A federal jury in the United States Department of Justice, District of Alaska, has convicted a pilot with 30 years’ experience of violating multiple aviation regulations.
Court documents and evidence made public by the court on December 5, 2024, revealed the accusations against pilot William Marsan. He held an airline transport pilot certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for about 30 years, ran an aviation business out of Palmer, Alaska, and owned a Piper Cherokee aircraft.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska, the pilot was found guilty of both flying an aircraft without a license and using an unregistered aircraft. Additionally, the pilot faced charges for using an aircraft with a fake registration number, though the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on this charge.
“Aviation is a pillar of our state’s transportation infrastructure,” said S. Lane Tucker, US Attorney for the District of Alaska. “Mr. Marsan’s actions flagrantly violated critical aviation regulations. Let this conviction serve as a clear message that those who choose to violate these rules will face prosecution.”
FAA investigation outcome
In June 2023, the FAA received a report that Marsan had failed to radio his intention to take off with the Piper Cherokee aircraft from Warren ‘Bud’ Woods Palmer Municipal Airport (PAQ). Instead, he flew the aircraft in the opposite direction of landing traffic, nearly causing a collision with an aircraft that was landing.
Law enforcement looked into this incident and found that Marsan was flying an aircraft without a proper license or registration. According to the inquiry, in June 2022 Marsan sent a letter to the FAA to cancel his aircraft’s registration. Investigators also learned that the pilot let his medical certificate expire in 2020 and 2021.
When FAA inspectors contacted him in July 2023 as part of the investigation, Marsan refused to provide his airman certificate, aircraft registration or airworthiness certificates, claiming that he was not required to have any of those documents.
The investigation led the FAA to issue an Emergency Order of Revocation of Marsan’s pilot’s license in January 2024. This order required him to either give up his license immediately or appeal the decision within 10 days.
However, the pilot did not appeal or surrender his license and kept flying until he was first arrested in July 2024. After being released while awaiting trial, he went on to miss several court hearings and was then rearrested in September 2024.
2 comments
America; Land of the Free and those unfettered by rules and common sense. The culprit in this case claimed he didn’t need any licences or certificates; QED!
A fundamental flaw in thinking of ‘free’ action is impact on other people.
Happens on roads too, even race tracks have rules to reduce risk. (Different from rules to limit competition.)
But control-minded people will say that flying is not a privilege – wrong, the question is what rules are appropriate to limit risk to others.
Sometimes obsessed – Transport Canada hassled a person who landed a small helicopter on a remote beach because that was flying below 500 feet AGL. (I don’t know if a passenger was on board, though risk to a consenting knowledgeable passenger shouldn’t be a concern.)
Of course some people are obsessive in many things – anti-aviation eco-activists definitely. In many aspects of life eco-activists froth about very low risk such as from very small amounts of an undesirable element. (Blocking runways and vandalizing aircraft is a different matter – that’s criminal activity, ‘initiation of force’ that is defined in laws.)