Ilyushin IL-78 Has Sat At Sawyer International For 13 Months,
And Will Be There A Little Longer
A Russian military jet being delivered to Pakistan where it was
to be used for training wound up stranded in Michigan's Upper
Peninsula for 13 months, and while locals say they'll be happy to
see it leave soon, it's not going anywhere for a while.
The airplane landed at Sawyer International Airport (KSAW) last
year when it was denied permission to leave U.S. airspace. The
IL-78 had reportedly sat in Texas for three years, where it was
accruing storage and repair bills which were going unpaid. A
company which is controlled by Florida entrepreneur Gary Fears'
family trust reportedly owned the plane, which had hoped to use it
as a water bomber to fight fires. The Ilyushin had started life as
an aerial tanker, and Fears' company bought it from Ukraine in 2005
for about $4 million. But Fears could not get the plane certified
as a water tanker, so it sat in Texas.
And it sat. Maintenance firm owner Victor Miller eventually
placed a lien against the aircraft as the bills stacked up to over
$62,000. When he learned that Fears had sold the plane and planned
to have it ferried to Pakistan, he took out a restraining order to
prevent it from being moved.
That didn't appear to deter Fears. The Detroit News
reports that the FAA granted a ferry permit for the plane, but it
was good only in the US. When the airplane departed Texas, before
the tower was open and without permission to leave the U.S., Miller
tracked it online.
His lawyer contacted authorities in Michigan about the plane
after it landed, unable to depart U.S. airspace into Canada, saying
the plane was stolen. The Marquette County sheriff's office said
they had no jurisdiction over the Texas legal 'Cold War'. Fears
said he was "on a tight schedule" and had hoped to receive
clearance to depart U.S. airspace while in flight, insisting he was
not sealing the plane. But when the flight crew, five of whom were
Ukrainian with expired visas, told authorities they were flying to
Pakistan and couldn't be specific as to WHY they were going there,
the plane was "swarmed" by agents from the FBI, Immigration, TSA,
and the FAA. The crew was arrested and held for two days before the
foreign nationals were returned to the former Soviet state.
Meanwhile, the planes' tires were locked and it was blocked by a
snowplow. Fears was fined $2,500 for trying to take the plane out
of the U.S. without approval.
But that's not the end of the story. The paper says a judge
in Michigan found in favor of Miller and granted him ownership of
the plane, which he then sold for $60,000 to covered almost all of
the debt he said he was owed. Fears contested the sale, and paid
the debt a couple of weeks ago, but it will be November before
another judge decides whether he can reclaim his $4 million
airplane. If he does, there may be a sense of deja vu, as it
apparently will need more repairs. Locals say that fuel is leaking
from its wings, and birds are nesting in the tailcone.
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