GOING UNDERCOVER…TO SAVE A JET In 1976

GOING UNDERCOVER…TO SAVE A JET In 1976,

I took a job as an officer trainee and loan collector at a $40 million bank, Hamilton Bank and Trust in Atlanta. The bank turned out to be in serious financial trouble and two weeks after I started working there, the bank failed. The FDIC asked me to stay because loan collectors were needed. One of the loans I began reviewing was to a company based at Charlie Brown Airport, west of Atlanta, that operated two charter Lear jets. We had a lien on one of the jets and wanted to repossess it. But there was a big problem—we didn’t know which jet was ours. We also knew that the debtors had threatened to fly the jet out of the country if we tried to take it. Our jet had a mobile phone system (rare in 1976); the other jet did not. So the only way to confirm which jet was ours was to get inside and find the mobile phone. We determined that we could get a Writ of Possession from the local court, using the FAA number painted on the jet. But first, we needed the right FAA number. So, one morning I drove out to Charlie Brown Airport and called on our debtor. Resorting to a mixture of subterfuge and false bravado, I introduced myself as the road manager of the singing group The Kingston Trio. I said the group was now based in Atlanta and was planning a brief fall tour. I added that the group was interested in chartering a jet so it could return home each night. The man I spoke with willingly took the bait and was soon giving me a tour of each jet. The second jet had a mobile telephone. I told him that was fantastic because the guys could call home every night and tell their families they were on their way. I left, telling him we were very interested and that I would contact him shortly. I gave our attorney the jet’s FAA number so he could begin preparing the Writ of Possession to take to the judge. He asked me to monitor the hangar to see if they rolled out the jet. We were in a race against time to get the writ before they took off with the plane. All afternoon I sat in a Wendys parking lot across from the airfield where I had a good view of the hangar. Nothing happened. I went home about 8 p.m. and returned the next morning about 7 a.m. Two hours later, they opened the hangar door and rolled out a jet. I checked the FAA number—it was ours. I called our attorney from a pay phone. He said the judge was about to sign the writ, and asked me to stop them from leaving with the jet until he got there. “I’ll give it a try,” I said. D 306 (Anecdotes) I drove to the airport and on to the flight line, blocking the jet. Then I got out of my car and stood by it. The man I spoke with the day before was in the jet’s cockpit. He climbed out, leaving the engines running. “What’s going on?” he shouted over the roar of the jet. “Didn’t I talk to you yesterday?” “Yes. I’m not really with The Kingston Trio. I’m with the FDIC, which just took over Hamilton Bank,” I said. “We’re repossessing this jet. Our attorney is on his way over here now with a court order. I’m sorry, I can’t let you take off.” He called me a name, got back in the jet, and turned off the engines. Then he walked over to the hangar and stood in the doorway with some other men. I could not hear what they were saying, but they kept pointing at the jet—and to me. Our attorney soon arrived and we taped the writ to the jet’s window. I walked over to another hangar and hired an aircraft maintenance company on the spot to park the jet in its hangar. All the while, the men stood there and watched. We ended up selling the jet for about $450,000. --William C. Thomas

https://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/managing/Chron/anecdotes.pdf