A so-called “urban explorer” has been fined by a judge after trespassing onto an English airport in order to capture himself onboard a retired British Airways 747-400.
Man Fined After Breaking Onto Abandoned British Airways 747-400 For Special Photo
Liam Greig, 32, styles himself as an urban explorer, meaning he enjoy visiting abandoned structures and photogprahjng the interiors. While visiting abandoned homes or other buildings may be one thing, illegally entering an airport in order to board a retired aircraft is another matter.
With three other men, Grieg breached the fence at Kemble Airfield on January 30th, drove in, and climbed onboard a former British Airways 747-400, registered as G-CIV. After taking photographs onboard, he promptly left. There was no vandalism, no theft, and no apparent attempt to engage in any sort of malicious activity. He even left his mask on in the picture.
Airport staff noticed the car on the airfield and called the police. While Grieg likely would have never have been caught, he posted the picture of himself onboard the 747 on Facebook. Authorities used that image to track him down. When they found him, he offered a full confession and was charged.
His attorney, Stefan Sims, told The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard:
“Had Greig not given a full statement, the police might have had trouble in bringing the case to court. He is a family man who has a number of health conditions.
“His hobby is being an urban explorer and he attends many abandoned sites in the South West locality that included former stately homes, tunnels and industrial buildings.
“But following this incident he has not embarked on any further adventures. He has very much learnt his lesson from this court process.”
Based upon his confession and lack of criminal intent, a judge fined him about $500, including:
- £240 – fine
- £85 – court costs
- £34 – victim’s restitution fund
That’s quite an expensive photograph of a 747-400…
CONCLUSION
The aircraft at the center of the incident, pictured above, is one that I have flown on before. On some level, I perfectly understand why Greig did what he did. I could not find the picture on Facebook, but I bet it is epic. But while asking for permission might not always give us the answer we want, it is the smarter strategy, especially when dealing with restricted facilities like airports.
(image: Wikimedia Commons // H/T: Simple Flying)
Could your headline have been any more clickbaity or more misleading????
Agreed here. This is getting to Gary levels of “seriously misrepresents the actual story without technically being incorrect” headlines.
I learn from the Thought Leader.
Interesting story M!
Don’t listen to or feed the trolls.
Just refund their money…..
He’s becoming the National Inquirer of aviation.
@Matthew You know you travel a lot when you recognize a plane you’ve flown on! That has happened to me twice on delta but every photo you post it seems like you said you’ve been on!
This is just ridiculous. Please don’t waste your time with stuff like this!!
come on, that headline is click bait. The fine was for trespassing
Of course it was clickbait. But technically accurate.
I would gladly pay a fine of that amount for the ability to roam around an empty -400 for a bit! Seems reasonably priced to me.
Problem is that you get a UK criminal record for trespassing in a restricted airside area.
Try travelling to the States after that.
We have gang bangers who roam around London terrorizing our Anglo Saxon Jute brethren but this is who the British police and criminal system go after. We have Pakistani groups of men who attack and abuse thousands of young British girls and courts order activists to be silent (gag orders). Speech is a crime in the U.K. and even reading Bible verses aloud in public can get you arrested. Every member of government and every police officer in the U.K. is a criminal of the highest degree for participating in that evil system instead of stopping it. Cops are not heroes. They are the opposite.
Noone from the UK uses the term “gang bangers”.
Well they might, but to mean something very different to how you’ve used it
Editing be damn too, with a made-up word like photogprahjng.
HA – Love it!
This was the same aircraft that took us LHR-DEN in F for my wedding. The captain invited us to the cockpit for a photo…
Must be something about this plane bc several of our wedding teddys also rushed in for a ‘special photo’. hehehehee.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zAADxSj6FMrN9ejE6