Alleged Stalker Accused Of Violating Flight Ban

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Key Takeaways:

  • An upstate New York man, Michael Arnold, is accused of stalking a woman, Cassandra Wilusz, both on the ground and by repeatedly flying an airplane at dangerously low altitudes over her village.
  • After violating an earlier protection order, a judge imposed a no-fly condition for his release, which Arnold has since been charged with violating.
  • The FAA initially dismissed complaints about Arnold's low-level flights but acknowledged having relevant data after a local news station presented flight track logs suggesting violations.
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An upstate New York man who’s accused of stalking a woman using an airplane has been ordered by a judge to stop flying as a condition of his release. WRGB is reporting Michael Arnold is alleged to have flown low over the village of Schuylerville, near Albany, to stalk Cassandra Wilusz. He is also alleged to have stalked her while on the ground. The original allegations arose in August of 2022 but Arnold allegedly took to the skies again at the beginning of June and was arrested for violating an earlier protection order. That’s when the judge imposed the no-fly rule and Arnold has since been charged with violating that order.

Arnold became notorious in the small town for his low-level flights, but CBS affiliate WGBR wondered why the FAA didn’t seem interested in the complaints. The station reported the FAA said it investigated but couldn’t find any evidence of violations. Then the station sent the agency track logs from an ADS-B tracking site that suggested the plane was at times about 300 feet AGL. The agency responded to the station saying it had all the data it needed.

Russ Niles

Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.
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