Overland Park charity with ties to controversial pilot draws Federal Aviation Administration ire

KathrynsReport.com

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The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a $66,000 fine for an Overland Park charity with ties to a controversial pilot and convicted criminal.

The FAA says the Nazarene Aviation Fellowship violated aviation regulations in 2012 by operating an aircraft in an unauthorized and unsafe manner.

More specifically, they say the organization gave pilot David Riggs permission to use a Soviet-era military jet to perform proficiency checks on other pilots and for movie filming. Instead, he used the jet to conduct passenger flights in formation with another jet.

Another pilot in the formation crashed, killing himself and his passenger. The wife of the man who died has filed a lawsuit.

Nazarene Aviation Fellowship is a nonprofit group organized by Jerry Brockhaus, an Overland Park insurance agent. Brockhaus could not be reached for comment.

A 2006 financial document for the organization showed total revenue of $560 with just $150 in expenses.

Much more is known about Riggs, whose name popped up in local, national and international media throughout the years — each time involved in a new scheme.

He set up a company in Kansas City called Mokan Productions, but when federal regulators began looking into the company’s finances he fled town. He later turned up in South Africa, where he was tied to illegal ivory smugglers.

Riggs also spent time in a Hong Kong prison before being extradited to the United States where he was convicted of fraud and spent time behind bars.

In 2010, authorities in Santa Monica, Calif., charged Riggs with buzzing the pier using a jet similar to the one at issue now. His pilot’s license was suspended at that time, and he remained unlicensed during the 2012 event that caught the FAA’s attention.

Riggs died in September after crashing his plane in China, where he was participating in air races. A Chinese interpreter riding in his plane also died in the crash.

Ron Roberts, a former business partner of Riggs, has written a self-published biography of the man called “Hollywood Grifter.” He claims that Riggs created the Nazarene Aviation Fellowship as a shell to hide certain property, including his aircraft.

Riggs filed for bankruptcy in April 2010 in Los Angeles. The FAA registration for the plane in question was issued to Nazarene in May 2010.

“This guy is my ex-partner, and there’s nobody in the world knows Dave Riggs better than I do,” Roberts said. “He’s a world-class con man.”

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