Summary

On November 20, a federal jury in Miami, FL convicted George Myles, Jr., owner of Miles Aviation, Inc., on 13 of 14 counts of lying about the condition of aircraft parts in violation of the Aircraft Safety Act of 2000. According to evidence at trial, between 2005 and 2006, Myles Jr. purchased used aircraft parts and resold them to the Department of Defense as "new" or "new surplus." The engine parts he falsely certified on Defense Department forms were flight-critical; their failure could be potentially catastrophic and/or cause serious damage to aircraft. Myles also sold numerous aircraft parts to non-military users, fraudulently certifying that the parts were airworthy. As neither Myles nor Miles Aviation, Inc. were licensed by the FAA to perform inspections, repairs, or overhauls they could not certify the airworthiness of aircraft parts. Sentencing is scheduled for February 26, 2007. This investigation was conducted with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the NASA OIG.