Crashed plane's fit-to-fly permit forged, U.S. says

Agent: Inspector nonexistent

A private airplane that crashed on takeoff July 2, 2014, at the Boone County Regional Airport had a forged certificate of airworthiness, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

"There was a Special Airworthiness Certificate," investigator Arnold Scott said. "It looked genuine, but it was a forgery. It was not from an FAA office, and the inspector who signed it does not exist."

Pilot George Atiyeh, then 66, of Lyons, Ore., was seriously injured in the crash. His son told investigators Atiyeh suffered a severe head injury, numerous fractures and internal organ damage.

An article in the Statesman Journal of Oregon said Atiyeh came out of a coma a couple of days after the crash but was still in serious condition. His wife, Hillary Atiyeh, didn't respond to an email Thursday asking about his condition.

Atiyeh led the fight to prevent logging in the Opal Creek Wilderness of Oregon. He was the founder of Friends of Opal Creek and nephew of former Oregon Gov. Victor Atiyeh.

According to the safety board report, there was water in the fuel line of one of the two engines on the 1965 Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche. A sample from the service truck at the airport found no water in the fuel.

Witnesses and surveillance camera footage indicated the plane wasn't serviced before takeoff, although another pilot told Atiyeh he should "sump his fuel tanks and to open the fuel drains before each and every flight because the fuel caps were susceptible to allowing water to get into the fuel tanks."

According to the report, Atiyeh lifted the plane off the runway early, banked to the left and came down at a 90-degree angle on its right wing tip about 1,100 feet west of the runway. The impact left a 20-foot-long "ground scar," with the right wing tip still in the ground.

Atiyeh was the only person on board the plane at the time of the crash.

According to FAA records, the airplane was first registered to the pilot in April 1992. At some later time, the airplane was seized by the federal government.

Atiyeh was charged April 9, 2009, with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. He possessed more than 220 pounds of a mixture and substance containing marijuana, according to the indictment.

Atiyeh pleaded guilty Feb. 19, 2010, and was sentenced Sept. 10, 2010, to four months in prison, according to a court filing. After his release from prison, Atiyeh was on supervised release for three years.

Atiyeh also pleaded guilty to using his 1965 Piper Comanche airplane to facilitate the offense, according to a court filing.

On Sept. 21, 2010, U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey ordered Atiyeh to forfeit the airplane. It was sold in 2011 to another individual through a U.S. Treasury Department auction.

On June 1, 2014, after buying back the airplane, Atiyeh submitted an application for registration under his name.

Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the FAA's Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, wouldn't say whether the forged certificate or any other aspect of the crash is still being investigated.

NW News on 05/08/2015

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