A group of teenagers on e-bikes found a particularly bad place to practice wheelies in Michigan: an airport runway with an airplane coming in to land.
Around 2 p.m. on Aug. 19, approximately 18 teenagers rode onto the grounds of Oakland/Southwest Airport in New Hudson, according to CBS News Detroit. Airport officials said a smaller group made it all the way onto the runway.
At roughly the same time, an aircraft was on its final approach. An airport employee spotted the riders, contacted the pilot by radio, and the pilot went around instead of landing.
Nobody was hurt. The teenagers left, the runway cleared, and the pilot subsequently landed safely. The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is now trying to identify the riders.
Runway Visitors
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Oakland County Airports Director of Aviation Cheryl Bush told CBS News Detroit that the riders were approaching the runway protection zone when several went onto the runway itself and began doing wheelies.
More detailed reporting on the incident said airport operations coordinator Micah DeMeyer saw the roughly 18 riders enter the southeast corner of the airport property near a rail trail by Milford Road. The group crossed a taxiway and entered the runway protection zone before some reached the runway.
An aircraft was already on short final.
DeMeyer radioed the pilot about the incursion, and the aircraft performed a go-around. By the time it returned, the riders had left and the pilot was able to land.
Bush described the event as a near miss.
In aviation terms, what happened fits the FAA’s definition of a runway incursion: the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for takeoff and landing.
A go-around, meanwhile, is a routine maneuver available to a pilot when continuing a landing is no longer safe or desirable. Having to perform one because teenagers are doing wheelies on the runway is the less routine part.
Small Airport, Real Runway
Oakland/Southwest is not a commercial passenger airport with terminals, TSA checkpoints, and airliners lined up for departure.
It is a public general-aviation airport owned by Oakland County.
According to the county airport directory, Oakland/Southwest has no control tower and is not certified for airline operations under Federal Aviation Regulation Part 139.
It does, however, have a real runway serving real aircraft.
Runway 8/26 is 3,128 feet long and 40 feet wide. CBS News Detroit reported that the airport averages about 35 takeoffs and landings per day.
The county says the airport began operating in 1946 as a training facility for World War II veterans pursuing pilot licenses under the G.I. Bill. Oakland County purchased the property in 2000.
Bush said the airport had never experienced an incident like this one before.
One feature now receiving attention is what the airport did not have: a complete perimeter fence.
Bush said security upgrades will include surveillance cameras, additional no-trespassing signs, temporary fencing, and eventually permanent fencing.
That does not necessarily mean the airport was violating a federal airport-security requirement before the incident.
Oakland/Southwest’s status as a general-aviation airport matters. The Transportation Security Administration’s guidance for general-aviation airports consists of risk-based security recommendations rather than mandatory security standards applicable to every such airport.
Current FAA guidance nevertheless says airport sponsors should use adequate controls, including fencing and signage, to keep motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, and animals from wandering onto airfields.
The Aug. 19 incident supplied a fairly persuasive demonstration of the problem those controls are meant to prevent.
What Happens Now?
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is investigating and had not publicly identified the juveniles as of CBS Detroit’s Aug. 28 report.
Sheriff’s office public information officer Tyler Sweers told the station that deputies want the riders, or their parents or guardians, to contact them.
Then came the portion of the statement that has drawn considerable attention online.
“Our primary goal is not to impose severe consequences,” Sweers said, but rather to identify those responsible, emphasize the dangers of entering an active runway, and prevent another occurrence.
That does not mean Michigan law treats wandering onto an airport runway as harmless.
Michigan law specifically prohibits trespassing within the boundary of a licensed airport or operating a vehicle or device across an airport without authorization from airport management.
For an adult, violating that section is a misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
There is an important wrinkle here because officials have described the riders as juveniles.
Michigan’s Juvenile Justice Benchbook explains that delinquency proceedings are not ordinary criminal proceedings. While the underlying criminal laws still determine whether a juvenile committed an offense, the adult penalty written into the criminal statute generally does not determine the juvenile’s punishment.
Instead, Michigan’s Juvenile Code gives courts a range of possible dispositions. Those can include a warning and dismissal, probation or supervision, community service, restitution, or more restrictive placement depending on the offense and circumstances.
So saying airport trespass carries a year in jail is accurate when describing the Michigan statute’s adult maximum. Saying these unidentified teenagers each face a year behind bars would go considerably further than the available facts support.
Federal Case?
Another question quickly appeared in reaction to the incident: Isn’t trespassing on an airport automatically a federal crime?
Not quite.
There is a federal airport-entry statute carrying criminal penalties, but it is narrower than a blanket ban on trespassing at every airport in the country.
The law applies to knowingly and willfully entering certain aircraft or airport areas in violation of federal security requirements at facilities serving air carriers or foreign air carriers.
Oakland/Southwest has no airline operations and, according to Oakland County, is not a Part 139-certificated commercial-service airport.
That leaves Michigan’s remarkably on-point airport trespass law as the much cleaner legal issue in this case.
Whether anyone will be charged under it remains another matter.
The sheriff’s office was still working to identify the riders, while Bush told CBS News Detroit that airport officials intend to hold them accountable if they are found.
For the airport itself, at least one consequence is already visible.
The next group approaching the runway from the trail may find a fence in the way.