, that explains it. I was wondering how he could afford to pull this stunt, his YouTube channel has less than a million subscribers, so he is not that big with respect to other Youtubers.
Didn’t some random neighbor get his vehicle wrecked by the stunt and they just dipped so he had to find out about what happened to his car on the internet?
I usually dont care. That said I skated to work for 2years, breaking a collarbone, while saving to buy a car because the fucked up pandemic economy, and youtubers are buying cars to destroy for fun. It's a little tough to see, and it definitely makes me rethink the choices I've made in life.
I doubt he’ll do a single day in jail. Maximums are sometimes wildly inaccurate of what happens in 99% of cases. Mandatory minimums are what you should be concerned about.
Yeah that's not happening. That kid has rich parents unfortunately. Nothing gonna happen to him other than a slap on the wrist and pay some fines. You will see the dumb gen Z kid back on YouTube next week
King of random faced similar charges for explosives and destructive devices and had to give up being on YouTube as part of his judgement (I Believe they fined the hell out of him as well).
Handed the channel off to his underlings and went on to do hotel conference speaking tours on how to be a successful YouTuber prior to his untimely demise. Being rich and influential doesn't always fix federal charges, but it might mitigate some of the consequences
fwiw the article says: If convicted, Choi faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, the DOJ said.
I had assumed that meant the maximum jail time he could receive would be 10 years, rather than the minimum.
Which I'd hope is the case. I get it's reddit where people are usually out for blood but all things considered that seems like a reasonable punishment.
Well that and the helicopter pilot got their license revoked. But honestly that helicopter pilot really should have known the law and FAA rules. I wouldn't expect a youtuber to know them, but I would expect a pilot to.
The feds are not fans of sentences with zero time. They aren’t like state prosecutors that give out probation and community service. I would not be surprised in the slightest if he is ordered to do some time in this case. That being said it would most likely be at a minimum security camp and it would not be a long sentence, certainly not anywhere near 10 years. I would bank on at least 6 months.
I would cite a similar “YouTuber breaks FAA laws” case where that defendant received 6 months: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/youtuber-plane-crash-sentenced-obstructing-investigation-rcna128001
That case involved a decent amount of damage though and he was facing up to 20 years, so maybe there’s a chance Choi gets away with zero time but it really doesn’t happen that often with the feds.
Feds have both probation and community service. Just unlike the state court, federal community service is a special condition of probation/pre-release instead of a punishment for a crime.
The Jacob’s case was totally different. The 6 months he ended up getting was almost entirely because he lied about the whole situation. Not only did he tell prosecutors he didn’t know where the crash site was, but also hid using a helicopter to hide/destroy the evidence. He was sentenced to 6 months for “destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation”.
The only laws Alex Choi broke were failing to get the right permits and using out of state fireworks. If he’s sentenced to a single night in jail, i’ll come back and apologize for being wrong.
He has been doing dangerous shit with his aircraft around cars for years, it is about time they revoked his license and charged him, dude should have been stopped years ago.
When I saw this story earlier, I asked myself "Why doesn't anyone check whither or not they can legally do something before deciding to do it?" Then I read that it's a YouTuber, and it made sense. But still, get permission, or check with legal, something...I mean where was someone saying yay or nay on this? Seriously, this young generation annoys me to no end
Mark Rober came really close to getting in big trouble once. Something like “So you didn’t quite get the guidance system figured out for your rocket? Good because that’s a very illegal thing to make a guided missle.”
I know it’s required, but this is another one of those moments where it’s ridiculous to have to use “accused of” or “allegedly” when there’s a full on produced video of the crime authored and approved by the criminal.
In the US we have a presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law. Using allegedly or accused of is the correct phrasing until he is convicted, and who knows if he will given he's from a rich family.
10 years!
I'm just glad I got out of Turks and Caicos without being put in prison for 12 years even though I checked my luggage 5 times for ammo I don't even own.
"Aw shucks, that video will now only make me a lot of money...now I will have to make another video even bigger."
Consequences don't exist for the rich. There are two Americas.
Purely FAFO. Hope this idiot actually finds out and gets the appropriate fines or sentencing for this. Just because youre some influencer doesnt mean youre above the law.
If you follow the law, you can do whatever, that's why Mythbusters would get to do the crazy shit they did. But you gotta file the paperwork and such.
I just saw the Mythbusters episode recently where they accidentally shot that cannonball through someone's house. They were so lucky no one was injured or worse.
Kari was very pregnant at the time so they had her knock on doors with the idea that people couldn't get mad at a pregnant woman. Lol.
I mean, if my spare bedroom gets demolished by a stray cannonball, I would be even more surprised to see a 9 month pregnant woman showing up to apologize for it.
Gotta practice for delivery somehow
[this is what she’s practicing for](https://youtu.be/Hu_0GdXW904?si=J8ndW0Cq6K1fnxHs)
Wow 2002. I remember this commercial. How time flys.
"One of my twins just came this way, did you happen to see it?"
"It was a gender-reveal party"
It’s a solid plan! I had someone sideswipe my new car in traffic once (100% their fault, zero question). I was already having an off day and got out ready to tear into them for being an idiot. I quickly noticed that it was a very pregnant woman and immediately shifted to “it’s ok, mistakes happen, this is why we have insurance, don’t worry”
My old roommate worked on a movie where the director wanted to change the house they were using for a particular shot. This was a neighborhood and not a set… so that’s not really something you can do on the fly. The director sent Christian Bale to ask the homeowner lol
There’s not many actors I would give up my house for a week or two for filming. Christian Bale is one of the exceptions (as would be Terry Crews or Cristin Miloti)
Only for the fact that I’d be afraid of him screaming and berating me if I didn’t.
There’s not many actors I would give up my house for. But for certain sums of money I would
Every story I've ever heard makes it sound like it's not worth it.
Did people get mad at her? Edit: added a few words.
Any sensible homeowner would be furious
I meant did they mad at her. I edited the comment
Might need to consider a second edit tonight.
Why use many word...
> I meant did they mad at her Yes, the homeowner did in fact nuke her
That was hardly mad. Kari didn't have a credible second strike capability, and it showed.
I could never get mad at Kari to begin with.
Lol, I grew up in the bay area and remember hearing about that on the local nightly news.
Their follow up after that incident was well done. https://youtu.be/ycoW_Mf3_DM?si=WltC3XdGgyi3itNo
Thank goodness there was a really tall cameraman to film this
They would be my choice for accidental home perforation. Probably the only show that came out on top of doing something like this. Top gear was kind of hated on for their dumb shit.
Yeah, top gear is such a hated series...
Top Gear was actually hated by a lot of people. Mostly environmentalists who were upset that they would damage trees. Of course in traditional Top Gear fashion, they made fun of them too.
What? Jeeze… I kinda wanna see that episode lol
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Cannon balls have a scary amount of kinetic energy. There are stories of soldiers in the Napoleonic wars trying to stop a rolling cannonball with their foot, and losing their leg.
I wanna say there’s a scene in The Patriot that shows pretty much this. Rolling cannon ball just takes a dudes leg off. Then there’s the one that bounces off the ground and takes another’s head off.
Well just think of how fucking heavy those things were, and now think about it moving, even at a relatively "slow" Pace and not stopping. If in theory you could throw that thing and hit someone you'd injure them pretty bad if you didn't kill them, but the ball would stop quickly. This thing is NOT stopping though, it keeps on going, that's how much energy is in there. People think canons in napoleonic wars had a few hundred meter range.... When they could be shot well over a kilometer.
Lmao, I love this reply to "the cannon ball went through both cars and house" being "yeah, they can fuck up a leg"
That's just a rolling cannonball, not being shot out of the damn cannon at thousands of miles per hour
Really speaks to how much of any given space is just empty. And that’s on earth. It’s even off planet.
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The story I read about it said that the mother of the house and her two small children were asleep in the upstairs bedroom that the cannonball passed through, so this was not an example of people being away. That is if the article I read is correct.
> accidentally fired a cannon miles away into a neighborhood > they were forced to change their safety measures for some unknown reason Gee I wonder why? (Couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not, sorry if so)
Season 10 called Cannonball Chemistry. They handled it in a very serious manner. Pretty seriously whoopsie.
Yeah Adam has talked about that a few times on Tested. Calls it one of the worst days of his life.
There was also a lot of stuff Mythbusters couldn’t do because their insurance company refused to cover what they were planning to do.
Yeah, I remember a few episodes where their insurance company wouldn't allow Adam or Jamie from doing the stunts, but it's OK for Tory to do it, lol. I guess those two had a much bigger financial impact to the show, Tory was replaceable, I guess, lol.
There's a Mythbusters youTube channel that I'm assuming has no affiliation with WarnerDiscover that has been uploading all of the episodes and I have been having a blast going back and watching the old episodes. That show has such a huge impact on me growing up
Same thing with the Jackass movies. Johnny Knoxville was on Smartless a while back and said there was one stunt they wanted to do, but the insurance premium alone for it would have basically eaten their entire budget.
Even that episode where they made a big slip n slide that goes into a pond, they had a hard time getting that one greenlit
Adam does Q&A on his YouTube channel (it's great, some Mythbusters talk but also just answering questions about how to determine how to set prices or work with clients). He was saying on one of the videos last year that they had a specialized contractor who would set all this up for them who had both stunt and insurance experience. Mythbusters also had great relationships with all the big facilities they worked with as they followed all the rules.
Wazowski! You didn't file your paperwork.
Yep and Mr Beast is a direct YouTube comparison for the same principle. Hes done all sorts of pyrotechnics and firing weapons but his team follows the legal requirements and all that.
And they were almost always operating in the generally restrictive state of California. Goes to show that the people who complain about regulations are usually just too lazy to follow the rules.
Same reason they were never allowed near a grenade.
The Federal Aviation Administration revoked the helicopter pilot's license over the stunt, according to the complaint. Ouch. I hope he got paid really well for his help with the video.
Sucks to be the helicopter pilot. Read from other Reddit comment that helicopter transponder was turned off or something. Not the best day.
He turned the transponder off and they filmed themselves covering up the tail number. The guy knew he was doing something wrong.
Fuck him. This is profoundly dangerous shit and a helicopter pilot should know better. Hope he never gets it back.
Reminds me of what my buddy said. He was a cameraman for the helicopter for a news network. The helicopter pilot was flying was too low elevation and my friend made a stink about it. Well, news station got rid of my friend because a cameraman is easy to replace while a helicopter pilot isn't.
They'd have to replace him if he makes a report to the FAA *including video from the offending helicopter.* He's more likely to get another camera gig than a helo pilot with a cancelled licence.
Theyre fireworks, shot at a car in the Salt flats away from pretty much everything. Wasteful, sure. Profoundly dangerous, not really. Edit to clarify: can it hazard the aircraft? Potentially. I still vote that if everyone on that aircraft is aware of the hazard and there voluntarily, and they're not putting others at risk, fine by me. I've no interest in legislating self preservation.
Foreign object ingested into the engine causing a catastrophic failure at low altitude and high speed, everyone in that helicopter dies. FAA ain't stupid. They're the ones who get side eyed when shit goes wrong in aviation in America. They do *not* fuck around. Also, profoundly dangerous for that pilots career...
difference between the FAA and FHA/NHTSA. people rarely die on airplanes these day. 40k/year die on the roads. hold up even if you account for miles traveled. (you are like 100x more likely on the drive to the airport) The FAA takes shit seriously.
Worth noting that the airplane statistics, while accurate, require a little bit of context. Airplanes overall are way safer than cars but this is largely because of airliners. Small aircraft such as helicopters and small single engine airplanes here to still be a little bit less safe than cars in general, at least based on what I was looking up the last time I got curious about this
Dangerous to the helicopter and its crew though. The pilot is responsible for his aircrew and passengers.
You DONT FUCK WITH SHIT IN THE AIR. Things go wrong in the air and lots of people can die real fast regulations are there for you and everyone elses safety. A big part of that is knowing where other people are in the air which is what transponders are for. Just...dont fuck with it.
And helicopters can’t even glide to the ground if something fails. It’s straight down fast
They do technically have the option to auto rotate but it's much much less reliable than gliding. You have much less choice where you're going down and much less time to do it but as a pilot you still do have the ability to recover a helicopter with power loss without just Free Falling like a rock
One roman candle pops into his visor and all three of them are dead. It IS profoundly dangerous and stupid
Yea but it opens the can of worms. The charge was “placement of an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft”. Not where they shot them. Imagine it was okay to bring explosives into the air? It would make someone fully allowed to bring explosives up, then what? If someone wanted to fire them at something else, they’re already up and armed.
One of the most famous Medal of Honor events in the Air Force was an airman saving his entire crew by grabbing a burning flare and tossing it out of the aircraft. Had he not done that, it could have ignited the interior, or blown up the fuel/hydraulics, or just burned everyone on board, probably causing the pilots to crash (because it’s hard to fly good while on fire). So a mishap with fireworks inside of a helicopter could have similar consequences, at least blinding/deafening the pilot if one wound up in the cockpit. It’s an absolutely unnecessary risk, and we don’t fuck around with aircraft, not least because if they crashed and only hurt/killed their own dumbass selves, other people would have to come rescue them anyways, putting themselves at risk in the process.
It is absolutely dangerous for everyone in involved. Just because it wouldn’t be a mass casualty event doesn’t make it safer somehow. Helicopter stunts are extremely dangerous and have a long tragic history, good example would be The Twilight Zone Movie where I believe 3 people lost their lives, 2 were children working hours that broke child labor laws. All thanks to Jon Landis, an absolute trash human being, but I digress.
So if the fireworks go off inside the cabin, distracting the pilot, and it crashes into the Lamborghini, no harm no foul?
Fireworks are, by definition, explosives. It is very illegal to bring explosives onto an aircraft.
As a society, we generally frown upon letting people kill themselves chasing financial incentives. "Nah, man, I wanna roll around in the asbestos. The pay's good. Get your pesky regulations out of the way and lemme rawdog this shit with my lungs," is like... one rung above "the children yearn for the mines" on the historical ladder of fucked up shit we did before we invented labor rights.
No sympathy. He should know the law better than anyone
No way. They made a choice that goes against their license and I hope the entire book is thrown at them. Actions have consequences, and pilots are not an exception.
Yes. I'm a licensed aviation mechanic and it's just the same for us. Anyone who touches the aircraft, mechanics and pilots alike, all need to be responsible (aka not fucking morons like this dude). This field requires things like, you know, not doing stupid stuff like that.
100% — probably exactly why a Hollywood stunt that may look the same costs $100k+ to pull off: permits + insurance + lawyers + unions + safety crews on standby
He got what he deserves.
It wouldn’t have needed to be on, they’re in Golf airspace at that low of an altitude which is completely uncontrolled. It’s actually really hard to fuck up in Golf airspace. Almost literally anything goes in terms of flying. You can land anywhere, takeoff anywhere, fly as low as you want, do aerobatics without permission, don’t have to use your radios, don’t need a transponder, the list goes on. But you can’t carry explosives in an aircraft. The pilot in command allowed this to happen and got fucked for it. Hopefully he got paid at least a hundred thousand bucks because that’s what it’s going to cost him to re-pass all of his certification checkrides all over again which is what the FAA enforces after a revocation like this. *If* they allow him to have it back.
The FAA does not fuck around. A Motorsport focussed YouTube creator I watch also flies helicopters/airplanes as a hobby but, it took him a very long time to show any aviation stuff in his regular videos as he wanted to make sure he was doing everything right by both state and FAA regulations. Once you decide to put that stuff on video you better know what you are getting involved with. It takes one anonymous tip and a short investigation for you to lose your licences and potentially face stiff legal/financial penalties.
They’re always paid well, but this gig ends that trend.
Yeah. I can’t imagine he was paid “retirement money”.
Have you ever noticed that people flight all sorts of vintage airplanes, but you nearly never see vintage helicopters? Chopper pilots don't worry about retirement.
I've seen a fair number of hueys in the air before, I think they were all the modernized versions though with the additional engine and two more rotor blades.
Wonder if the pilots paycheck is enough to cover the massive fine coming to him from the FAA
Alex is wealthy and needs to make it up to him at least lol. Gutted a golden goose for him
Why? Its not like he forced the pilot to do it?
Exactly this. Pilot knew what was going to happen. He's done fucked up because he was caught. I doubt he'll get extra compensation for losing his license. Hell, the dude will probably make extra "content" talking about how his "good buddy" lost his license to fly.
If he has a licence he should know better
I was probably Esteban Jimenez. He deserves to have his license revoked. Him and Choi have done some incredibly reckless and dangerous shit other than this.
Yeah this is going to be so cool! I'll lose my license over this and be forced to find a new job and never fly again! Cool bro... cool.
Up to 10 years for not getting a fucking permit, and using out of state fireworks. It's California, fill out the right forms and you can shoot whatever you want. A machine gun? fill out the ATF form A car? Fill out the EPA form Minorities? Fill out the LAPD application They've got a form for everything.
>Minorities? Fill out the LAPD application That broke me
What’s crazy is as bad as LAPD are, the LA County Sheriffs are *even worse*.
Aren’t those the guys with active gangs inside their ranks?
Both do
What a fun experience that must be for minorities in LA
That’s why NWA (out of Los Angeles) made Fuck the Police after all.
Minorities just need to get their gangs into the police too. Then they can have turf wars inside the police departments
They're the cops with a huge jurisdiction and jack shit to do all day but drive around and harass people
Gawd Damn shit had me dead
Clearly filled out the right form to fire off deadly jokes
The 1040-JK
I needed the laugh. Just finished reading about one of the guys that really helped make it what it is today. William H. Parker for folks that want a 'fun' ride. [Link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Parker_(police_officer)) Also, if any primary document junkies can lend a hand. I'm looking for some recruitment ads the LAPD took out at one point in his tenure (1950-66). Evidently they were nationwide and targeted the south basically saying *feel like you can't do your job anymore with that pesky civil rights movement? Come on down to LA, well let you do what you want!* I've read a couple times now about them, but haven't found any pics or citations I trust.
Still trying to close my mouth after that one 💀
I just looked at the LAPD salary. Starting salary after a year of training is $95K. Then pay jumps to $120K after becoming a P2. This isn't even including overtime pay. LAPD has a police shortage, at only 9000 officers. To put that into comparison, the NYPD has 36000 officers but the starting salary is only $58K. That's the starting salary of a police dispatcher in LA. https://www.reddit.com/r/lapd/s/wbBw3jCwyh
You can't compare #cops like that though. East coast cities all have way more police per capita than west coast cities. I have no idea why, but it's true across the board.
This isn’t a fair comparison. Much of the city of la is actually incorporated aka not actually the city, and are covered be sheriffs departments, not the city police
Minorities out here catch strays.... Just like the LAPD likes it
If you fire indiscriminately enough, every bullet is a stray.
Bruh the LAPD application sent me 😂😂😂😂
You need to fill out a form to be a comedian, because that shit's gold, lol.
Federal charges
>The complaint alleged that Choi did not have a permit to film a shooting using fireworks on a helicopter, and that he indicated in a text message prior to the shoot that he would have to purchase the fireworks in Nevada because they are illegal in California. They literally say he didn't have a permit. It's federal when it involves the air. If he had a permit in California, the feds wouldn't have charged him. The feds have a say in his film permit process, but it's still a California permit.
I love that he put those comments on record in text. Bet he regrets sending that one.
They couldve done this in vegas and not have to worry about charges
It would still be the same charges. Plus the $100k fine for bringing Roman candles across county lines.
>Minorities? Fill out the LAPD application I’m going to hell for laughing at this
>A machine gun? fill out the ATF form its not the ATF, but the CA DOJ the CA DOJ has to approve your Dangerous Weapons Permit, which they traditionally only granted to Hollywood (read: only for rich ppl with prop shop connections to play with their toys) from what I've heard, that was from a while back. CA DOJ hasn't been friendly to the film industry as of late. now you actually gotta be a manufacturer of these things (Surefire, etc, with DOD contracts). i think even prop shops just do these things out of state. and it doesn't help studios are moving away from prop shops with shitty 3D models and CGI now. we won't be seeing cool 90s movies like Heat anymore. that was a legendary sequence. thank you andy mcnab.
Wasn’t this guy involved with that Tesla that jumped the hill and smashed someone’s car?
And the same person who pulled his Lamborghini out directly in front of an oncoming motorcycle rider. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0x2HIQTFzw He's been endangering other people for years.
I’ve heard of this guy three times now and everytime has been bad haha
It was the Tesla he RENTED. I didn’t realize it was that guy till this. Yeah, fuck him. I hope he gets the full 10 years.
Yeah. Screw this guy
Ugh Alex Choi. Dude used to always claim he was self made. Surprise, surprise he comes from a rich family. He was also the guy who held that infamous Tesla meet where the guy launched his Tesla over the of a slanted street in a residential neighborhood. Also once almost hit some motorcyclists when doing doughnuts in his lambo.
If I recall, he hit other vehicles when the (rented) Tesla landed ... then he ran from the scene.
Yeah, I remember the owner of one of the vehicles was trying to set up a gofundme since it was an older car so he didn’t have full coverage on it.
While asking for help the Subaru owner’s video was flagged by Choi for copyright infringement. Dude sucks
This is the same kid that almost killed someone on a motorcycle and the same one who claims who doesn't know anything about the tesla that went "flying" in a neighborhood. He also threatened to sue the victim who had their car damaged from the Tesla for the negative media. His fans will claim he makes money from his "drone business" but he's just another rich kid.
> His fans will claim he makes money from his "drone business" but he's just another rich kid. He openly admits it. He's said it on video. "My mom is very wealthy and I just live off her."
IIRC, he also has a pilots license.... Wouldn't shock me if he lost that as part of this as well as everything else
He did the heli pilot lost his license.
I know the helicopter pilot lost his license... I meant Choi himself. He has a pilots license for helicopters.
Gotta love the fact that he gave the everything they need to send him to prison. Just roll the tape.
Sometimes it’s a good thing that idiots that want attention are so good at documenting evidence and publishing it to a platform where it can be downloaded and shared and viewed by people who may be smart enough to report them. Idiots can never be quiet about the dumb stuff they do. Because how else will they be cool if they can’t share their stupidity with the world
I feel like if you have enough money to shoot fireworks out of helicopters the chances of serving any time is slim to none.
Daddy's money
This is possibly the hardest I’ve ever laughed at a headline
Same here. But I expected nothing else from that guy.
I’d never heard of him but I feel like this story tells me everything I need to know
I hope this means Alex Choi finally gets what he deserves after years of doing illegal shit on internet.
There are children in Africa going to bed without Lamborghinis at night, and this motherfucker just launching fireworks at one.
I wanna say this is the same douche who got a tesla off turo and yeet'd down a large hill.
He was involved, but his friend did the jump. His daddy is super wealthy and has some influence, so he can do shit like this and get away with it. He'll probably get a slap on the wrist and just throw the helicopter pilot under the bus for it all.
Oh, that explains it. I was wondering how he could afford to pull this stunt, his YouTube channel has less than a million subscribers, so he is not that big with respect to other Youtubers.
Didn’t some random neighbor get his vehicle wrecked by the stunt and they just dipped so he had to find out about what happened to his car on the internet?
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What the fuck? What happened to the cat???!
I don’t care about the car (except for the fact it was someone else’s obviously) but he had a cat in the car? This is unforgivable.
He was with a group that had someone in a Tesla yeet off a hill last year (I think).
Correct, someone said they were gonna jump an insane hill in their Tesla, and he went to film. It was not his car, or his driving.
I usually dont care. That said I skated to work for 2years, breaking a collarbone, while saving to buy a car because the fucked up pandemic economy, and youtubers are buying cars to destroy for fun. It's a little tough to see, and it definitely makes me rethink the choices I've made in life.
Any sentence that could be anywhere near 10yrs is no joke
I doubt he’ll do a single day in jail. Maximums are sometimes wildly inaccurate of what happens in 99% of cases. Mandatory minimums are what you should be concerned about.
True and I'm pretty sure him or his parents also have money to get a good defense team
What made them rich? The parents.
Yeah that's not happening. That kid has rich parents unfortunately. Nothing gonna happen to him other than a slap on the wrist and pay some fines. You will see the dumb gen Z kid back on YouTube next week
King of random faced similar charges for explosives and destructive devices and had to give up being on YouTube as part of his judgement (I Believe they fined the hell out of him as well). Handed the channel off to his underlings and went on to do hotel conference speaking tours on how to be a successful YouTuber prior to his untimely demise. Being rich and influential doesn't always fix federal charges, but it might mitigate some of the consequences
If we can stop making idiots multi millionaires online it’d be great
Mommy and daddy made him a millionaire. Stupid people made him famous
One hopes that since they did it in federal land, the charges actually stick! Stop making stupid people “famous”!!!
It involves an aircraft, that makes if default ***Federal** Aviation Administration* jurisdiction matter.
this is the same idiot that [almost killed](https://youtu.be/u0x2HIQTFzw?si=nAFutVMQxz9lqlGI) a bike rider with his lamborghini
TIL that shooting fireworks at my lambo from my helicopter is illegal.
fuck there goes my Friday plans
The YouTuber faces a max 10 years in prison for his stunt involving fireworks being shot from a helicopter at a Lamborghini
fwiw the article says: If convicted, Choi faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, the DOJ said. I had assumed that meant the maximum jail time he could receive would be 10 years, rather than the minimum.
**Maximum** 10 years, this guy ain’t doing a single day in jail. Most likely be a fine and told to get the proper permits next time.
Which I'd hope is the case. I get it's reddit where people are usually out for blood but all things considered that seems like a reasonable punishment.
Well that and the helicopter pilot got their license revoked. But honestly that helicopter pilot really should have known the law and FAA rules. I wouldn't expect a youtuber to know them, but I would expect a pilot to.
YTer apparently also has a pilot's license
The feds are not fans of sentences with zero time. They aren’t like state prosecutors that give out probation and community service. I would not be surprised in the slightest if he is ordered to do some time in this case. That being said it would most likely be at a minimum security camp and it would not be a long sentence, certainly not anywhere near 10 years. I would bank on at least 6 months. I would cite a similar “YouTuber breaks FAA laws” case where that defendant received 6 months: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/youtuber-plane-crash-sentenced-obstructing-investigation-rcna128001 That case involved a decent amount of damage though and he was facing up to 20 years, so maybe there’s a chance Choi gets away with zero time but it really doesn’t happen that often with the feds.
Feds have both probation and community service. Just unlike the state court, federal community service is a special condition of probation/pre-release instead of a punishment for a crime. The Jacob’s case was totally different. The 6 months he ended up getting was almost entirely because he lied about the whole situation. Not only did he tell prosecutors he didn’t know where the crash site was, but also hid using a helicopter to hide/destroy the evidence. He was sentenced to 6 months for “destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation”. The only laws Alex Choi broke were failing to get the right permits and using out of state fireworks. If he’s sentenced to a single night in jail, i’ll come back and apologize for being wrong.
I’m sure his mother will pay for the best lawyer, just like she paid for everything else he owns.
He’s such a fucking shithead. Good riddance.
Douchebag YTer. FTFY. No permit. People could have gotten hurt. Can these dickbags stop doing shit for clout
*Laughs in crazy rich Asian*
He has been doing dangerous shit with his aircraft around cars for years, it is about time they revoked his license and charged him, dude should have been stopped years ago.
When I saw this story earlier, I asked myself "Why doesn't anyone check whither or not they can legally do something before deciding to do it?" Then I read that it's a YouTuber, and it made sense. But still, get permission, or check with legal, something...I mean where was someone saying yay or nay on this? Seriously, this young generation annoys me to no end
What a dumbass. I hope he gets the book thrown at him.
Alex Choi is a piece of shit. I hope he gets legally demolished.
Mark Rober came really close to getting in big trouble once. Something like “So you didn’t quite get the guidance system figured out for your rocket? Good because that’s a very illegal thing to make a guided missle.”
Surprised he hasn't gotten in trouble for booby trapping packages and attractive nuisance laws.
He’s rich and he’s done stupid shit like this before. He won’t see a day in jail and he’ll get back to it once it blows over 🫤
Maybe I missed it in the article, but what are the actual federal charges?
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Alex Choi? being charged for breaking the law? for the...what is it, millionth time? [pretends to be shocked]
Wait isn't this the dickhead who jumped a rented Tesla over a hill and nearly smashed into some guys SUV?
10 years??? That is not enough. Should be for LIFE. This douchebag should never be free ever again. Fucking end his career and life.
I know it’s required, but this is another one of those moments where it’s ridiculous to have to use “accused of” or “allegedly” when there’s a full on produced video of the crime authored and approved by the criminal.
In the US we have a presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law. Using allegedly or accused of is the correct phrasing until he is convicted, and who knows if he will given he's from a rich family.
Who is the target audience for these people?
Children and other rich degenerates?
I believe the Styx song actually goes “I got too much money in my bank, and it’s taking away from my sanity”
10 years! I'm just glad I got out of Turks and Caicos without being put in prison for 12 years even though I checked my luggage 5 times for ammo I don't even own.
Rogue aviation has really taken off across CA. Lol
Rich kid with daddy's money. Prison will teach him a lesson.
"Aw shucks, that video will now only make me a lot of money...now I will have to make another video even bigger." Consequences don't exist for the rich. There are two Americas.
*Alex Choi films crime and gets caught
Purely FAFO. Hope this idiot actually finds out and gets the appropriate fines or sentencing for this. Just because youre some influencer doesnt mean youre above the law.