A Life Wasted

Dahlonega, Georgia 1989 (cont)

Late the next afternoon I received a call from an FAA investigator in Atlanta. They had questions about my flight in the Tiger. This was Friday, so he suggested he come up to Dahlonega to see me on Monday. I didn't want to wait three days to find out why an FAA examiner wanted to talk to me so I suggested we meet now. I could fly down to PDK (Peachtree-Dekalb Airport in Atlanta) and we could meet there. He agreed. I checked out a club Cessna and flew to Atlanta.

The FAA examiner had reserved a conference room in Hanger One's executive facility. I'd used the same room to meet customers so I knew the way. I was more than a little surprised the FAA Investigator had a Federal DEA agent with him. I had no idea what this was about, but I had not expected it to be about drugs. My unusual flight in the Tiger had raised some serious questions. The FBO I rented the plane from became suspicious because the plane had more hours on it (air planes are rented by the hour of flight time which is recorded on a Hobbs meter) than it should have on a flight to Orlando and back, as I said I was doing. Add the extra day and the unusual circumstances of leaving the plane at Winder and you had the makings of a conspiracy to transport drugs from the Bahamas or perhaps Cuba.

So I told my version of the story. They had trouble believing I was stupid enough for half the things I claimed happened on that flight, but I assured them I was indeed that stupid. What really got their attention was when I said, "This is easy to resolve. Call my customers in Orlando and Key West. Both are FBO's and both will corroborate my story." I told them which FBO's and my customer's names. When I said John Doe (not his real name) was my customer in Key West the DEA agent said, "Really. John Doe is your alibi. You can do better than that." I didn't know it until the DEA agent explained, but John Doe didn't actually own the FBO, his dad did. I'd not met his dad since he was in federal prison for flying drugs from South America to Key West. Between my criminal record, which they knew about and using a known smuggler's son for an alibi, they were reasonably sure I was up to no good.

After hundreds of questions, phone calls and a great deal of explaining they began to believe me. At the end of the meeting the DEA agent said, "I believe you because no one could make up a story like that." I agreed with him. My entire life has been like that. I've got in trouble because I've broken the law. Those things are cause and effect. But things like this event with the rented airplane, all that happened on that flight, and then the investigation by the DEA, well those are things that happen to me without my doing something wrong. A lot of it is due to my unusual approach to life. Regardless of my different approach to things, strange things happen to me. As the DEA agent said, you just can't make this stuff up.