PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY POLICE BEAT: FAA certified aircraft mechanic Curtis Amon, who works on jets, arrested for 4th DWI within ten years

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  • - For the celebrities who charter small jets and plane owners who service their planes in Manassas, this question is pertinent: Is your aircraft mechanic required to blow into an ignition interlock in order to drive to work prior to working on your plane?

 

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY POLICE BEAT  –  FAA certified aircraft mechanic Curtis Andrew Amon, who works on jets, arrested for 4th DWI within ten years

MANASSAS, VA. — For the celebrities who charter small jets and plane owners who service their planes in Manassas, this question is pertinent:
Is your aircraft mechanic required to blow into an ignition interlock in order to drive to work prior to working on your plane?

Prince William County Police report the arrest of Curtis Andrew Amon for DWI on June 10, 2017, a fourth such arrest within ten years. With his driver’s permit revoked for earlier arrests, including being arrested for DWI while being ordered to use an ignition interlock, Amon was performing key aircraft airframe and engine work and inspections for various Northern Virginia charter aircraft firms.

AMON, CURTIS ANDREW 06/10/2017, 00:00:00 M, 51, 905 BROAD OAKS DR HERNDON, VA 18.2-266 – – DWI: 4+ OFF W/IN 10Y – 90D 46.2-391(D)(3) – – LIC REVOKED(DWI/MANSL): DR W/O LICENSE, 2+ OFF –

Curtis Amon photo from Facebook

According to his Facebook page and LinkedIn profile, Amon has been working at charter aircraft firms based in Manassas, Va., which charter and services small jets and twin-engine aircraft.

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According to Virginia Court records in Prince William County, Curtis Andrew Amon, of Oakton, Va., was charged in Fairfax County General District Court with DWI 1st. on Nov. 14, 2010.  On Jan. 25, 2011, Amon was found guilty. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and his driver’s license was suspended for one year with the restriction period to terminate on Jan. 24, 2012. License Is Restricted To Use To And From Work, License Is Restricted To Use To And From ASAP Meetings, License Is Restricted To Use For Medically Necessary Travel, Transport Minor Child, Court Ordered Visitation, To And From Court Ordered Facility. Court records show he was fined $300 with courts costs of $182.00.

Amon was charged with DWI 2nd offense within five years, with a blood-alcohol reading over .20% on Oct. 4, 2011 – while his driver’s license was suspended for the earlier DWI. On April 30, 2012, Amon was found guilty in Fairfax County District Court and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and given unsupervised probation. Seventy-five days of the jail sentence was suspended.  Amon’s driver’s permit was suspended for three years with restrictions that allowed him to drive to medical appointments, to and from court-ordered facilities, to and from work and all the time with an ignition interlock. The restriction end date was set for April 29, 2015.  A fine of $500 was ordered as part of the plea deal.

According to Amon’s LinkedIn profile, he asserts in his resume that he is a FAA licensed airframe and power plant mechanic, at the same time that the Commonwealth of Virginia restricted his ability to drive motor vehicles on Virginia highways.  The FAA also lists him as a licensed mechanic.

  • FAA Licensed Airframe and Power Plant Mechanic with over 13 years of experience working on jet, turboprop and piston aircraft.
  • Seven years extensive experience maintaining jet and turboprop aircraft for a National Air Carrier.
  • Six years General Aviation specializing in annual inspections, major repairs and modifications of airframes and power plants on customers private aircraft.
  • Excellent troubleshooting ability with proven track record.

Amon listed the following on his LinkedIn profile as his recent work history:

A&P Mechanic

Dates Employed: Oct 2013 – Present
Employment Duration: 3 yrs. 10 mos.

Location: Manassas, VA

Curtis Amon keeping charter aircraft flying after blowing into his ignition interlock.

Responsible for performing annual inspections, phase checks, and unscheduled troubleshooting and repairs on Cessna Citation, Beechcraft KingAir, and Piper turboprop aircraft as well as various GA piston aircraft.

Inspector, Airframe & Power Plant Mechanic

Dates Employed: Mar 2006 – Jan 2012 Employment Duration: 5 yrs. 11 mos.

Location: Manassas, VA

Responsible for conducting annual inspections, troubleshooting and repairs on a single engine and light twin general aviation aircraft including Beechcraft, Mooney, Piper; specializing in Cirrus, Cessna, and Socata maintaining a strong focus on quality workmanship and customer service. Ensure work performed by other mechanics meet standards of approved data and properly documented for the return to service of customer aircraft. Complete records, warranty documentation, and meet face to face with customers to discuss estimates and explain repairs.

The FAA lists Curtis Andrew Amon
as a qualified aircraft mechanic.

CURTIS ANDREW AMON, Certificates: MECHANIC

Certificate: MECHANIC Date of Issue: 8/1/2005

Ratings: MECHANIC, AIRFRAME, POWERPLANT

THE FAA AND ALCOHOL

The following guidelines were issued by the FAA in regard to Pilots. While it may be logical to figure that aircraft mechanics are just as important to aircraft safety, the FAA rules apply to pilots only in regard to alcohol.

Hard Facts and Erratic Effects

Alcohol is a sedative, hypnotic, and an addicting drug that quickly impairs judgment and leads to behavior that can easily contribute to, or cause, accidents. Its toxic effects, which vary considerably from person to person, are influenced by gender, body weight, the rate of consumption (time), and total amount consumed. Consider these facts:

  • The average healthy person eliminates pure alcohol at a fairly constant rate—about 1/3 to 1/2 ounces of pure alcohol per hour.
  • Even after complete elimination of all of the alcohol from the body, there are undesirable effects—hangover—that can last 48 to 72 hours following the last drink. Symptoms commonly associated with a hangover are a headache, dizziness, dry mouth, stuffy nose, fatigue, upset stomach, irritability, impaired judgment, and increased sensitivity to bright light. A pilot with these symptoms would certainly not be fit to safely operate an aircraft.

Alcohol and Aviation

The majority of adverse effects produced by alcohol relate to the brain, eyes, and inner ear— three crucial organs to a pilot.

  • Brain effects include impaired reaction time, reasoning, judgment, and memory.
  • Visual symptoms include eye muscle imbalance, which leads to double vision and difficulty focusing.
  • Inner ear effects include dizziness and decreased hearing perception.

Pilots have shown impairment in their ability to perform even routine VFR flight tasks while under the influence of alcohol, regardless of individual flying experience. The number of serious errors dramatically increases as your blood alcohol level goes up. Some studies have shown diminished pilot performance with blood alcohol concentrations as low as 0.025 percent. If other variables (e.g., sleep deprivation, fatigue, medication use, altitude hypoxia, or flying at night or in bad weather) are present, the negative effects are significantly magnified.

Regulations and Recommendations

The use of alcohol and drugs by pilots is regulated by Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Section 91.17: No person may operate or attempt to operate an aircraft within eight hours of having consumed alcohol, while under the influence of alcohol, or with a blood alcohol content of 0.04 percent or greater. A more conservative approach is to wait 24 hours from the last use of alcohol before flying.

This is especially true if intoxication occurred or if you plan to fly IFR. Also, consider the effects of a hangover. Eight hours from “bottle to throttle” does not mean you are in the best physical condition to fly or that your blood alcohol concentration is below the legal limits. Time is the only real solution and, ideally, every pilot should strive for total avoidance of alcohol in planning or accomplishing a flight. Lives are at risk if you drink and fly.

COME FLY WITH ME!

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt arrested for DWI in Fairfax County in 2011.

From 2011: The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, responsible for stringent drug and alcohol testing of pilots, was arrested by Fairfax City police and charged with driving while intoxicated.
WJLA Reported:
Jerome Randolph ‘Randy’ Babbitt, 65, of Reston, was taken into custody on Saturday. Police said he was seen driving on the wrong side of the road at about 10:30 p.m. in the 3900 block of Old Lee Highway. 

Babbitt resigned after failing to notify his boss, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, of the DWI arrest. Babbitt piloted a government plane roundtrip from Reagan National to North Carolina less than 48 hours after his arrest as part of his regular proficiency training as a pilot. 

When the case came to court, the Fairfax District Court Judge tossed the case. Babbitt’s attorneys played a video that showed police stopped Babbitt after he made a normal left turn into a parking lot.

NPR REPORTED; General District Judge Ian O’Flaherty called the “traffic stop a ‘hunch’ and dismissed the case before prosecutors could even present evidence of Babbitt’s alleged intoxication.”

Babbitt’s attorney said Babbitt had no more than three drinks at a party and that his blood alcohol level was below the .08 legal limit in Virginia. 

 

 

Published on Apr 6, 2016

Airline mechanics sleeping on the job

Published on Apr 6, 2016

Link to certificate, WINGS credit, and ASI transcript: http://bit.ly/ACSEP
Description: The Air Safety Institute’s Accident Case Study: Everyone’s Problem takes a look at a flight training accident in Texas that killed a flight instructor and two students on November 15, 2007. The video was originally developed for ASI’s online Flight Instructor Refresher Course and holds lessons for all of us—not only as pilots and CFIs, but as friends, peers, and co-workers.

 


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