Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A Portales man was sentenced to two years probation Wednesday following a guilty plea in April to operating as an airman without an airman certificate.
According to a release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, Keith Alexander Thomas, 44, attempted to fly an airplane from Wisconsin to New Mexico without a pilot’s license.
Thomas was also fined $5,000 by Judge C.J. Williams.
According to the release, in June 2018 Thomas and another man flew to Wisconsin so the other man could purchase a Cessna plane. Thomas agreed to fly the Cessna, which was not air-worth and sustained engine failure as it flew over Iowa. Thomas had to make an emergency landing in Waterloo, Iowa, but did not establish radio communication with the aviation company whose airstrip he used. The Cessna was also out of inspection compliance, and the landing gear was not operational.
Nobody was hurt in the landing.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and investigated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
