DES MOINES (AP) --- A Waterloo student pilot who admittedly falsified flight logs to claim he flew more hours than he did has been sentenced to four years of probation.
Thirty-three-year-old Fahad Nabeel Hussein Al-Daous apologized just before U.S. Judge John Jarvey announced the sentence Wednesday in Des Moines.
Federal prosecutors sought a year in prison, saying the false Federal Aviation Administration logbooks would have enabled him to get a pilot’s license without adequate flight experience.
Al-Daous told FBI agents he did it to save on the cost of getting a license.
He attended flight training at Livingston Aviation in Waterloo during 2010 and 2011. The flight school discovered he had not made many flights in his logbook and reported it to the FAA.
Al-Daous’ defense attorney says probation is sufficient punishment.
http://wcfcourier.com
USA V. Fahad Nabeel Hussein Al-Daous - Sentencing - Judge John A. Jarvey
http://pilots-airmen.findthedata.org/l/845697/Al-daous
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo student pilot who admitted to falsifying flight logs to claim he flew more hours than he did is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Des Moines.
Thirty-three-year-old Fahad Nabeel Hussein Al-Daous earlier entered a guilty plea to making a false statement to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Al-Daous told FBI agents he falsely logged twice the actual number of hours he flew to save on the cost of getting a pilot's license.
He attended flight training at Livingston Aviation in Waterloo during 2010 and 2011. When he applied for a commercial pilot training program in September, the flight school discovered he had not made many flights listed in his logbook.
Prosecutors on Wednesday will seek a year in prison. Defense attorneys say probation is sufficient punishment.
Related: 7 May 2012 | 10:23 am in Statewide News -
Pilot lied about experience, Iowa flight school tells regulators
Livingston Aviation credited with disclosing info that man listed flight hours he never completed
An Iowa flight school tipped off federal regulators that a man training to become a pilot had falsely inflated his experience to get a license allowing him to fly privately using instruments, court records show.
Fahad Nabeel Hussein Al-Daous pleaded guilty Friday during a hearing in federal court in Des Moines to one count of making a false statement to the Federal Aviation Administration. Prosecutors agreed to drop a second count under a plea agreement, which revealed that information given to the FAA by Waterloo-based Livingston Aviation prompted the investigation.
Hussein Al-Daous admitted that he falsely listed more than 130 hours of flying he did not actually complete in a logbook the FAA requires pilots to keep of their hours, under a scheme that would allow him to obtain a commercial pilot’s license without paying for nearly as many flights required.
He faces a maximum of five years in prison when he is sentenced in August, but is likely to receive less time behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors agreed to recommend that he be credited for cooperating and pleading guilty.
The aspiring pilot went through flight training at Livingston Aviation during 2010 and 2011. On May 21, 2011, prosecutors say he traveled to an airport in Ottumwa to apply for an instrument-rated license so that he could fly in conditions when instruments are required such as cloudy or bad weather.
Hussein Al-Daous listed on the application that he had completed the requirement of more than 50 hours of cross-country flight time as a pilot in command through Livingston Aviation. But he failed a test flight with an FAA examiner, and was denied a license. Hussein Al-Daous came back to the airport six days later, again filled out an application, and was issued a license after passing the test flight.
Court records do not detail how many hours Hussein Al-Daous truly had flown, but say he did not meet the minimum requirement for the instrument-rated license.
He applied for Livingston Aviation’s commercial pilot training program in September and that’s when the fraud was uncovered. The flight school compared his FAA logbook with its own billing records, which showed many of the flights he claimed he had made had not been paid for and had not happened.
Hussein Al-Daous admitted to falsifying his logbook and submitting inflated numbers to FAA investigators, even providing a chart showing which flights had been falsified during a meeting in Des Moines. He provided similar information during an interview with special agents from the FBI and the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General at his home in December, court records show.
Even after he obtained his instrument license, he continued to falsely list flights and “intended to use this falsely inflated flight data to obtain a commercial pilot license,” according to the plea agreement. In all, his logbook shows 90 hours of flight and 41 hours of cross-country flight hours that he did not complete.
Hussein Al-Daous has been released pending sentencing. Since his indictment in February, he has been free on the condition that he not leave Iowa and surrender his Saudi Arabian passport.
Prosecutors say he has dual citizenship in U.S. and that country, and he needed an Arabic interpreter during court proceedings.
His attorney, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the general manager of the flight school did not immediately return phone messages Monday.
United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt
Southern District of Iowa
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kevin VanderSchel
Monday, May 7, 2012
Waterloo Man Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to the FAA
False Statements Made in Application for Instrument-Rated Pilot’s License
DES MOINES, IOWA – Fahad Nabeel Hussein Al-Daous, age 33, from Waterloo, Iowa, appeared in federal court in Des Moines on Friday, May 4, 2012, and pled guilty to one count of making a false statement to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), announced Nicholas A. Klinefeldt, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa.
In the filed plea agreement, Al-Daous admitted falsely inflating the number of training flight hours listed on instrument-rated pilot’s license applications he filed in Ottumwa, Iowa, on May 21 and May 27, 2011. Al-Daous also falsified his FAA-required logbook in support of his instrument-rated pilot license applications. Al-Daous’ logbook reflected approximately 90.3 hours of pilot-in-command hours and 41.1 hours of cross-county pilot-in-command hours that he did not actually fly.
Sentencing before United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey is scheduled in Des Moines on August 22, 2012, at 9:30 am. Al-Daous remains free on bond previously set pending sentencing. The conviction carries a possible maximum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and 3 years of supervised release.
This case was investigated by the United States Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
http://www.wowt.com
http://thegazette.com
http://www.justice.gov/usao/ias/news/2012/Al-daous%20-%20Plea%205-7-12.pdf
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