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Private US firm to arm PAF?; read this interesting article
Topic Started: May 27 2006, 02:06 PM (1,554 Views)
jammerjamesky
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Despite federal raid, Security Aviation still flying
By Rob Stapleton
Alaska Journal of Commerce

The fatal crash of a Czech-built Aero Vodochody L-39 fighter jet in Ketchikan Jan. 25 and the recent explosive growth of Anchorage-based Security Aviation are two factors that led to the FBI searches of the business Feb. 2, according to company officials.
"The events that led up to the crash in Ketchikan and the lack of follow-up by law enforcement and federal agencies are driving this investigation," said Joe Kapper, president of Security Aviation, located at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

Posted Image
Security Aviation president Joe Kapper (left) and owner Mark Avery pose next to a L-39 fighter jet in this archive photo. It was an L-39 jet that a company related to Security was considering purchasing that recently crashed in Ketchikan, an event that Kapper believes is related to a recent federal raid at several locations tied to the company. ARCHIVE PHOTO/Melissa Campbell/AJOC

In raids that drew significant attention Feb. 2-3, Security Aviation's facility at the Anchorage airport, company owner Mark Avery's midtown Anchorage office and a hangar in Palmer leased by Security Aviation were all searched by representatives from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Marshals Service, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Alaska State Troopers.

Kapper said that the L-39 jet operation is part of sister company High Security Aviation that has little or nothing to do with Security Aviation's regular charter business.

Despite the publicity and rumors that the company was being shut down, Kapper said just the opposite is true.

"No aircraft or bank accounts have been seized. We operated all of our flights during these events, and the company continues to operate as usual," he said. "We have access to our working capital for company expansion, and Security Aviation has never been in jeopardy of closing."

One person was arrested at the time of the raid. According to Eric Gonzales, a spokesman for the FBI in Anchorage, Robert Kane of Eagle River was arrested for the possession of an unregistered explosive device. Gonzales also said that the Ketchikan crash had nothing to do with the investigation.

"My hands are tied about what I can say about the FBI's criminal investigation, but I can say that the person arrested was never employed by Security Aviation," Kapper said. "Kane was an advisor, consultant friend of Mark (Avery's)."

Avery, a former state prosecutor, did not return phone calls from the Journal for comment.

According to Security's chief pilot, Greg Wolter, the explosive device in question was a dummy missile rack.

"You can find those on eBay, they make coffee tables out of them," Wolter said. "This mock rocket pod was used on the L-39 for air show exhibits."

"I think that the mock rocket pod was the gateway to look for something else, a reason to gather up a bunch of records," Kapper said.

Kapper emphasized that the L-39 crash and the recent fleet of the Czech-built aircraft housed in Palmer may be only part of the cause of the investigation.

"While it is true that a couple of guys with a lot of money came to town and started buying ex-military aircraft for a separate business, this has nothing to do with Security Aviation's day-in and day-out operations," Kapper said. "The rapid expansion of the company and the fleet of aircraft here have lead to a lot of speculation."

Kapper said Avery owns all of Security Aviation's 18 aircraft outright.

A rapid expansion

Avery purchased Security Aviation last summer in a deal that only took 16 days to execute. Upon taking ownership, Avery rapidly expanded the operation's fleet and moved the business to new headquarters at the Anchorage airport, the site of one the searches Feb. 2.

Two months after purchasing the company, Avery told the Journal he needed to invest in an aviation company to further serve his law practice's clients who have transportation needs. He would not go into further details on who composed his client base.

According to the state Division of Corporations, Avery also owns several businesses using the acronym "RPS," including Regional Protective Services, Regional Paramedic Services, Regional Phone Solutions, Regional Professional Services and Regional Property Services.

Another jet-related company owned by Avery, High Security Aviation, is the connection between the firm and the L-39 jet that crashed in Ketchikan in January.

A deal gone bad

High Security Aviation has a completely different business model than Security Aviation and was being developed by a different management team, according to Kapper.

"The L-39 aircraft were purchased for a proposed defense contract with the Air Force, and to offer (emergency) upset recovery training for jet pilots," Kapper said. "This contract and the opportunity attracted attention from some very talented and experienced pilots in our community."

The idea was to use the L-39 aircraft and let Air Force F-15 jets engage them over terrain, much like that of Afghanistan, for future military operations.

To meet the demands of this contract, High Security Aviation obtained eight L-39 jets, among other jet aircraft and helicopters.

Four of the L-39 two-place training jets were obtained from Air USA of Quincy, Ind., arriving from Guam and Hawaii in crates. High Security Aviation earlier agreed to purchase each of the L-39 MS Albatross aircraft for $800,000 each, for a total of $3.2 million, of which High Security paid $1 million as a deposit.

Don Kirlin of Air USA was to assemble the aircraft as part of the deal, and get them airworthy. The assembly and flight manuals were all in Czech, and to make them airworthy they had to be translated into English. This and the poor condition of two of the aircraft bogged down the deal, according to Kapper.

After paying Air USA a total of $2.3 million toward the four aircraft, High Security Aviation said that there were too many problems with the jets.

As a result, U.S. Customs pilot Steve Freeman and other Air USA employees were issued a "ferry permit" from the FAA in Van Nuys, Calif., the destination of the aircraft, according to FAA officials.

According to Kapper, Tom Trotter, a former U.S. Navy Top Gun instructor, called the Palmer police when Security Aviation found out that two of the L-39 MSs had been removed from the Woods Air hangar in Palmer.

"The Palmer Police Department did nothing," Kapper said.

Lt. Thomas Remaley with the department said that Avery could not produce a bill of sale, and Kirlin had called to advise Remaley in advance that he was repossessing the aircraft. Remaley allowed his officers to let the planes go.

Freeman and the other pilot flew the jets to Sitka, where one of the two jets sits today.

Security's Wolter called the local FAA office, saying the FAA also refused to take action. Kapper then called Congressman Don Young's office in Anchorage.

"Joe Kapper called me to see what we could do to help them keep the planes from leaving the state," said Bill Sharrow, district director for Young's office in Anchorage. "I went down and talked to the FAA, and there was nothing we, or they, could do. The wheels were in motion."

Kapper said that he told both Sharrow and the FAA that they would find the planes ... scattered on the ground in pieces because they were not airworthy.

According to Kapper, Trotter then called the Coast Guard in Sitka to have the planes detained.

Freeman took his L-39 and headed south toward Bremerton, Wash., but made a detour to Ketchikan.

Wolter said that during a conversation with the FAA he got a call telling him one of the jets had crashed.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued its preliminary crash report Feb. 3 that states the aircraft touched down in the water twice before crashing into a trailer court in Ketchikan. Freeman was killed on impact, still strapped to his ejection seat a few hundred feet away from the aircraft debris.

"I have to believe that there was something very wrong with this flight," Sharrow said. "A dead U.S. Customs official, a meeting after the crash with the U.S. Attorney's office by Security's attorney, and then a raid by the FBI and the IRS. Something is kinda James Bond-style about this."

Kapper agrees. "This is sensationalism at its finest hour," he said. "This is material for a Tom Clancy novel."

The end result of all this is that High Security Aviation is dropping the Department of Defense Air Force contract idea, which would have started in April, according to Kapper.

"After all this, and a lack of enthusiasm by the local (Flight Safety District Office) to help with the operations specification to fly these as chase targets for F-15s, Mark (Avery) has decided to drop it," Kapper said.

On Feb. 8, Security Aviation laid off 14 pilots associated with the L-39 project and a military medevac contract that is on hold.

There are still questions and very few answers about why the FBI, IRS and the U.S. Attorney's office would allow searches of the premises at Security Aviation, the law offices of Avery and a hangar in Palmer leased to High Security Aviation. But Kapper isn't too concerned.

"I am busy with the charter business and plan not to think anymore about this," Kapper said. "But it is startling to see how much authority and power these agencies have over us, especially if it's all speculation."

Business as usual

According to Kapper, Security Aviation is still planning expansion by offering flights into the Russian Far East for medical evacuation flights with one of its contracts, Aeromed International.

After the FBI's visit to Security, rumors at the Anchorage airport left aviation industry leaders speculating about Security's business statewide.

Security recently pulled out of Dutch Harbor, and there were some issues over late payments for fuel, but all accounts are current, according to Kapper. He said this was all part of an experiment to offer air ambulance service to the Aleutian Islands.

"We pulled out of Dutch and are re-positioning the aircraft in Fairbanks as lift for (another medevac) contract," he said. "This is not related (to the investigation) in any way."

Kapper indicated that although he is concerned over the FBI search, the eventual explanation and the outcome, his main concern is to the company's clientele.

"A barrage of calls from our big clients who are concerned about the future of the company is in the forefront of my mind," Kapper said. "I still think of this as Mike (O'Neil's) company, and so do a lot of people in this community. We have always had a philosophy of safety and quality service first, and we continue to offer this."

Kapper is the stepson of the late Mike O'Neil, who founded the company 21 years ago.

Kapper said that even though the team that raided the hangars while clutching search warrants had control of the telephones, office and hangars for a few hours on Feb. 2, they later eased up and allowed the company to continue business as usual.

http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/02120...060212001.shtml

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jammerjamesky
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Web posted Saturday, April 22, 2006

Security Aviation lands aircraft
U.S. Marshals Office returns six of eight L-39 aircraft seized in February raid

By Rob Stapleton
Alaska Journal of Commerce

The ongoing saga of Security Aviation and its bout with federal authorities took a turn on April 14, when the company received six Czech-built L-39 aircraft from the custody of the U.S. Marshals Office. Marshals kept two of the seized aircraft.
Sitting parked in a row on the tarmac in front of Security Aviation shortly after their return, the aircraft gleamed in the springtime sun, their polished nose cones reflecting the peaks of the Chugach Mountains.

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Anchorage-based Security Aviation on April 14 received six of its eight Czech built L-39 jets that were seized by federal officials in February. Security senior vice president Dave Bean says the company will continue to pursue military training contracts. PHOTO/Rob Stapleton/AJOC

"We don't know why they kept the other two; I guess they think they are set up for arms or something," said Dave Bean, senior vice president of Security Aviation. The FBI seized eight of the L-39 aircraft after raiding Security's hangars and offices in Anchorage.

The aircraft were towed back to Security Aviation's hangar, located at South Airpark at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, from the nearby Federal Aviation Administration hangar.

The U.S. Marshals Office took possession of the L-39 jet aircraft after the FBI seized them in February, claiming that Security employee Rob Kane had illegally transported and possessed rocket pod launchers that were intended for use on one of the jets.

While the FBI inspected the aircraft, Kane spent nearly a month in jail before being released on bail.

Security Aviation, under the business name High Security Aviation, planned to use the L-39 aircraft for a niche market described as extreme attitude and engagement training. Joe Griffith, a Security consultant, former Air Force test pilot and wing commander, and chairman of Chugach Electric, was to lead the effort.

"Its good to have the birds home," said Griffith, as he stood on the tarmac, dressed in Air Force-like dark blue clothing and a baseball cap.

Security's Bean said that now that the aircraft have been returned, the company will continue with High Security's business plan.

"We are going to work to get these aircraft airworthy," he said. "Then, as soon as possible, we are going to make a run at the military training contracts. We want to make it perfectly clear that there is nothing covert going on over here."

According to Security maintenance officials, several of the six aircraft returned were missing inspection plates, one was missing a nose cone and others may have been damaged in the move.

Now that six of the company's original 10 aircraft have returned Security may have a chance to re-group and win a military contract

But, what about the other four L-39 MS aircraft, including the one that crashed in Ketchikan, killing the pilot earlier this year?
Two of the aircraft are still in Palmer, one is sitting in Sitka, and Security is out nearly $2 million for aircraft it can't use, Security officials said.

Posted Image
Security Aviation consultant Joe Griffith, left, and Security senior vice president Dave Bean, right, stand among six of the companyŐs eight L-39 jets that were returned after the FBI seized them in March. PHOTO/Rob Stapleton/AJOC

According to Bean, Security owner Mark Avery says that there will be civil action against Air USA, the company Avery alleges stole the aircraft. Security Aviation never took delivery of the aircraft because they were not airworthy. Officials with Security say they intended to get their $2.3 million deposit back from Air USA.

On Jan. 25, former U.S. Marine Stephen Freeman, a U.S. Customs pilot, and another unidentified pilot took two of the L-39 aircraft from Palmer and flew to Sitka. The unidentified pilot left his L-39 in Sitka, but Freeman continued south and later diverted to Ketchikan.

Freeman was cleared for an instrument approach into Ketchikan International Airport, but lost control of the jet and ejected into the woods south of Ketchikan. The jet crashed into a trailer park. Freeman was found dead about 150 yards from the aircraft still strapped to his ejection seat.

Griffith earlier said that both the Palmer Police Department and the FAA had been warned that the aircraft were not airworthy, that they were owned by Security, and that they were being taken without the company's permission. No one listened, according to Security officials.

According to Griffith and Bean, Security Aviation paid AirUSA $1 million for the L-39 MS aircraft, and had agreed to pay an additional $1.3 million once the aircraft were completed and airworthy.

"I can tell you this," said Bean. "That if Griff said they were not airworthy then they weren't."

The rub between Air USA and Security came when the aircraft could not be made airworthy because they did not have manuals in English, but in Czech and Egyptian. Avery refused to pay the outstanding amount until Air USA sent English versions of the manuals and resolved the airworthiness issues. Griffith refused to fly the jets, and ordered them parked and sealed up.

The FAA requires a bill of sale and full manuals on aircraft to re-register them, according to the local FAA Flight Safety District Office. Until Security had the manuals, and the bill of sale, the experimental exhibition aircraft could not be re-registered and flown.

According to Bean, Security had offered an additional $1.3 million to Air USA to speed up the sale, so they could ramp up for the military contracts. A total of $2.3 million was paid to Don Kirlin of Air USA toward the balance of $3.2 million, according to Bean.

Neither Don Kirlin or AirUSA returned calls from the Journal of Commerce.

Security Aviation employs nearly 100 employees, has 30 aircraft and continues to operate as the lift for Aeromed International.

Security plans to display an L-39, an AT-6 trainer, a Gulfstream GIII and a Sikorski S-62 helicopter at the Alaska Airmen's Trade Show on May 5-6 at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/04220...060422008.shtml

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jammerjamesky
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Security Aviation, official indicted
WEAPONS CHARGES: Federal action against company a surprise.
By LISA DEMER
and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: February 24, 2006
Last Modified: May 3, 2006 at 04:19 AM

The government's investigation of Security Aviation Inc. and at least one of its officials took a new turn Thursday with the announcement that both the company and the official were indicted on federal weapons charges.

The indictment, handed up by a grand jury Wednesday, was expected against Rob Kane, the company official who calls himself "Commander" and who has been in custody since federal agents raided Security Aviation and related businesses Feb. 2.

But for the first time, the longtime Anchorage air charter and medevac business is a named defendant.

The company faces three charges: possession of unregistered destructive devices, attempted possession of the devices and transportation of them. Kane, 37, is charged with those counts and a conspiracy charge. Kane tried to buy four rocket launchers but ended up with two, the indictment says.

The owner of Security and a string of related businesses, Anchorage attorney Mark Avery, isn't mentioned by name in the indictment. But the indictment's reference to "Businessman A" in many sections -- 100 percent owner of Security, owner of a string of related companies -- is a clear reference to him. Avery is not charged with any crimes, and prosecutors have not said whether he is a target of their investigation.

However, the indictment says Avery paid Kane "for his services in the form of a cash salary, frequent cash withdrawals ... vehicles, and a large motor yacht for his personal use."

The launchers were seized by federal agents along with eight Czech-built L-39 military training jets in raids earlier this month targeting Security's Anchorage and Palmer flight operations, a Midtown office building and Kane's Eagle River home, which is owned by one of Avery's companies. Federal authorities have not accused Kane or Security of possessing any rockets to arm the launchers.

Security Aviation's president, Joe Kapper, issued a statement Thursday evening saying the company "is extremely surprised by the indictment. We are very disappointed that the government has chosen to take this unfortunate and unnecessary step."

The company, Kapper said, "has done nothing wrong. We look forward to our day in court and the chance to prove our innocence."

It was Regional Protective Services and another Avery business, High Security Aviation LLC, that last year bought the eight L-39s and tried to acquire another six, the indictment says. These two-seater jets can be armed with various weapons, including launchers that can carry 16 rockets with a range of 2 to 2 1/2 miles, the indictment says.

The government asserts:

• Security Aviation employees at the company's Palmer hangar had technical manuals that detailed how the launchers could be mounted, loaded with rockets and fired.

• At the company's Anchorage hangar, Security Aviation employees had shooting and bombing tables for the L-39s that included such guidance as "Shooting at a ground target with the gun sight in 'FIXED' mode."

• Company employees collected information on the rocket motors and warheads that could be used in the launchers, including 57-mm high explosive, antitank, or HEAT, warheads and high explosive/fragmentation, or HEAT/FRAG, warheads.

• A Security Aviation consultant prepared a proposal to use the L-39s to train military pilots of an unnamed foreign country.

Kane had power to spend large sums, including buying aircraft for Security and the other businesses, the indictment says.

In an Aug. 10 memorandum on Regional Protective Services letterhead, Avery -- or "Businessman A" -- informed employees of another of his businesses of Kane's high standing. According to the indictment, he wrote:

"My most effective asset is Rob Kane. When he is speaking, he has the same authority as if I were speaking. To make this perfectly clear, if Rob were to walk up to any one of you ... and say, 'You're fired,' you're fired."

Kane's lawyers have argued that rocket launchers were bought through an eBay advertisement that said they were "de-mil'd" or demilitarized. While they were airworthy at high speeds, they also could be turned into a coffee table or hung from the ceiling in a VFW hall, the ad said. Kane's attorney Mike Spaan attached the eBay ad to a court brief trying to overturn the judge's decision to hold Kane.

The court failed to consider that the "alleged weapon in this case was nothing more than a decoration" and misevaluated the nature of the case, the court brief said.

"Mr. Kane was charged not with possessing a dangerous weapon or with committing a crime of violence, but with a failure to file the appropriate form to register a non-operative collection of steel tubes," lawyers Spaan and James L. Kee of Oklahoma wrote.

Joe Griffith, a former fighter wing commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base who is now a consultant to Security Aviation, said in an interview that the manuals at issue came with the launchers.

"Most of it was in a foreign language that no one could read or understand," Griffith said.

The launchers did not have the necessary wiring, firing-timing devices or connecting hardware and it would be impossible to fire a rocket from them in that condition, he said in a sworn statement filed in court by Kane's lawyers. At any rate, the launchers didn't need to be registered with the federal government because they weren't an explosive device, Griffith asserted in an earlier interview.

There's wasn't any concrete proposal to train military pilots from another country, though there had been internal discussions to do so in the Philippines, Griffith said.

Security Aviation has continued to operate. But the indictment may be a blow to its air charter business, Griffith said.

"I think it's going to cause difficulties. It couldn't help but do that for anybody," he said.

Kane is accused of directing Security Aviation workers to buy four launchers from someone in Pennsylvania. Two launchers arrived sometime after Oct. 13, 2005, at Security's hangar at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Kane opened the crates and said, "Now I can go target practice," the charges say. The launchers later were moved to Security's hangar in Palmer. Security Aviation and Regional Protective Services also had equipment that would have permitted mounting of the launchers, the indictment said.

Prosecutors say that Security Aviation faces maximum fines of $250,000 per count. Kane faces prison time and fines. Federal authorities have seized the eight L-39s for forfeiture.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7475727p-7385950c.html
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jammerjamesky
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Hearing casts light on Security Aviation man
ROB KANE: Testimony points to man accused of rocket-launcher possession as recent FBI informant.

By RICHARD MAUER and LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: March 2, 2006
Last Modified: May 3, 2006 at 04:17 AM


Rob Kane, the Eagle River man accused of illegally possessing two Soviet bloc rocket launchers, worked as an informant for the FBI as recently as last year, according to testimony at a new bail hearing Wednesday.

Kane, 37, is asking federal Magistrate John Roberts to reconsider his Feb. 8 decision denying Kane bail as a flight risk. Kane's attorneys said Kane was willing to post a $100,000 bond and offered Charles Sandberg, the real estate broker who employs Kane's mother at Next Home Real Estate, as a round-the-clock custodian.

Time ran out on the hearing Wednesday afternoon and Roberts ordered it continued this morning. He said his decision would be a "close call."

While the hearing shed some light on Kane, the self-styled commander at Security Aviation, it also deepened the mystery of what he did for Security owner Mark Avery and raised new questions about the volumes of money that Avery appeared to have been throwing around.

Interviews and prior court testimony have shown that Kane is probably the No. 2 behind Avery, who over the past year has spent millions of dollars building an air charter, medevac and security business anchored to the aviation company. Security Aviation and related companies, like Regional Protective Services LLC, are all registered with the state as wholly owned by Avery, a former municipal and state prosecutor who, as recently as 2004, gave his address as a modest duplex near Russian Jack Park. He now lives off Eagle River Road.

In addition to the most direct evidence to date that Kane was an informant for Robert Coffin, an FBI agent in Clearwater, Fla., the testimony and evidence at the hearing Wednesday did little to cast Security Aviation and related companies as just ordinary businesses.

• For a birthday present, Avery spent $2.4 million to buy Kane a World War II Corsair F4U-4, the fearsome, propeller-driven, 460 mph Navy fighter dubbed "Whistling Death" by the Japanese. Avery had "Rob 'Kandy' Kane" painted on the side of the plane. FAA records list the Corsair as owned by High Security Aviation LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Security Aviation. Kane is not a licensed pilot and has never been in the U.S. military, according to testimony.

• Avery paid $711,000 cash for the Eagle River home that Kane and his Filipino wife of about 10 years, Karen, moved in to. The home is listed in state and city records as being owned by Avery's Regional Property Services LLC.

• A government search of Kane's computers seized Feb. 2 uncovered scanned images of phony government identification cards, including one for the international airport at Cebu, in the Philippines. Other cards licensed the holder to possess weapons in the Philippines.

• Contrary to assertions by defense witness Joe Griffith, a former wing commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base and a prominent Anchorage businessman, that the rocket launchers were "demilitarized," the government presented evidence that they were fully operational. There was no evidence that Kane or Security had obtained rockets, though agents found operation manuals and rocket specifications at Security Aviation for the air-to-ground weapons.

Griffith, the former chief executive of Chugach Electric Association, has been a training and business development consultant to Security Aviation since last fall, shortly after Avery bought the company. In testimony on behalf of Kane, Griffith said he was present when the crates containing the rocket launchers arrived at the Security hanger at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The 16-tube rocket launchers, with Russian lettering, were designed to be fitted to the L-39 Czech military trainer jets Avery had purchased. Federal agents seized Avery's eight jets in the aftermath of the Feb. 2 raids on Security hangers in Anchorage and Palmer and Avery's company headquarters in a former bank building on C Street.

Griffith said the rocket launchers were not operational and might as well have been turned into coffee tables. But under withering cross-examination by assistant U.S. attorney Steve Skrocki, Griffith acknowledged he was basing his assertion on an advertisement from the man who sold the launchers as well as his own "cursory" examination that didn't even include a close visual inspection. Griffith said many of his assumptions were based on the way similar American launchers were designed, not Soviet-era ones.

A federal agent who participated in the search of Kane's house testified that he was told by an expert from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the launchers' wiring was intact, though some terminals were misnumbered in a common mistake of Soviet equipment. Skrocki suggested that the rocket-control wiring in the jets themselves was also intact, even if the actual cockpit controls were missing.

Griffith said Security Aviation had hoped to contract with the U.S. military to use the jets in "opposition air" combat training, where dissimilar planes are used to simulate actual warfare. Griffith said no such contracts had been signed.

He also said that he had come up with a business idea to train Philippine forces using the L-39 jets. The planes, with a maximum 600-mile range, could not be flown there easily, he said, though he acknowledged they could be transported aboard ships. Or the training could take place elsewhere, he said.

Sandberg was the latest potential custodian presented to Magistrate Roberts by Kane's lawyers. At the last hearing, federal prosecutors questioned the propriety of using the prior suggested custodians: two Security Aviation officials and the wife of an Anchorage police officer who moonlighted at the company.

Sandberg said he has known Kane's mother for years and testified he would carefully oversee Kane's every movement as ordered by the court.

But he acknowledged he also had a strong business connection to Avery. His firm earned the commissions on the purchase of Kane's and Avery's Eagle River homes, and he personally stood to earn another $17,000 commission in September if the contracted purchase of Security's Palmer hanger were consummated.

Sandberg said he knew little about Kane, including what he did for Avery besides keeping irregular hours. He said he had little idea what Kane did to support himself during the time Kane spent in the Philippines.

"He said he was there working with the military. He said he was working with the Philippine police," Sandberg said.

As they had in the earlier hearings, Kane's attorneys tried to introduce evidence that Kane had worked for the U.S. government, but they made little progress after Skrocki argued the matter was irrelevant at a bail hearing and was more suited for trial.

Kevin Fitzgerald, one of Kane's attorneys, argued that Kane didn't present a danger to the community and would not try to flee.

After the hearing recessed, another Kane attorney, James Kee of Duncan, Okla., accused the prosecutor of trying "to pull the wool" over the magistrate's eyes by blocking evidence of Kane's U.S. government connections. Kee said that FBI Agent Coffin had copies of the phony identification cards in his Florida files because Kane had used them in his undercover work. Kee declined to elaborate, though he added that he believes Coffin's superiors were preventing him from speaking to Kane's defense team.

Calls to Coffin's office last week were not returned.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/s...p-7403599c.html
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