Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 02:33:38 -0500 From: [CAP 10 ZOOM] at [aol.com] Return-Path: <[CAP 10 ZOOM] at [aol.com]> Subject: Re: Barnstorming To: [w--ot--n] at [dmi.net] Hi Jerry... Busier than hell here... sorry for late answer. Please feel free to reprint whatever you like... it would be our pleasure and privilege for you to do so. Jim <---- End Included Message ----> (Jim Cambell is the editor of USAviator Magazine) *********************************************************** USAviator Magazine Volume 8 Issue 2 February 1996 (The editors page) "Barnstorming" Yes, Bob Hoover has his medical back (until they think of a reason to pull it again), but cases of equal or worse malfeasance are popping up with increasing, ferocious regularity... each a little more bizarre than the last. Keith Peshak is a Texas-based electronics wizard with a background in avionics projects and defense-related indutries. Some time ago, whilst developing a novel GPS system that enhances the acuracy of the system without dependence on a stabilizing ground signal, Peshak petitioned the FAA to use his little Cessna 150 for Cat II approaches. He applied to the FAA and promptly got the runaround. The time since has been a maelstrom of almost comic weirdness. While waiting for the FAA to meet with him at another location, Peshak received a call from a friend indicating that someone was doing something strange to his airplane. Peshak raced to the airport and reportedly found his otherwise-locked Cessna 150 with the door jimmied open and an FAA inspector from the San Antonio FSDO inside. Peshak complained to the police but they told him the FAA told them (and since then, me) that they had the right to do this... so the police were unwilling to do anything about it. Peshak complained to the FAA and thought they have since, reportedly, conducted an investigation, Peshak claims the FAA investigator refused to interview him or examine the airplane. Peshak then reported all this to the FAA administrator at the EAA Oshkosh Fly-in's "Meet the Boss" session in 1994 and again in 1995. Since then, the FAA inspector Peshak reportedly found inside his airplane has sued him! Yup... FAA's Edward Greer claims his career has been harmed by Peshak's complaint, that he has been under mental duress as a result of it, that he has not been able to function adequately in his position as an FAA inspector, and, in addition to all that, that the resultant stress has caused him to contract cancer and severely inhibited his sexual performance. I'm not making this up... most of this actually was repeated during Peshak's somewhat turbulent deposition of Greer at the office of Kevin Miller, Greer's attorney. Peshak has reported a number of other troubles, including a mysterious visit from the Secret Service(!!!) who was tipped off by "a government agency" that Peshak had both the ability and the desire to send a GPS-guided Cessna crashing into the White House. The Secret Service refused to identify their informant... but the fact that this visit occurred just a few days before Peshak's deposition of Greer sure leads one to smell rodentia. Peshak is now broke, having to defend himself against this suit, and is defending himself "pro se"... which puts him at a serious disadvantage. But even all this should not result in what I have heard of thus far... such as the report (including a tape recording I have heard myself) that Peshak was threatened by Greer's lawyer when he came to take the deposition, and that he was eventually forced to undergo a rather intimate search of his person. Peshak also reports there was a physical assault... a report that sounds plausible based on the tape I heard. I have also received a copy of the initial report Peshak filed with the Texas Bar over the alleged conduct of Miller. It gets weirder... Two weeks ago, I filed a Freedon of Information Act request with the San Antionio FSDO about Peshak's complaint and Mr. Greer. Within hours I received several telephonic threats indicating intimate knowledge of the FOIA request, and threats that if I did not leave the "[expletive deleted] Greer story" alone, my pilot's license would be worth a pile of [expletive deleted]". Other threats ensued. Mind you, no one but those who saw the document at the SAT FSDO knew about it at the time, as I had not told Peshal or anyone else. I simply sent it to the San Antonio FSDO, and received the threats before I had a chance to comment on it to _anyone_. I must also tell you I have received two phone calls in the last year from people who corroborate Peshak's story about the break-in of his Cessna... but both parties fear the FAA's retribution (one has specifically indicated he was threatened about the matter) and refuse to go on the record. Unfortunately, that is but the tip of the iceberg... there are more twists and turns in this story than a Disneyland roller coaster run amuck. At this writing, Peshak is scheduled to go to court in but a few weeks, sans attorney (and sans his airplane... which he can no longer afford). God only knows what will happen as Peshak is a fairly intelligent guy, but not a lawyer. We will keep you informed. There are more such stories... each bizarre, unfair, illegal, and a true insult to all that is American. There is the recent story of an engine refitter who got involved in one of the infamous bogus parts raids similar to the botch job pulled on Wag-Aero, Aircraft Exhaust Systems, and others. When the principal of this operation stood on his rights and refused to answer any more questions (or simply couldn't remember details about a few others), the FAA applied the pressure by pulling his medical certificate, intimating that his unwillingness/inability to answer their questions had some medical basis. Do you believe this crap??? Some time ago, a busy Part 135 operation was raided, shut down, and after lengthy legal machinations, the whole case was dropped... after the nearly bankrupt company was sold to preserve some value from what little assets remained. The people who owned that complany were driven out of business by a bogus investigation. They lost nearly everything they had. They were humiliated, defrauded, and deprived of their livlihood - for no good reason. That was later proven in court, and you may have read Glenn Valentine's letter announcing his total withdrawal from aviation in last month's "Airmail." Sometimes it's simpler... run afoul of a fed, and you run into all kinds of trouble. Ask the guy who argued with a fed over his violation for an Eagle flight in which he was accused of flying below the minimum allowed altitude... _over_an_active_runway._ The FAA contends that a low pass down a runway constitutes an altitude violation since no landing or takeoff was taking place... but this really is an attempt to burn a guy they could not burn otherwise. Give me a break. And God help those in the FAA who don't get with the program... you'd be surprised. I've recently learned of a situation in which the _private_ E-mail sent between an off-duty FAA inspector and an embattled designated examiner somehow got into the possession of the FAA. The inspector was called on the carpet for said personal communications by his FSDO chief, who admitted they had copies of the electronic mail. Pardon me... but that is illegal as hell. Yup... it's a cold, cruel world out there. But damn it, this is _our_ country, right? This is _our_ government, right? And these are _our_ rights they are messing with, correct? Now, more than ever, is the time for pilots and airmen across the country to stand together and resist this with all the might we possess. And then there is the Senate's "McCain Bill"... which singlehandedly could wipe out most of general aviation in one ignorant swoop. If this bill passes, the FAA administrator would be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term (no sweat there), but the FAA would then set @!#$%^& _user_fees_ to fund certification, licensing, and ATC services. I just got an example of a bill for ATC services from Dick Wagner. His charitable foundation had one of its aircraft ferried, VFR, across Europe... and the bill he got was a mind-blower. This is what McCain and a few Senate dunderheads are trying to pull on us... to get us to _pay_again_ for a system that was financed, built, and operates by our tax dollars. God help us if this measure passes. I urge you to call or write this bozo. Let him know he will kill a great percentage of general aviation if he succeeds with this idiocy. A few weeks ago, I had the priviledge of flying a Christian Eagle from Santa Paula, CA, to my home in Winter Haven, FL. Under the clear glass bubble of the Eagle, I reacquainted myself with the land I have known all my life as America. She is a real beauty... the rugged sands and mysterious patterns of the Southern California desert, the lovely crags of the magnificently lonely Grand Canyon (which looks awesome from an inverted attitude!), those incredible untamed peaks of the Rockies, the sweet green plains of Kansas, the soft rolling hills of Kentucky, and the level lusciousness that is Georgia and Florida. It was something of an epiphany... a strong reminder of the wealth that is ours each time we fly... and what a wondrous land we fly over. I do love this country, more and more every day. But more important than the sights of America are her people. I met folks at countless airports, all struggling to keep their aviation dreams alive, all wanting to fly more, enjoy it more, and do so with the absolute minimum of interference and hassle. They _all_ expressed frustration, helplessness, and a sense of having lost control of their dreams... but regardless of the frustration, they return again and again to the beauty I have detailed. Ignore the penalties of what has occurred thus far and all that we fear will come to pass. The sky will be a stranger... and a total mystery to our children. But, fight these wrongs and we will return to the skies with new freedom, renewed vigor, and more access than we've seen in decades... as is our right. Don't sit this one out, folks. Be aware, be involved, and be a part of the solution to the problems. Take a stand!! Blue Skies! James R. "Zoom" Campbell Aero-Publisher in Search of Justice *********************************************************** Okay, Jim is through. This is me again! Now I ask you, what is the similarity between airplanes and guns? If you didn't figure it out reading Jims article, it is this: The government sees airplanes as a potential weapon to be used against them. Therefore, they MUST be controlled, if the government is to continue and increase its control of "the people". This is clear in their concern that Mr. Peshack's navigational device could control a Cessna into the Whitehouse. This of course is an equivalent device to the control system of a cruise missile Mr. Peshak only intends the device to deliver an airplane safely to the end of a runway in zero visibility conditions. An admirable goal, but one that scares the government. It may be difficult for a pilot, with his $50,000 toy, to understand why we care as much about our $500 toys, (average figures in both cases). It should be absolutely simple for them to understand why we are fighting the same battle. I emplore all aircraft owners and pilots to join with gun owners to save our Constitutional and God given rights. "Blue Skies", and Clean Bores, Jerry Wootan