Watch out for this guy.......

[74657]

My buddy flew the Missile down to Atlanta yesterday to bring the owners back to the paint shop so they could take delivery of their P210 that just got re-painted.  They had several copies of this letter that they asked be handed out.......

I'm sure that many of you know this guy or at least know of him (being an ex-Mooney employee).  I've seen the tricks that he pulls firsthand and he just nailed another guy with a Baron in Florida.  He will get what is coming to him sooner or later.

http://www.gaavionics.com/MotorCityAviation.htm

[PTK]

Wow!!  Unreal!! It looks like he handed over 10K to him before anything was done!!   That is a NO NO folks!!  Why would he pay $10 grand to some unknown individual before anything was done?? What am I missing?

[flight2000]

Allsmiles, don't think your missing anything.  Definitely be weary of anyone approaching you or your aircraft looking for unsolicited work.  The BS meter should be pegged if that happens.

It's scammers like this that caused the banking industry to change how it lends money out for aircraft loans last summer.  If your refinancing or taking out a loan for any aircraft type work, banks are required to place the money in escrow until the work is completed.  IMHO, This can potentially hurt many smaller outfits (avionics shops in particular) in general that can't afford to carry a massive inventory of stuff.  I use one such shop and fronted the purchase of the avionics (STEC autopilot in my case).  Due diligence is great, but even that can sometimes come back to haunt you in the end.  I've used this shop before and they have a lot of satisfied customers...

Brian

[74657]

It's a horrible lesson to learn.  On the bright side, the aircraft owners and thier insurance agencies have more money and lawyers than he does...........

[skyking]

It is hard to believe in this day and age a guy like this can even operate.

I guess the only good news is that the rent was paid on the hanger the plane was in or they may have had a hard time even getting the plane back.

Thank goodness for places like this that gets the word out.

[PTK]

I'm sorry guys but I must try to understand the sequence of events or the thinking process of the aircraft owner here. I'm trying to follow this to see what I would have done.  A guy walks up to me and says he wants to fix some hail damage on my airplane.  I don't know the guy and as far as I know my airplane is fine.  He talks me into believing I must need the work and further talks me into filing an insurance claim for it.  The insurance co OK's it and pays 10K.  I then fly my airplane to this guy and hand over 10 grand to him.  Am I correct??  

Nothing is done on my airplane for months and I proceed to now pay some one else to fix "hail damage" that I never knew I had until this scammer brought it to my attention!!   You are KILLING me here!!  What am I a stupid moron!!  Sorry, I don't mean to offend anyone.  

As far as I'm concerned (sorry folks) this owner is guilty of pegging the stupidity/ignorance meter right up there with the BS meter!!  HE SHOULD BE COUNTING HIS BLESSINGS HE DIDN'T LOSE HIS AIRPLANE ALONG WITH THE 10k.

[sleepingsquirrel]

My response to anyone wanting me to pay them for something like this would be , "yea, I did it with a ball peen hammer on purpose, it's cheaper than vortex generators, and it flies better , just like a golf ball !"

[74657]

Here is another link.

http://www.airportbusiness.com/interactive/2010/05/31/hail-damage-revisited/

http://motorcityaviation.com/wordpress/about/ 

There is NO Patent.  His business has not been registered with the State of Michigan since 2008. 

 Todd told the owner of the paint shop that the P210 owner had a fleet of aircraft and was in no hurry for it.  After 2 months the owner of the P210 contacted the paint shop directly and that is when his cover was blown.  Hocus Pocus was having the planes delivered to the FBO ramp, not the paint shops ramp.  On 2 separate occasions the paint guy got calls from the FBO saying "When are you going to move this plane that has been sitting here for X days/weeks." 

[Cruiser]

Well obviously there was hail damage otherwise the insurance company would not have paid the owner the $10k. Most of the aviation community are honest, trusting normal people. It would be easy to continue the work with the person you started out with especially if he was the one that pointed it out in the first place. It would seem he came across as a trusted individual. Why would your "Danger Will Robinson" alarm go off?

The thing I can't believe is someone with a P210 can be without that quality of a plane for more than three months!

[peter]

Quote: flight2000

IMHO, This can potentially hurt many smaller outfits (avionics shops in particular) in general that can't afford to carry a massive inventory of stuff.  I use one such shop and fronted the purchase of the avionics (STEC autopilot in my case).