REPO MAN

This case involves a highly skilled professional pilot and is current. It demonstrates that nothing has changed. Nor will it, unless pilots take up the cudgel.

THE CRIME COMES LAST OF ALL

This is one of the many utterly stupid and grossly unfair enforcement cases I saw in 1967-68 while working in the FAA branch that had oversight over the entire enforcement program. It takes you from start to finish. While of some length, if you want to really know how the minds of FAA lawyers grind along, be sure to read it. This is enforcement at the ground level. The pilot landed his C-172 on a California state road in an area close to Death Valley that looks like a moonscape, with a similar population. ("If we don't go after him we'll have pilots landing all over Los Angeles." DeWitte T. Lawson Jr.) No kidding, he really said that!

NO BASIS IN LAW

Published in the Aviation Digest in 1987, this provides, I think, one of my best explanations for pilot and non-lawyer of the FAA Enforcement program. It is important for everyone to read, especially those who can't take the time to read my law review article, "Emperor."

CAN THEY TAKE YOUR TICKET

Published in the Southern Aviator, while this has some repetition of what you will read in No Basis In Law, but read together they give you the full picture.

RELEVANT LAW

Here you will find key sections of the Federal Aviation Act (FA Act). Included is the infamous section 609 that deals with suspensions and revocations, but doesn't even hint at their use as sanctions for violations. You'll see how plainly section 901 states that civil penalties are the only type of sanction in the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, and predecessors. They read exactly as written in the Act itself. For reasons explained in the Coverup section, do not rely on the current United States Code Annotated where these two sections have been unlawfully tampered with by FAA/DOT lawyers taking advantage of a recodification program designed to put all transportation law in one organized bundle.

Very important are the sections from the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Senator Pat McCarran, its sponsor in 1946, and chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, called the act a "Bill of Rights" for citizens subject to federal regulation.

CAN YOU BEAT THE RAP?

A recent article, it outlines the strategy of how you can legally defeat a punitive certificate action, using the APA. If you are involved in, or under the threat of a certificate action for an air-safety violation, it is a must read. But every pilot should. It's not long.

TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

Over the years, a frequent question asked by pilots has been: What is AOPA doing about the unlawful use of license penalties? Read it, and you'll find out. I would hope you feel as distressed by AOPA's attitude as I was in learning about it.

75 YEARS OF COVERUP

Want to know what's wrong with FAA, government, and government lawyers? Don't miss this, under any circumstances. If you don't shake your head in disbelief, reread it. It is a damning indictment of FAA lawyers and their predecessors, based on FACT.

FAA BLACKJACK

This was my first article after working as a consultant to the U.S. General Accounting Office. The term "blackjack" actually originated at the Civil Aeronautics Administration (FAA's predecessor agency) in the early 1950s. If you read nothing else in Emperor, go to pp. 77-82. There you will find detailed information on the background and practice of "blackjacking."

FBO: TIME FOR REFORM

This article conveys some ideas I have that particularly apply to small operators. They would minimize the violation of constitutional rights, and definitely enhance air safety.

FAA NEEDS A COMMISSION

This piece appeared in the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association Journal. It originated with a memo I wrote to a GAO official while I was a consultant there. It involves the great flaw in the FAA structure I saw while working there in 1967-68,and proposes a way to correct it. This man had done a careful study that tracked FAA projects, like jellied fuel, flammability of upholstery, and so forth. There would be a flurry of activity by staff, then the projects would fade away after a couple of years. A commission to legislate regulations, and to act as a kind of board of directors of the FAA, even if only advisory on policy, is the only way the agency will ever be straightened out.

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PETITION TO ADOPT A COMPREHENSIVE RULE

This petition was an attempt to force the problems with license penalties out in the open. What happened to it is explained in the Coverup section. It is lengthy, and if you are a serious student of FAA enforcement you will want to read it. Otherwise, read the Summary which was published in the Federal Register, and the excerpts of public comments made in response to that. These are well worth the effort.

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PETITION TO AMEND FAR 13.19

When it was obvious FAA lawyers were going to sit on the petition for a comprehensive rule I filed this new petition. It asked only that FAR 13.19 be amended to state exactly what FAA lawyers claim they are authorized to do. If there was any legal basis for that they would have already had such language in FAR 13.19 telling you they can order your license suspended or revoked as a penalty for a safety violation. The backup material is well worth reading. It shows how easily this policy is talked about in agency manuals, going back as far as 1926. That raises the obvious question, Why are FAA lawyers so hesitant to put it in an FAR?

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HELP STOP LICENSE PENALTIES

Here you'll learn two easy steps you can take to bring illegality of license penalties out in the open. One is a form for a petition for rule making that you can file; the other, a form letter to Administrator Jane Garvey. Remember, "We don't HAVE to be just sheep!" __________