Defendant Faces Federal Charges for Flying Without License and Lying to FAA

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Paul Douglas Tharp, 53, of Greensboro, N.C., was arrested today on a federal criminal indictment charging him with lying to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about his qualifications as mechanic and a pilot and for flying an airplane without the proper pilot’s license, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

According to allegations contained in the criminal indictment, Tharp was hired by Warriors and Warbirds, a group based in Monroe, N.C., to repair and refinish a multi-engine Curtiss Wright C-46F (C-46F) airplane that the group had purchased from an aviation museum in Midland, Texas.

Tharp, who operates an airport in Davidson County, N.C., and was certified to fly only single-engine aircrafts, did not have a multi-engine pilot license and did not hold an FAA Mechanic Certificate with an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) rating.

Tharp regularly traveled to Midland, Texas, where he performed maintenance on the C-46F, knowing he was not certified to do so. On several occasions, Tharp acted as second in command during flights, even though he lacked the proper authorization to fly this type of airplane.

On or about June 4, 2011, Tharp, acting as second in command pilot, and other persons traveled via the C-46F from Monroe to an air show in Reading, Penn. Because the airplane still needed additional mechanical work to improve its airworthiness, the FAA required a special ferry permit before the plane could be flown back to Monroe.

Tharp falsely represented to the FAA inspector that he was an A&P mechanic who could make that determination. When the FAA inspector asked Tharp about his A&P certificate, Tharp lied and told the inspector that he had forgotten his A&P certificate in a rush to prepare the C-46F for the flight to Pennsylvania.

The FAA inspector issued a special ferry permit that allowed the C-46F and its passengers to fly from Pennsylvania back to Monroe. Tharp again acted as second in command of the multi-engine C-46F even though he should not have been flying this airplane. After Tharp completed the return trip to North Carolina, the FAA inspector who issued the special ferry permit checked on the certificate number Tharp had provided and learned that Tharp had lied about having an A&P certificate.

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