Wife Denies Maurice Kirk Violated P-49
He's at it again. Authorities in central Texas are questioning
British pilot Maurice Kirk, after the infamous "Flying Vet" landed
his single-engine plane six miles from President Bush's ranch in
Crawford last week. The Secret Service will probably want to have a
few words with him, too.
According to BBC News, the irrepressible pilot made an
unannounced landing in a farmer's field April 25. Kirk reportedly
wanted to drop off a note at the ranch, thanking Bush for his
February rescue 80 miles off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
As ANN reported, Kirk was
plucked from the waters by the US Coast Guard, after his restored
Piper Cub "Liberty Girl" suffered engine problems.
McLennan County sheriff's deputies arrested Kirk on the spot
last Friday, and initially thought he was drunk -- as Kirk's
arthritis prevented him from walking in a straight line. They then
took the 62-year-old to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation.
Maurice's wife, Kirstie, said her husband isn't crazy... that's
just how he might appear. "He's somewhat eccentric and I don't know
what the Americans would make of him," Kirstie Kirk, 48, told the
BBC. "I don't know they would understand our sense of humor and
slightly different way of doing things.
"The fact that he is suspected of being a threat to the
president, when he was quite safely outside the prohibition zone,
is quite worrying. He told me he was going to leave a thank you
note on the gate, which I do believe. I don't think even Maurice
would think he could land on the president's lawn, not without
repercussions.
"It's quite typical he'd do something that would be a gesture,"
Kirstie added.
The P-49 Prohibited Area extends in a three-nautical-mile radius
around the ranch, from the surface up to 5,000 feet MSL, when Bush
is not present. When the President is at the ranch -- as he will be
this coming weekend -- the radius extends to 30 nm, and up to
18,000' MSL.
The fact Bush wasn't at the ranch, however, leaves Kirstie Kirk
wondering what rule, exactly, her husband (shown below) may have
violated.
"It's quite typical he'd do something that would be a gesture,"
Kirstie said of her husband. "He is a very good pilot for that sort
of aircraft. He is a purist's pilot. An aviator. The sort of flying
that Maurice does is landing in fields and little grass airstrips.
He uses a plane the way some people use a sports car, to get to
things. He just loves flying."