Friend Of "Aviation Criminal" Site Gets Turned In, Anonymously,
For Alleged Medical Ailment
There is a point at which the law becomes immoral and
unethical. That point is reached when it becomes a cloak for the
cowardice that dares not stand up against blatant violations of
justice.
Kurt Huber
One of my favorite sayings goes something along the lines of...
"thank God we're not getting all the government we're paying for."
And while the late, great Will Rogers was reportedly the instigator
of that profound opinion, we sincerely doubt he had any idea as
to how literally his warnings might have to be taken.
ANN is monitoring the complex and bewildering plight of an
airman in California who was turned into the FAA some weeks ago,
via the FAA Hotline, anonymously. The
anonymous tipster told the FAA that "Pilot X" (identified that way
in order to allow him some protection from further harassment) had
kidney stones -- a malady the FAA Medical folks can consider
immediately disqualifying for flight privileges.
This kind of stuff happens now and then and from what we hear
(and have dealt with, personally), the FAA is usually not too
difficult to deal with when such anonymous nonsense turns up
without a shred of evidence.
But.... not so, in this case.
"Pilot X" is a friend of Kristy Graham, known to ANN readers and
many others worldwide, as the webmaster of the "Aviation Criminal"
site... a web blog dedicated to warning the aviation world about
the Convicted Felon, conman, fraud and swindler, David Riggs.
"Pilot X" is also an alleged victim of Riggs' actions and criminal
activities and id engaged in legal action to defend himself against
him.
Riggs, as you may recall from previous ANN stories, is a pilot
who -- in the last few years -- served jail time (among other
penalties) for a dangerous public buzz job that terrified hundreds
(and made pilots look like asses) as he flew an L39 in VERY close
proximity to the Santa Monica Pier, and was also stopped by the FAA
from pulling off a poorly conceived and demonstrably dangerous air
race promotion/scam this past summer that could have endangered
many attendees at the Camarillo Airshow. Riggs's exploits have
embarrassed the aviation world time and time again... while
Graham's site has been tenacious, well-detailed, and instrumental
in making sure that as many people as possible knew about the
hazards posed by a man with an extraordinarily dangerous history of
hazarding others... physically and financially. Riggs has
threatened and harassed Graham (and others) a number of times...
but because of the manner in which Graham lives her life, his
threats have had minimal effect.
David G Riggs
And now... mystery of mysteries, friends and associates of
Graham's appear to be getting harassed by person(s) as yet
unknown... though the finger seems to point, prominently, in one
direction.
Despite the anonymity of the complaint and the total lack of
factual evidence of any kind, the FAA sent a letter of
investigation to "Pilot X" and demanded information, five years of
medical records, and the like.
The letter opened with a chilling paragraph, stating that,
"We have recently received a hotline compliant (sic) alleging
that you suffer from kidney stones information which indicates a
reasonable basis to believe you may not meet the medical standards
described in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR),
Part 67. You may not be qualified to hold any class medical
certificate."
The letter continues, "Under the authority of Title 14 of
the CFR, Sections 67.413(a) and 67.407(d), the Federal Aviation
Administration is reexamining your qualifications in order to
determine whether you meet the medical standards for the medical
certificate issued you by the aviation medical examiner.
We are writing, therefore, to ask your assistance in this
matter. In order to determine whether you meet the medical
standards, you are requested to submit to this office
all medical/treatment records for the past five years and a
personal statement responding to the allegations that you have a
history of kidney stones."
(E-I-C Note: Bold and Underlined text above
denotes same font treatment as seen in FAA Letter.)
The letter goes on to advise that "Pilot X" is responsible for
all costs associated with the FAA's requests and that a failure to
accede to their demands means that, "...pursuant to Title 14 of
the CFR, Section 67.413, your failure to furnish the requested
information could be the basis for immediate suspension,
modification, or revocation of your certificate."
The December 21st letter, (sent by Stephen E. Goodman, M.D.,
Senior Regional Flight Surgeon, Western Pacific Regional Medical
Office) goes on to state that if he doesn't reply within 30 days,
that the FAA will, "have no alternative except to deny your
application in accordance with Title 14 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), Section 67.413." The letter also warns this
pilot that any flying in the meantime, "in view of your
possible disqualification," could be used to instigate a
violation against him.
So... in other words... he either jumps through the hoops
proffered by the FAA in response to an unsubstantiated, anonymous
complaint, or he gets grounded. And... he gets to pay for whatever
expenses arise out of having to respond to the
aforementioned anonymous, unsubstantiated, complaint.
"Pilot X" responded carefully... and after having passed a
quasi-recent medical exam, hoped that this response would mollify
the FAA.
His response stated the following:
"This letter is in reference to your letter dated December
21, 2011 regarding an anonymous "Hotline Complaint" alleging that I
am suffering from kidney stones.
First; I will state that I am NOT suffering from kidney
stones, nor have I ever suffered from kidney stones. I am in
excellent health and have been most of my life.
Second; Since I do not have any medical conditions I do not
have any medical records other then the ones the FAA possesses from
my third class medical exams by Dr. Edward Shore. And, as
they state, I am in excellent heath and not suffering from any
conditions.
Third; I take issue to your threatening letter demanding
that I relinquish ALL personal medical information regardless
whether it pertains to this witch hunt or not. As well as
threatening to revoke my FAA medical in 30 days. This is a
violation of my civil rights. A simple inquiry to this matter would
have been more then sufficient to get your questions
answered.
It is quite apparent that anyone can call your FAA "Hotline"
for no other reason then to harass a pilot using the FAA as a
federal henchman. And, as in this case, that's exactly what has
happened. I am the plaintiff in a lawsuit against a multi convicted
felon over an aviation fraud issue. A well known FAA problem named
David G. Riggs. Contacting Ian Gregor, FAA western regional
spokesman would verify this.
I have not violated any FAA regulations nor am I suffering
from any condition that would prevent me from holding a current FAA
medical."
"Pilot X" furnished the requested statement/denial of having
kidney stones and noted that he had passed a recent medical exam
with his AME... but did not furnish any additional medical records,
because (being in good health), he didn't have any and stated
so.
"I can't supply what doesn't exist," he explained.
The FAA's Ian Gregor, to his credit, did forward info and
supporting data to the FAA medical staff to fill them in on the
probable source of the anonymous report... but the sad fact is that
all this fell on deaf ears and "Pilot X" still finds himself
squarely in the FAA's cross-hairs.
Gregor also noted that, "I can't comment on anybody's
private medical matters. We are obligated to investigate every
hotline complaint we receive. We can't randomly pick and choose
which ones we look into and which ones we don't look into. The fact
that we send someone a letter concerning a hotline allegation does
not mean we believe the allegation is valid."
Inexplicably, though, the FAA is treating this unsubstantiated,
cowardly, and anonymous report as valid... and last week, "Pilot X"
received an unwelcome and confusing response from the FAA. The
January 25th letter from Latonya Walton, a Program Analyst for the
FAA's Western Pacific Regional Medical Office demanded more
information... information that apparently does not exist.
Walton stated that, "we are still unable to establish your
eligibility to hold a medical certificate," and that while
they were not denying his medical certificate, per se, that they
WOULD do so unless he furnished the rest of the info they requested
the month before. Examination of the responding letter reveals only
one item of any significance missing from the "Pilot X" response...
the five years of medical records/history that did not exist
outside of the medical info the FAA already had from his having
participated in his regular, mandated, FAA medical
examinations.
Catch 22... you can't furnish what you don't have.
AND; even if he did all that, Walton's letter concludes that
even when those demands were satisfied, "...further testing may
be required by the FAA."
Pilot X is not a happy guy in all this, and has told ANN that,
"I think this story is very important and should be questioned
and told. The FAA must, in no way, take an anonymous phone call and
turn it into an inquisition on the pilot. A simple inquiry would
have been the best first contact. The pilot is guilty until proven
innocent, and as the letter clearly states, it's ALL on the accused
pilot. And I take that as the FAA can do anything they please to go
as far as they please to make you prove anything they demand, along
with suspending or revoking a pilot's medical until they feel the
matter is resolved, AND demanding private medical records that have
no bearing on the complaint.
All this from an anonymous phone call.
But this issue is not about me it's about the FAA's arrogant
practices and violation of citizens rights. I would rather you
wrote about the big issue and not about me personally..."
In the meantime, despite an amazing amount of testimony, witness
reports, video (many posted to YouTube and other sites), audio data
and other reports, Convicted Felon and perennial
aero-embarrassment, David G Riggs, seems to be conducting a number
of questionable and potentially unsafe/unlawful aviation
activities... and receiving far less scrutiny
for his mountain of truly ponderous actions and allegedly
unsafe actions, than "Pilot X" is getting for an unsubstantiated
and anonymous complaint alleging a malady that was NOT reportedly
evidenced during his last medical exam with an AME.
ANN finds that puzzling and, yes, reprehensible.
Riggs is a known and proven danger to others as well as himself
(frankly, we're amazed that he hasn't hurt/killed himself or
someone else -- and there are those who suggest he may have been
responsible, in part, for a fatal film-stunt gone bad in which two
pilots died) and he seems to get away with quite a lot (while
receiving the occasional slap on the wrist... a situation which he
is known to flaunt and brag about--publicly)... while one of this
alleged victims now finds himself within days of losing his flight
privileges... for a reason he has a hard time separating from the
threats and harassment he (and friends) have experienced at the
direction of Riggs...
More info to follow.
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