Probation For Shooting At Airplane
An Alabama man has been placed on probation for a year and may have to take anger management lessons after he admitted shooting at a neighbor’s biplane as it was about to land on the neighbor’s home strip last June. Jason Allen McCay, 36, of Hayden, Ala., admitted to investigators that he fired at the Stearman “to scare the people on board it.” At his sentencing hearing last week, the unidentified judge questioned the sincerity of McCay’s apology over the incident but nevertheless agreed with his lawyer that jail time wasn’t necessary. It will be up to his probation officer whether he has to take anger management or cognitive therapy sessions to curb his impulsive behavior.
An Alabama man has been placed on probation for a year and may have to take anger management lessons after he admitted shooting at a neighbor's biplane as it was about to land on the neighbor's home strip last June. Jason Allen McCay, 36, of Hayden, Ala., admitted to investigators that he fired at the Stearman "to scare the people on board it." At his sentencing hearing last week, the unidentified judge questioned the sincerity of McCay's apology over the incident but nevertheless agreed with his lawyer that jail time wasn't necessary. It will be up to his probation officer whether he has to take anger management or cognitive therapy sessions to curb his impulsive behavior.
Investigators said the shooting was the culmination of an ongoing feud between McCay and his 81-year-old neighbor Fred Campbell over noise from aircraft using his private strip. Campbell has operated the airfield since 1959. Court was told Campbell was doing the test flight of a newly restored Stearman last June 22 and was on short final for the strip when McCay reportedly took three or four shots at it. He and passenger Joe Dailey were unaware of the shots but other neighbors reported the incident.