Trouble Is, My Plane Isn't A Piper... And IS In Pieces

by ANN Senior E-Media Producer Paul Plack

When I got the letter in the mail, I thought it was a scam. The folks at Bowen & Associates in Lewisville, TX informed me that because I had ignored previous invoices seeking payment of my balance of $152, my account with Miracle Strip Aviation at the Destin, FL Airport had been referred to them for collection.

Quote -- "It is our intent to pursue collection of this debt through every means available to us. We extend this opportunity to settle this debt in a friendly manner. You may either pay this debt in full to my office or you must call...at once."

I was curious on several levels. I don't have an account with Miracle Strip Aviation, and I've never been to the Destin Airport. While I've taken a few manufacturer demo flights in Florida in the course of reporting work, I've never refueled an aircraft anywhere in the state. I've never seen an invoice from Miracle Strip Aviation.

If you've ever had something like this happen to you, you know your mind races through possibilities. There was an Embry Riddle student with a name similar to mine who didn't pay his bills in Florida back in the early 1990s, and that started a bunch of erroneous collection calls coming to me -- was he back? Did an Aero-News corporate expense somehow wind up under my name? Was I the victim of identity theft?

Was the envelope postmarked in Nigeria?

Actually, it turns out, it may have been dyslexia... or poor penmanship. The folks at Miracle Strip told ANN they'd serviced a Piper airplane with a tail number of N954P in April 2007, and never been paid. Apparently they looked up my N-number somewhere that listed an old address, so I never got their invoices.

They also missed a big detail. N954P is mine all right... but it looks nothing like anything built by Piper. It's a Sport Copter Vortex gyroplane that's still under construction (below).

There's not much they could have sold me for it but fuel, and with a total capacity of 9 US gallons, there's no way my aircraft could take $152 worth of avgas, even at Miracle Strip's current rate of $6.94 a gallon. That is, if my aircraft was even built yet.

The guy at the collection agency, who got my correct address from the FAA database, said a lineman wearing gloves probably wrote down the number illegibly. Vicki, and the other folks at Miracle Strip, were very nice when I called them and got the whole thing straightened out. I'm starting to calm down, but at the same time, a chilling thought has come to mind.

What if this same FBO lineman, instead of recording the wrong N-number only in the records at the FBO, had decided to try for a 10 percent reward from the Florida Department of Revenue for turning in a visiting out-of-state aircraft owner? I could have received a surprise bill for six percent of the value of an aircraft much more expensive than the one I actually own. And I doubt there would have been any interest from the other end in "getting things straightened out."

Just a heads-up to FBO linemen in the Sunshine State -- as long as the Florida Tax Trap remains on the books, my aircraft won't be on your ramp. One surprise from Florida is enough.

FMI: www.aviationtaxconsultants.com, www.fata.aero