And paid a UAH 3,400 fine for violating flight regulations
A petty fine marked the end of a much-publicized affair involving three German nationals who flew to Ukraine in a private plane and were detained at the Dnipropetrovsk airport for violating international flight regulations. The incident, which caused the diplomats of the two countries to exchange statements, was obviously exhausted the week before last, and the three Germans successfully flew back home in their plane.
The Germans’ adventures in Ukraine began on the night of August 17, when dispatchers of the Dnipropetrovsk airport that lies hundreds of miles from the nearest border suddenly detected an unidentified airplane in their airspace. The pilot radioed the control tower and requested permission to land. When the single-engine plane, Moony, landed, three senior Germans were found onboard, who did not even resemble the notorious Matthias Rust, who caused an international sensation by landing in Moscow’s Red Square. Aside from the pilot, a 74-year-old lawyer from Stuttgart, Erhardt Ulwer, and navigator Erwil Schulz, their colleague, businessman Karlheinz Knauer came to Dnipropetrovsk to negotiate supplies of plastic packaging for dairy products with a local company. To the great surprise of the German guests, who had flown here all the way from the German township of Leichlingen with a refueling stop in Slovakia, they were branded criminals on Ukrainian turf, and their plane was impounded. The Ukrainian border guards were obviously not satisfied with the explanations of the pilot, who has a flying record of twenty years, and the fact that the alleged trespassers had passports with Ukrainian visas. As a result, SBU investigators in Dnipropetrovsk oblast opened a criminal case for a violation of international flight regulations under Article 334 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The investigation lasted three weeks, after which time the case was referred to the Babushkin District Court of Dnipropetrovsk. All this time, the hapless travelers stayed in a Dnipropetrovsk hotel, moved freely within the city limits, and always showed up for questioning. According to the Germans, the officers of Ukraine’s Security Service handled them with tact and respect, treated them to coffee, and even played backgammon with them. After the investigation of the incident was completed, the court heard the case and returned its verdict.
The pilot and owner of the plane, Erhardt Ulwer, was found guilty of violating international flight regulations and fined UAH 3,400. In an explanation published in the local press, Judge Larysa Tatarchuk said that the application for permission to enter Ukraine’s airspace “was filed a day before the flight and not five days, as required by the Ukrainian Flight Control Center. For this reason, the German plane was not expected in Ukraine.” According to her, the pilot explained to the court that he had entrusted a certain German firm with obtaining the required documents, but it failed him. In any case, Mr. Ulwer, who manages a Stuttgart law firm and has a doctoral degree in law, “agreed completely” with the verdict. Word has it that he even crossed himself after it was announced, obviously because the mentioned article of the Criminal Code envisions a term in prison up to five years with confiscation of the plane. The fine, which is negligible for a Westerner and was paid immediately, can be perhaps viewed as a token of the humane nature of Ukraine’s law enforcement. However, the German pilot reserves the right to appeal the decision. In any case, the trip to Ukraine will be unforgettable for Erhardt Ulwer, who has flown to dozens of countries and celebrated his seventieth birthday in the air above Australia. On the next day after the trial all three left for home in their plane.
