FAA: Pilots of Stewart's Plane Had False Records

S A N F O R D, Fla., Jan. 24, 2001 -- A manager with the company that owned theLearjet in which golfer Payne Stewart and five others died in a1999 crash falsified training records for the pilots, the FederalAviation Administration said.

This marks the first time the government has publicly accusedanyone of wrongdoing in connection with the crash on Oct. 25, 1999.The FBI and Transportation Department are still investigating.

The families of Stewart and three other victims also have suedthe plane's owner and operator.

Stewart died on a flight from Florida to Texas four months afterwinning his second U.S. Open and one month after helping the UnitedStates win back the Ryder Cup.

Company Records Were Seized

FAA lawyer Raymond Veatch told a federal administrative judgeTuesday that James Watkins Sr. of SunJet Aviation filed falserecords about the amount of time he had spent training pilotMichael Kling and co-pilot Stephanie Bellegarrigue.

The revelation came during a National Transportation SafetyBoard hearing into whether Watkins, chief pilot for SunJet andfather of the company president at the time of the crash, shouldpermanently lose his license to fly.

Dozens of agents seized almost all the company's businessrecords at its headquarters at Orlando Sanford Airport last April.

Watkins' son, James Watkins Jr., has repeatedly said SunJet,which has since been sold, was not responsible for the crash.

On Tuesday, Administrative Judge William Pope asked Veatch ifthe elder Watkins had anything to do with the crash.

"He falsified documents," Veatch said. "He had been complicitin some of the wrongdoing by SunJet."

Pilot Certified to Fly Learjet One Month Before Crash

The FAA will present evidence that Watkins falsified thetraining records of six other pilots and should be permanentlygrounded, Veatch said.

Robert Leventhal, Watkins' defense attorney, argued that Klingand Bellegarrigue received the proper training from Watkins.

"Those pilots were exceptionally well-trained," he said,adding accusations that his client falsified training records are"a pile of baloney."

The NTSB has concluded the cabin lost air pressure, somethingthat likely caused the crew and passengers to pass out soon aftertakeoff. The plane flew on autopilot for several hours beforecrashing into a pasture in South Dakota.

Kling, 42, a former Air Force pilot, had thousands of hours ofexperience. However, he had received his government certificationto fly the Learjet only about a month before the crash.

Bellegarrigue, 27, had been cleared to fly Learjets six monthsbefore the crash.