FAA PROPOSES $3.3 MILLION CIVIL PENALTY AGAINST THE HINMAN CO.
August 16, 2018
On June 29, 2018, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a $3.3 million civil penalty against The Hinman Co. (Hinman) for conducting hundreds of commercial aircraft operations in violation of the Federal Aviation Regulations, including a failure by Hinman to hold the required operator certificate for the flights being performed.
The FAA alleges that Hinman, through subsidiary Hincojet LLC, operated a Beechcraft Beechjet 400A and a Hawker 900XP aircraft. Hinman entered into multiple aircraft timeshare agreements for use of these aircraft. Under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, Hinman was allowed to charge certain expenses for each flight under the timeshare agreements, including fuel, oil, lubricants and other additives, and an additional charge equal to 100 percent of the listed amount for each flight. Hinman, however, charged expenses exceeding these allowances for 850 flights and, as such, was required to conduct the flights in accordance with regulations applicable to commercial operations, the FAA alleges.
The FAA further alleges that on multiple occasions, Hinman double-billed timeshare clients for various legs of trips. In multiple examples, the FAA states that the aircraft in these situations were incapable of conducting all of those flights in a single day.
As noted above, because it was charging more than the expenses allowed under Part 91, Hinman should have been operating these flights under Part 135, which applies to commercial operations. As a result, FAA alleges that Hinman failed to meet the FAA’s Part 135 requirements for record keeping, including pilot records and load manifests, for each flight. The company also had no Part 135 training program in place and the pilots operating the flights were not authorized to conduct the flights under Part 135, the FAA alleges.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6622); Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6665), or Alexander Matthews (amatthews@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6633).
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