![]()
This year GlobalAir.com reported on some of the craziest events in the world of aviation. From an international drug trafficking scheme to children surviving 40 days in the Amazon jungle after a plane crash, 2023 was a wild year.
Here are some of the most bizarre stories we saw in aviation.
B-29 replica hits golf cart
On Nov. 5, a B-29 replica drifted while landing, slamming into a golf cart in Indiana, sending the woman on the cart who was filming the landing to the hospital.
The replica was an experimental 35%-scale model, built and flown by Raymond T. Hodgson. The plane came down for the landing during a flight test and drifted, hitting the golf cart and causing it to roll over. The woman was knocked unconscious and taken to a local hospital by helicopter.
Hodgson had built most of the parts on the replica B-29. The model is built on a smaller scale but still boasts an impressive wingspan. The plane is about 35 feet long and the wingspan is almost 50 feet. The real B-29 Superfortress was about 99 feet long with a wingspan of 141 feet.
The NTSB is conducting a Class 4 investigation, meaning there was no preliminary report but a final report will be issued at the conclusion.FULL STORY: Scaled B-29 replica hits golf cart upon landing, injuring 1
Tomato-throwing, sky-high stalker
A village in New York was terrorized by a low-flying pilot who stalked a woman for nearly four years. The pilot was arrested on June 1 for violating a protection order and a no-fly order that was issued by a judge after his first arrest. He was accused of flying under 1,000 feet over the victim's home and pelting her yard with tomatoes.
Schuylerville resident Cassandra Wilusz and her neighbors lived in fear for years, hearing the low hum of the engine roaring overhead. The alleged stalker, 64-year-old Michael J. Arnold, flew his 1976 Cessna 180 over her home and business up to three times a week for almost four years, according to locals. Wilusz told reporters she met Arnold when he was a customer in her shop. Then she received an email containing inappropriate unsolicited pictures and messages.
The warning she reportedly gave him after the email did not deter Arnold from flying over her home and business for years, circling the wider portion of the village and scaring the entire community.
Despite numerous calls to the police, the stalking continued. The FAA responded to numerous media outlets that it had fully investigated the claims and found no evidence the pilot violated FAA regulations. Flight records did indicate there were numerous occasions when Arnold flew below the minimum altitude required by the FAA, which is 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle in the city and 500 feet in rural areas. Arnold was found to be flying as low as 300-400 feet over the village, over homes, businesses and even the school.
Arnold was arraigned in October on two felonies and three misdemeanors, according to the Bennington Banner. The charges included violation of an abuse prevention order, aggravated stalking with court order violation, giving police false information to implicate another, attempted impeding of an officer and resisting arrest. He continually denied the stalking allegations, even when prosecutors accused him of posting messages online under a Facebook account with a fake name, saying things like, "nobody stalked that," and "not my type" on his victim's business page, according to Fox News. The Bennington Banner reports that Arnold faces 11 years behind bars if convicted on all counts. We could find no indication when looking for updates that a trial date has been set.FULL STORY: Pilot arrested after years of sky-high stalking
Counterfeit engine parts found worldwide, arrest made
Counterfeit parts were discovered in about 100 planes worldwide, including in aircraft belonging to major airlines like Southwest, United and American Airlines. One company was found to have supplied major airlines in the U.S. and UK with parts with falsified paperwork and, by December, one arrest had been made.
Thousands of parts sold by British distributor AOG Technics had falsified paperwork and at least 100 engines around the world were found to contain the them. The problems were found in CFM56 engines, which power some Airbus and Boeing models, and is the world's best-selling engine. Southwest was the first to report finding the undocumented parts and within a couple of months, more airlines reported the same, including Ryanair. Both EASA and the FAA issued warnings, and jet engine maker CFM International, which makes the CFM56 engine, filed a suit against the company, asking for access to documents for parts in engines made since the company's founding in 2015.
On Dec. 6 the UK's Serious Fraud Office announced it had arrested a person in connection with the fraud and other outlets reported it was AOG Technics founder, Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala. With news of the arrest, the SFO shared it had launched a new criminal investigation into fraud at AOG.
Bloomberg, which first broke the story about the apparent fraud, reported that Zamora Yrala, a Venezuelan former techno DJ, joined the industry in 2010. Yrala began the company in 2015 with under £10,000 in cash. In the year ending in February 2020, AOG brought in a profit of over £2.2 million and reported £2.43 million in cash. This is allegedly when the fraudulent activity began.
While only about 1% of the 23,000 existing CFM56 engines appear to be affected, counterfeit parts are a major concern. Without proper paperwork there is no way to know the airworthiness of a component or the aircraft, making the parts unusable.FULL STORY: Arrest made in international fraudulent aircraft engine parts investigation
Pilot posted on Snapchat before deadly crash
A pilot was killed when his Cessna 182 hit a radio tower guy wire and then impacted terrain, just 30 seconds after posting a video to the social media app Snapchat. The NTSB said the pilot was distracted by his phone and did not maintain adequate visual lookout to avoid the radio tower and wires, leading to the deadly crash.
The NTSB final report came out this year for the May 17, 2021 crash involving a 23-year-old pilot conducting a low-altitude pipeline patrol flight in St. Louis, Michigan. The young pilot was reportedly flying between 475 and 800 feet in the last few minutes of the flight.
After the crash, two people reported that the pilot had posted a Snapchat video just before the crash. The video reportedly showed terrain ahead of the plane, as well as wind turbines and cornfields located several miles southeast of the crash site. The video did not contain footage of the crash.
A screenshot of the Snapchat map showed that the video was posted about 1.5 miles southeast of the radio tower, which the NTSB said was likely about 35 seconds before the crash. An examination did not reveal any malfunction or failure that would have impeded normal operation.The NTSB recommends that nonoperational usage of personal electronic devices should be avoided while flying and the FAA has guidelines for flight crews operating commercial flights which require a sterile cockpit. Without the same heavy restrictions and rules in other types of aviation, it is often up to the individual pilot or crew to self-regulate.
"PED-related distraction has played a role, or at least been present, in accidents involving improper fuel management, loss of positional awareness, loss of automation mode awareness, collision with obstacles, and loss of control," the NTSB said. "Thus, pilots should avoid nonoperational use of PEDs during preflight planning and preparation to focus your attention on these critical tasks."FULL STORY: Pilot posted Snapchat video moments before deadly crash
Gender reveal goes terribly wrong
Gender reveals have become enormously popular for expecting parents in recent years and as the trend has grown, so have the elaborate acts. A gender reveal became deadly when a plane dumping pink smoke crashed, killing the pilot.
On Sept. 2, a couple gathered with friends and family in San Pedro, Mexico to celebrate the gender reveal for their baby. Standing on the ground among an assortment of balloons and large light-up letters, the couple was seen waiting for the plane to fly over with the big announcement. The plane, a Piper PA-25 Pawnee, flew low overhead. The couple and their friends and family cheered, celebrating their baby girl, while the video showed the left wing bending upward as the plane pulled up and then spiraled to the ground just beyond the partygoers. Unaware that the plane was headed straight to the ground, some celebrating released confetti canons and cheered as the video captured the horrific site.
In the aftermath, not shown on video, witnesses called 911 and paramedics arrived quickly. The pilot, 32-year-old Luis Ángel, was trapped inside the aircraft. Paramedics freed him and took him to the hospital in serious condition, where he later died from his injuries. Local media outlet Línea Directa reported that Ángel presumably flew upward due to the sudden movement and the wind caused a wing from the plane to break and go into a tailspin.
Gender reveals have evolved from cutting a cake to reveal a blue or pink inside to extremely involved or elaborate events, with some of the most extreme reveals ending in wildfires or deaths.FULL STORY: Video shows plane crash at gender reveal party, killing 1
Flight school fleet vandalized by angry studentIn October a student pilot reportedly took out his frustration over being denied a solo flight on his flight school's fleet. The 23-year old student was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief after authorities said he vandalized 10 aircraft belonging to the Treasure Coast Flight School in Florida.
Sumebh Singh, a student from India, was taking lessons at Treasure Coast in Stuart, Florida. The flight school instructors would not allow Singh to take a solo flight, which reportedly upset him. School officials called the Martin County Sherrif's Office when they saw Singh on video going from plane to plane, damaging the aircraft.
The damage was an estimated $1,200 for each aircraft, or about $12,000 total. He was arrested and held without bond since he was in the country on a work visa.
Treasure Coast is a full-service flight school that trains pilots from all over the world, using certifications required in specific nations or regions. After the incident, the school's entire fleet was grounded to undergo inspections and maintenance.
Chief Deputy John Budensiek told a local outlet that Singh was mad at the flight company because of how much money it cost him so his goal was to cost the school what training had cost him, about $50,000. The FBI joined the investigation and since the suspect is an Indian citizen, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement was also contacted.FULL STORY: Student pilot vandalized 10 aircraft after being denied solo flight, charged with felony
Children found alive, weeks after Amazon plane crash
After a Cessna 206 crashed on May 1 near the Guaviare province in Colombia, people in the country and all over the world held their breath while reports went back and forth on whether the four siblings traveling on the plane with their mother were alive. Colombian President Gustavo Petro tweeted that the children were found by armed forces, then deleted it, adding to the unconfirmed reports while the search was still ongoing and causing confusion.
Magdalena Mucutuy was traveling with her four children, Herman Mendoza and pilot Hernando Murcia when the plane crashed in the Amazon. The plane experienced engine failure and declared an emergency. After contact was lost, the search efforts began in the expansive jungle. The bodies of all three adults were found, but the children were not at the site. Based on small clues found in the area, the search teams believed the children to be alive.
Mucutuy was an indigenous Muinane belonging to the Puerto Sábalo community, a Witoto ethnic group. As part of the indigenous community, the children, aged four, nine and 13, and an infant of 11 months, knew the jungle that allowed them to fend for themselves.
Searchers found clues like scissors, hair ties, a baby bottle, half-eaten fruit and a makeshift shelter made out of sticks and branches. The effort lasted for weeks. Three helicopters flew overhead, each playing a special recorded message from the children's grandmother in their native Witoto language, telling them to stop moving so the rescue teams could find them.
On June 9, over one month after the deadly crash that killed their mother, the children were found alive and in reasonable health. The search brought together two different communities, the indigenous people and the military, to put differences aside to work together.
"Their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle has saved them," President Petro told reporters, according to CNN. "They are children of the jungle and now children of Colombia."FULL STORY: 4 children found alive in Amazon, 40 days after plane crash
Trevor Jacob sentenced in YouTube plane crash stunt - and flies againYouTuber Trevor Jacob was sentenced to six months in federal prison on Dec. 4 for obstructing a federal investigation by destroying the wreckage of an aircraft he had intentionally crashed in a viral video. Jacob then released his side of the story in a YouTube post.
Jacob was an experienced pilot, skydiver and former Olympic athlete who took his love for adrenaline-pumping activities to social media. After securing a sponsorship to promote a wallet, Jacob took off on Nov. 24, 2021, to film a stunt that would ultimately land him in a federal court. What seemed like a normal flying video would end up being a dangerous stunt, where Jacob planned to eject midflight and video himself parachuting to the ground as the plane descended and crashed. The stunt did not go unnoticed, with the FAA launching an investigation soon after.RELATED STORY: YouTuber pilot Trevor Jacob sentenced to 6 months in federal prison
In the weeks following, Jacob told investigators he could not find the crash site, while secretly driving out to retrieve the cameras and remove the wreckage to cut it up and dispose of it. The viral video he uploaded one month after the crash did not help matters, showing Jacob leaving the plane without performing measures like contacting ATC, restarting the engine or looking for a safe place to land. He was ordered to surrender his license in 2022 and by May 2023, he agreed to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in a federal prison.RELATED STORY: Trevor Jacob shares reason for intentional plane crash, says he got his pilot's license back
After his sentencing, Jacob released a video with his thoughts on the situation, along with the news that he had obtained a temporary pilot certificate and his application was working its way through the FAA's standard process. Jacob revealed, in between clips of him flying a plane, skateboarding and wrestling, that he crashed the plane as part of a bucket list dream. While he admitted he has grown up since the stunt, he said it was a bucket list goal and not for views. He said his actions were wrong, but claimed that he was not chasing clout or trying to reinforce his ego.
Shortly after that, local media reported that first responders rushed to an area airport in December after Jacob, flying a kitplane, radioed the control tower to say he was having a fuel issue. Read more about that in the link below.FULL STORY: Infamous YouTuber pilot Trevor Jacob's latest emergency - he declared possible fuel issue during recent flight
Drug-smuggling jets and a Ponzi scheme
What does business aviation have to do with international drug trafficking and money laundering? Ask Debra Lynn Mercer-Erwin. Mercer-Erwin. She was convicted of numerous federal crimes, linking her flying operation with international drug trafficking, money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy among a list of charges. From 2010 to 2020, federal authorities said Mercer-Erwin used her business to enable the distribution of cocaine across the U.S. through illegally registered aircraft.
Throughout the decade, Mercer-Erwin would register the planes under foreign corporations and other individuals to allow the export into other countries. Planes within the U.S. are required to use an N-number, indicating the registration and legal operations. Mercer-Erwin was the owner of Wright Brothers Aircraft Title and Aircraft Guaranty Corporation, which she used for the shady transactions. She would use WBAT as an escrow agent for the transactions involving AGC, which was the designated party for FAA filings.
Many countries are less likely to inspect a U.S.-registered aircraft for airworthiness and the illegally registered aircraft were used by crime organizations in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. The planes would smuggle cocaine into the U.S., which would be used to buy more cocaine or more aircraft. Mercer-Erwin, a member of the BizAv community, knew her clients were involved in the drug business and hid their identities and sources of money to gain a large profit. The investigation began in 2019 and during that time, it was discovered that over 1,000 planes were registered to just two PO boxes in Onalaska, Texas, the home of AGC.
Along with the drug smuggling, Mercer-Erwin was also running her own Ponzi scheme, authorities said, to bring in an even bigger payout. From 2014-2020, she was involved in the fake sale of up to 100 aircraft and involving nearly $500 million. In February 2021, Mercer-Erwin was indicted by a federal grand jury and faced up to life in a federal prison. She was the only defendant to proceed to trial, with co-defendants Kayleigh Moffett (Mercer-Erwin's daughter) and Carlos Rocha Villaurrutia pleading guilty on April 10.FULL STORY: Drug-smuggling jets andamp; a $240M Ponzi scheme: How the feds made a bizav bust
7 crashes, 7 days
In the wildest story we posted this year, one pilot showed a true passion for aviation after he returned to flying after two decades, with a journey that ended with seven crashes in seven days. Dennis Collier sent a statement to the FAA outlining his life's journey in aviation in a nine-page letter, detailing his experience from the first aircraft he built to the unlucky purchase that left him stranded in a sinking plane in the middle of Lake Michigan.
Collier fell in love with aviation, first building an all-fiberglass Lancair Super ES to fly his young sons around. Eventually, he sold it and presumed his flying days were over. In March 2021, with two grown sons with families of their own, Collier and his wife prepared to sell their home and begin a new chapter in their lives, a chapter Collier felt deserved a trip back in the sky.
He found a Seawing for sale and sent the owner an initial $1,000, pending the sale of his house when the other funds would become available. He saw pictures of the plane, but when he arrived in California he discovered the plane had not been flown in two years. The inspection began, and the problems began rolling in.
From the beginning, the plane had numerous problems. While the owner told Collier it was flight-ready, he quickly learned this was not the case. The deposit Collier gave was used to buy new components and for various repairs and updates. From a hydraulic gauge that did not work "once in a while" to the brake cylinder being installed with hoses reversed, red flags were appearing left and right. Despite all of the warning signs, Collier continued with the first flight, and while setting up for a landing after the third time around, he heard a loud bang when he hit the center line and the plane skidded down the runway a couple of hundred yards. By this point, the owner left and Collier was on his own. Now, with a questionable aircraft, Collier set off on the long journey home to Michigan to be with his family for the fourth of July.
Collier outlined the six subsequent crashes, each crash occurring on a separate day, with stretches in between for repairs. By July 3, he was in the final malformed leg, about to experience his seventh crash. He climbed to 5,500 feet and had trouble reaching a higher altitude, choosing to fly over the water for the 25-minute flight. He made it to the northern edge of an island when the engine began sputtering. In the end, Collier ended up with the plane nose-down vertically and in the water. The plane popped back up and upright, seemingly unscathed without anything hit or broken. He shut off the switches, lifting the canopy into an upright position to watch the sun setting over the water.
He was rescued by the Coast Guard and shortly after, the plane that survived seven crashes in that many days sunk to the bottom of Lake Michigan, from where it was never recovered. Collier acknowledged he would likely lose his license after the ordeal, but said his love for aviation would never leave him.FULL STORY: 7 crashes, 7 days - a pilot's return to flying
As we leave behind 2023, the year with cocaine drug smugglers, gender reveal plane crashes, YouTuber pilots sentenced to spend time in federal prison, and children lost in the Amazon for over one month, we can walk away with many lessons, chiefly, be safe and follow the law.
Whether you fly, repair, inspect, or just write about it, as Collier's journey showed us, sometimes a lifelong love for aviation and sheer determination are all you need.
GLOBALAIR.COM YEAR IN REVIEW:Business aviation leaders provide their resolutions and predictions for 2024The GlobalAir.com list of the top aviation news stories and trends of 2023 These were the most-read aviation news stories on GlobalAir.com in 2023 The top developments for aircraft in private aviation in 2023 Here are the wildest GlobalAir.com aviation news stories of 2023