A New Mexico man has been fined $5,000 and sentenced to two years probation for flying a plane without a pilot’s license and making an emergency landing in Waterloo.
Court records show 44-year-old Keith Alexander Thomas flew from New Mexico to Wisconsin with a friend in June of 2018. The friend bought a Cessna and Thomas, who did not have a pilot’s license, agreed to fly it back to New Mexico.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, the Cessna was not air-worthy, the engine failed and the landing gear didn’t work. Thomas was able to do an emergency landing in Waterloo and no one was hurt, but he didn’t establish radio contact to warn crews on the ground before the landing.