Alleges The Conduct of Unauthorized P-51 Flights

It's not been a good year for the Collings Foundation... The U.S. Department of Transportation’s FAA has proposed a $247,000 civil penalty against the Collings Foundation of Stow, Mass., for allegedly conducting unauthorized flights in a P-51D Mustang airplane.

The Mustang in question is a limited category aircraft, and FAA regulations prohibit charging people for flights in this category of aircraft.

The FAA alleges that between Jan. 17, 2020 and Jan. 30, 2020, the Foundation improperly operated the Mustang on 26 flights carrying people it had charged for flight training. The FAA alleges that before the operations occurred, FAA inspectors advised the Foundation that such flights would violate FAA regulations.

The Collings Foundation has 30 days after receiving the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the agency.

The Collings Foundation has had a pretty bad run of luck since an October 2019 accident with their B-17 resulted in the deaths of seven of the 13 people on board -- already the subject of at least three known lawsuits and legal actions. The FAA has since suspended Collings' operational exemption that allowed their conducting rides in their other aircraft. This decision was reached after a review of the relevant records and other evidence caused the FAA to determine Collings was not fulfilling several requirements of their exemption.

FMI: www.faa.gov