Plane thief fined and sent to prison
March 27, 2008
St. John’s plane thief sentenced by federal judge in Jacksonville
A Georgia pilot who stole a $5.5 million plane from the St. Augustine Airport and took six friends on a joyride in 2005 was sentenced to nearly four years in prison this morning.
Daniel Andrew Wolcott, 24, of Buford has been in custody since his friends turned him in after they went joyriding in Gwinnett County in October 2005. Wolcott pleaded guilty last year to interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft.
Wolcott will serve another 1 1/2 years in prison under the plea agreement approved by U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan. He was also ordered to pay $22,000 in restitution.
– Jim Schoettler, Florida Times Union
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Further unmentioned punishment… this guy will never ever again be able to obtain a pilot’s license.. his life’s dream shattered, all due to stupidity. A very promising career > gone forever.
I hate to see young people get off to a bad start.
The “bad start” was long before this 2005 theft of the airplane at St. Augustine Airport.
His criminal record in Gwinnett County, Georgia as an adult began in 2001; theft-by-taking, criminal damage to property, disorderly behavior and simple battery in the four years leading up to this incident.
Who hired him as a charter pilot?
Especially after in 2003 his renting a Roman Air plane, signing an agreement not to fly outside of a 50 mile radius of Buford, Georgia; and then crashed and totaled ($25,000 damage) it in Tuskegee, Alabama.
How did he get to the St. Augustine airport, and why?
How did he steal the plane and take off with no one noticing?
I’m glad he won’t be piloting any more!
Your supposition that he has had his pilots license revoked permenantly is erroneous. It has been temporarily suspended for a brief period of time by the FAA. He will be eligible to have it reinstated within the next couple of years (not sure of exact lenght of suspension).
Cato, I could answer all of those questions you posted but am wondering why you don’t already know the answers since you purportedly have extensive knowledge of the pilots past. Just for the record, not all that you posted is correct.
Lil Bit, I for one would be interested to know what you do about this crime.
I have to admit it is a little frightening to think of someone recklessly operating an airplane overhead.
Interview with Wolcott’s parents here: http://www.grangier.fr/news/journal-2005-10-20.txt
My information about his prior criminal record comes from a series of articles at TV media outlet 11Alive.com - which also cites 5 previous incarcerations (I do note the article about the sentencing posted at Plazabum.com indicates no prior criminal record).
Thanks, Cato. We’ll see how this all plays out.
cato asks: How did he steal the plane and take off with no one noticing?
beats the hell out of me.
Scrutney, since posting the question I’m now informed that Wolcott, his dad, and the 2 pilots (2 required for safe operation) of the airplane he stole later, all arrived at St. Augustine Airport piloting three separate planes and corporate passengers. As a pilot with a plane on the ground they all had access 24/7 at the airport.
He and his dad dined together, then separated, and sometime after midnight he returned to the airport, and stole the unlocked airplane. Taking off and landing using radio keying to operate landing lights and gates is SOP at small airports.
He disabled the transponder to avoid Air Traffic Control electronic route/ID tracking and flew low to Georgia to avoid ATC radars; telephoning a half a dozen friends to gather at an airport.
He landed and loaded them up, they went joyriding, he landed again and dropped them off; then flew to an unmanned airport, keyed the landing lights on, landed, exited the airport, went to another one, bought a commercial ticket, flew to Jax as a passenger, and then caught a taxicab back to his St. Augustine hotel. Next day he flew his passengers out of St. Augustine Airport on the corporate jet as scheduled.
One of the joyriders in Georgia, after hearing the news that the plane had been stolen, turned him in.
His dad and the chief pilot of the stolen unlocked jet also lost their jobs.
Not that 11Alive necessarily misreported information they may have gleaned from available sources, but omission without verification of facts can be very misleading. I would add that 11 Alive attempted to verify facts through phone calls by the research dept. but those calls were unanswered by the party they were calling. That is verifiable by caller ID and calling back the phone number to see which dept. was calling.
How do you steal a jet & no one saw it? So easy we should all be concerned in this day & age of terrorism. The extent of our new security measures imposed after 9/11 don’t reach to our small/private airports. The surge of wealthy individuals & corporations which now own & operate their own private jets has come about partly to avoid the hassles of the security measures at those large domains such as LAX, O’Hare & Hartsfield, etc. So to steal one of those jets you simply walk onto the tarmac of one of those closed airports in the middle of the night, find an unlocked plane & fly it off the field. My understanding is that not all small planes/jets even require a key to start them. Although the airport office is closed, anyone can land on one of the runways at night & with no or little security, anyone can gain access to planes that are sitting out there on that field. I have been tolod by sources that one of those small jets filled with fuel could be deliberately crashed into one of our sports arenas & the explosion would take out the arena & all of the spectators.
Although the behavior of this individual was recklass, his intent was not to harm anyone. He was formally trained in the operation of this plane but had not been certified/licensed to fly it legally. We all know from 9/11 how easy it was for the terrorist to receive flight training in this country, some of it even gained at Briscoe field. I am not sure how I feel about this individual retaining his right to fly aircraft. I am concerned about the level of maturity, lack of respect for vrules/authority and risk taking behavior that does endanger other people. But I am far more afraid of the potential risk to all of us when the true enemy has access to what can be a deadly weapon all because those with the financial resources to buy their own jets can’t be bothered by security measures that impose on their precious time. I don’t have any hard core facts to support this statement but I have been told that those with the private jets & large bank accounts do not want the govt. interfering with their right to come & go without the security measures. Therefore it’s not likely the laws will change when it comes to how easy it is for someone to gain access to a jet. So all of us are at the mercy of that rock star or fortune 500 CEO if some malcontent, terrorist or stupid kid decides to take a jet in the middle of the night unbeknowst to anyone at that moment.
Sorry, but I stand by my assertion that he will never again have a valid FAA pilot’s license to operate an aircraft. Ever.
p.s. The company that Wolcott flew into St. Augustine with still visits St. Augustine regularly
As to any “assertion” that Wolcott will never be certified again, I point out that is a matter of opinion, not of law or regulation.
The details of FAA pilot certification requirements, including possibility (not mandated or automatic) of re-certification of convicted felons, are in the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) 14C.F.R.Sec.61. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) which interpret federal laws “have the force of law.”
Some excerpted info:
FAR 61.305; no automatic ban of re-certification as a sports pilot of convicted felons, unless conviction dealt with drug or alcohol offenses as described in FAR 61.15.
FAR 61.83; same as above for a student pilot license.
FAR 61.96; same for a recreational pilot license.
FAR 61.103; same for a private pilot license.
FAR 61.123; same for a commercial pilot license.
FAR 61.153; however for airline transport pilot certification there is an added requirement that the applicant “Be of good moral character.” This is interpreted by the FAA in each individual request, and some convicted felons have been re-certified and some haven’t.
I’m familiar with the ease of researching FAR’s, and although there is no mention specifically of felony convictions of theft of aircraft, in addition to breaking a minimum of a dozen other FAR’s, do you honestly believe that the FAA would certify this guy at ANY point in the future? The same FAA who can and has revoked licenses for DUI and drug offenses?
Only the FAA can say for certain what the outcome will be, but I believe his license was not permanently revoked already because there had been no conviction, until this past week. With all of Wolcott’s serious infractions, yes, it is my OPINION that he will never fly again. No one will be able to prove that, however, until the future arrives.
A felony conviction of stealing an aircraft and operating it in a manner that put so many peoples lives at risk is greatly different than a guy getting federally convicted of cheating on his tax returns, etc.
Not even the government could screw up the moral character assessment of Wolcott.
Bloody hell… Wolcott wouldnt even be able to get a TSA job after his release, much less a pilot’s license, and a job.
Well this is his father and he did not lose his certificate and he has been offered a job when he gets out. I would think I have very good inside information - don’t you? Here is what my wife and I have learned from all of this. There are so many people that post opinions and I see many of you think you have the answers and 99.5% of it is all wrong and I am including the media. But, here is what has not been posted. The charter operator who owned the aircraft submitted false documents to the goverment for over 28 months and why do you think it took 28 months to get this settled? I think that is a federal crime and these are not kids. I think you should be more concerned with the coverup that took place by your goverment and local officals. After his hearing we had a meeting with the FBI and it was not about Andrew; the rest you will have to wait and see how it all unfolds. Andrew did what he did and now that is going to be behind him and life moves on and we really don’t care what your opinions are. I see this is still a lot of hate in this world and that is just too bad. But hey, that’s not my problem as I know there was only one perfect man that walked on this earth and he has been dead for 2008 years. But my wife and I will continue to pray for you folks and we hope when judgement day comes (and it will) you will have the right answers then when it really counts. Scott Wolcott
I, for one, would be interested to learn about that, Mr. Wolcott.
I think you agree that it doesn’t take the spotlight off your son for his actions and that two wrongs do not make a right, however, no press has been given to the allegations that you are making now — as far as I know.
You can send your side of the story to news@historiccity.com or use the contact form at http://historiccity.com/contact-form/ if you’d like to tell us more. We’ll investigate and report what we uncover.
Scott Wolcott’s ‘perspective’ is certainly interesting. The problem lies within the fantasy and incredible denial that he mixes up with truth…making for a really poor smokescreen?. So many holes in this ‘defense’ of a defenseless act, and I’ll get around to discussing it further, but later when time permits. Busy day ahead.
I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised by his take on his son’s actions… it’s pretty much the prime example of why so many ‘kids’ and young adults are committing the crimes as they are today. No respect, gross misjudgement, no accountability. Wonder where that came from.
More later.