Fredericksburg Man Sentenced For Flying Plane Without A License

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — A Fredericksburg man was sentenced to 14 months in prison for flying a plane without a license in 2018, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. The man, Ryan Guy Parker, flew an incomplete plane he was hired to assemble over Shannon Airport for several minutes.

Parker, who operated a business called Outlaw Aviation, had not finished assembling the plane before he took off. At the time of the flight, the plane was using a plastic water bottle for radiator overflow and had several pieces of duct tape on key components, the news release said. Nobody was injured during Parker's flight.

Officials said that Parker took off in poor weather conditions and flew above the airport's fuel tanks and over the approach to the runway. The Department of Justice said he flew "at a dangerous altitude of around 500 feet."

Parker pleaded guilty to serving as an airman without an airman's certificate in January.

In a separate case, Parker was convicted of destruction of property and unauthorized use of a vehicle in an event that also occurred in September 2018 at the Stafford Regional Airport. This conviction in the Stafford County Circuit Court was also related to an aircraft, the Department of Justice said.