You might be able to complete the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs, but that doesn’t mean you’ll outrun the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to enforce laws and regulation!

In February of 2017, NPR reported that the FAA would be investigating Harrison Ford for flying his plane over a jetliner that had been waiting to takeoff – a violation of FAA safety procedures.  The incident occurred as a result of Ford landing on the wrong runway.  While he may have played a rebel-with-a-cause pilot that got away with everything in Star Wars while acting in the roll of Han Solo, in real life Mr. Ford is as subject to the law and FAA procedures as much as any other pilot.

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Questions:

1) What’s a story you recall where a celebrity had a run-in with the law?

2) Did you think the person received special treatment or harsher treatment because they were celebrities?

3) Sometimes, people may be ‘made an example by a court – after they are found legally responsible for a crime and when their punishment is being decided, a judge may decide to ‘send a message to the community’ that a type of crime will not only be illegal, but punished harshly.  Then, the give the person the biggest punishment possible (there may still be limits to what the punishment can be based on the laws around the crime being punished).  Sometimes this can happen to famous people.  What do you think: Why is it far or unfair to let a person’s fame influence the size (scope and intesnsity) of their punishment?

Be sure to provide full explanations for your answers. For more details, you can read the article this piece was sourced from here:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/15/515328041/faa-investigating-after-harrison-ford-flies-over-jetliner-awaiting-takeoff