{"id":613508,"date":"2026-09-27T16:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T16:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/613508\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T16:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T16:36:15","slug":"cavalier-otago-chopper-pilot-seeks-online-funding-to-continue-legal-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/613508\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cavalier\u2019 Otago chopper pilot seeks online funding to continue legal battles"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201ccavalier\u201d helicopter pilot who left New Zealand days before going on trial for selling passenger flights illegally is trying to raise funds to continue his legal battles.<\/p>\n

Brendan Shane \u201cBuzz\u201d Thow has been locked in what he calls a \u201cseries of escalating legal and regulatory issues\u201d, leading to bankruptcy, liquidation of his aviation companies and prosecution by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).<\/p>\n

He says he is running out of money due to battles with authorities on both sides of the Tasman and several months of medical treatment in the south of France.<\/p>\n

Thow launched a GoFundMe page asking for $75,000 on September 14. The page did not attract any donations in its first 10 days.<\/p>\n

Thow, 61, has been involved in flying privately and commercially since the early 1990s and has owned several companies operating in Otago and Southland.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the CAA laid charges against him of operating an aircraft without documentation and carrying a passenger and taking bookings to carry passengers without a necessary Air Operator Certificate.<\/p>\n

A judge-alone trial was scheduled for September 11, 2023.<\/p>\n

Police went to Thow\u2019s bail address in Alexandra the week before for a \u201cwelfare check\u201d at the judge\u2019s direction, as Thow had failed to show for earlier hearings.<\/p>\n

The following day, September 6, 2023, Thow flew out of Queenstown Airport for Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The trial went ahead anyway after Judge David Robinson ruled that under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, he could proceed in Thow\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

He found Thow guilty and convicted him of flying a helicopter without an appropriate licence or medical approval, operating without an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and attempting to operate without an AOC.<\/p>\n

Thow was sentenced to 325 hours of community service.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Thow was convicted and discharged for failing to provide information to and obstructing the CAA during its investigation.<\/p>\n

The CAA said the charges against Thow arose as he advertised and sold helicopter flights to the public in breach of the rules.<\/p>\n

Judge Robinson described the pilot\u2019s behaviour as \u201ccavalier\u201d, and said he \u201cacted in flagrant disregard of the rules that were intended to keep the community safe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Thow applied unsuccessfully for a retrial and to strike out the proceedings, and then went to the High Court to appeal his convictions.<\/p>\n

Court documents say a central part of his appeal was a claimed entitlement to operate a Bell helicopter with the registration VH-LEH in New Zealand as a commercial pilot, \u201cby reason of Australian registration and licensing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Thow told NZME that he had brought the Australian helicopter into New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was V.H.-registered [Australian] and I was flying on my Australian licence. Which is obviously the licence they said I never held, which is false,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said the relevant flights were private rather than commercial.<\/p>\n

In August last year, High Court Justice Robert Osborne dismissed the High Court appeal after Thow failed to turn up to a scheduled hearing.<\/p>\n

According to dates that Thow published online, he would have been in Europe around this time for medical treatment.<\/p>\n

After the High Court dismissed his appeal, Thow applied for leave to take his case to the Court of Appeal, which declined to hear it as it failed to meet the \u201chigh threshold\u201d required for a second appeal against conviction.<\/p>\n

In summing up, the Court of Appeal said Thow had complained about a \u201ccore perjury\u201d by Australian officials who had testified that his Australian licence had expired in 2019, but he maintained it remained valid until 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says that he has been systematically persecuted for some 40 years, wrongly imprisoned with torture on three occasions, and is the victim of an international conspiracy involving both New Zealand and Australian civil aviation authorities, the Crown and judicial officers,\u201d the Court of Appeal decision said.<\/p>\n

Despite his lack of success in the lower courts, Thow is now trying to raise funds to continue his legal battles, telling would-be donors he is taking them to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s registry confirmed that Thow had filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Problems \u2018started with engine failure\u2019 <\/p>\n

Thow traces his current problems back to a near-fatal engine failure in flight in 2008.<\/p>\n

He said after that crash, he got into a dispute with the CAA after \u201cpoking them for information on why my engine shut down\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the motive for this entire malicious prosecution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the event became the catalyst for the \u201cescalating legal and regulatory issues\u201d he later faced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got all the evidence on that entire thing and that\u2019s why the CAA, using their Crown prosecutor, have gone to all lengths to bury me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that in December 2010 \u2013 the year after the crash \u2013 his company was taken over by receivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the years since, I\u2019ve been involved in extensive legal proceedings connected to that event [the engine failure] and its aftermath, including a 2011 arrest on a burglary charge that the Crown dropped in February 2012 citing no evidence, and the later liquidation of my aviation companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thow said his prosecution raised \u201cunresolved questions\u201d about the status of his Australian pilot\u2019s licence, and information provided by Australian authorities to the CAA about his licence and medical status.<\/p>\n

He also questioned the authority and delegations held by CAA personnel executing their statutory powers, and information used to obtain a police search warrant.<\/p>\n

He said he had experienced difficulties obtaining CAA documents through the Official Information Act and on release, they were extensively redacted.<\/p>\n

Thow says on his GoFundMe page he is looking to raise an \u201curgent minimum\u201d of $35,000 to engage legal representation and cover three months of living costs.<\/p>\n

His \u201cfull target\u201d is $75,000, to pay for a barrister and provide six months of accommodation and living expenses.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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