wool@oracle.UUCP (Chris Wooldridge) (12/09/85)
A week or two ago, someone cited the famous "forged logbook" case as a
rationale for not declaring emergencies -- because big bad FAA would yank
your license. This month's AOPA Pilot has the complete story of this
one. The flight instructor got his legal expenses back through the Equal
Access to Justice Act. The FAA does seem to have been overzealous, but
the fact that the student filed the original complaint, withdrew it and
then denied ever having made it... hard to figure out exactly WHAT happened.
The article talks about how the act not only allows you to recover legal
expenses from wrongful prosecution (even in admin hearings, NTSB, etc.),
but its effect on the FAA's enforcement actions.
Also in the issue - a pirep on the new super-duper Mooney 252, which should
leave the Wichita crowd in the dust. There is life after Lopresti ...
(Mooney N6213U)
--
Chris Wooldridge
Oracle Corporation
1100 206th Avenue, N.E.
Redmond, Wa. 98053
(206) 868-1985 {ihnp4!muuxl,hplabs}!oracle!wool ahv@masscomp.UUCP (Tony Verhulst) (12/12/85)
>A week or two ago, someone cited the famous "forged logbook" case as a >rationale for not declaring emergencies -- because big bad FAA would yank >your license. This month's AOPA Pilot has the complete story of this >one. The flight instructor got his legal expenses back through the Equal >Access to Justice Act. >-- >Chris Wooldridge Maybe so. But, the instructor also lost his job at the FBO (also a dealership if I remember correctly) and his professional reputation. Things not recovered through the Equal Access to Justice (or any other) Act. Tony Verhulst
ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (12/13/85)
>> A week or two ago, someone cited the famous "forged logbook" case as a >> rationale for not declaring emergencies -- because big bad FAA would yank >> your license. This month's AOPA Pilot has the complete story of this >> one. The flight instructor got his legal expenses back through the Equal >> Access to Justice Act. >> -- >> Chris Wooldridge > Maybe so. But, the instructor also lost his job at the FBO > (also a dealership if I remember correctly) and his professional > reputation. Things not recovered through the Equal Access to Justice > (or any other) Act. > Tony Verhulst Actually, the AOPA article fails to mention several things that were mentioned in the article I originally saw on the topic (in Aviation Consumer). First, the AOPA article says the pilot in question "eventually recovered close to $12,000". It doesn't say that "eventually" means about five years, nor does it say that the pilot's actual legal expenses were, if I remember right, more like $17,000 than $12,000. It also doesn't mention that after the NTSB ruled against the FAA, the FAA didn't simply fork over the money -- they appealed the NTSB's ruling to Federal court! It also doesn't mention that the pilot in question had been the owner of an FBO, which he lost because he couldn't find anyone to insure him while the case was pending against him. Nor does it mention that with all these expenses and no income, he had to declare bankruptcy. No, the AOPA article tries to make it look like everything is just wonderful. It isn't.