November 16, 2012 - The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) on Tuesday revoked David
Glen Riggs pilot license. You may have
remembered him when he buzzed the Santa Monica
Pier in 2008, as low a 50 feet in an Aero
Vodochody L-39 Albatros. Riggs’ pilot’s license
has now been revoked in the death of his
business partner, Douglas Gillis and a
passenger, Richard Winslow.
Both Riggs and Gillis operated a company called
Mach 1 Aviation and Incredible Adventures which
offered 45-minute plane rides in old military
training jets. On May 18, 2012, pilot Gillis and
a passenger were flying in an experimental
exhibition Aero Vodochody L-39, N39WT,
Czechoslovakian jet trainer, which crashed in
the desert about half
mile from the Boulder City Municipal
Airport (BVU), Boulder City, Nevada, both Gillis
and the passenger were killed. The crash is
still under investigation.
The FAA ordered Riggs to surrender his pilots
license for offering and carrying passengers in
the Czech-built experimental aircraft when he
wasn't allowed to. The FAA believes at the time
of the crash the company was illegally selling
rides in the L-39 Albatross trainer jet.
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