First off, let me declare unequivocally that I was hesitant to make this into a diary... or even a comment... not because of length, but because of my inability to verify any of what I am going to relate here. "A friend who knows a guy" is a terrible way to start any story, much less one here. So, right up front, I've expressed my reservations. But I've sent the story to Huffingtonpost's tip line, and I've sent the story to my Representative (Brad Sherman (D) CA-27), so why not post it and see if anyone here has any ideas on how to either move the story along or debunk it?
So, here goes. A friend of mine (who is a longtime commercial pilot) knows one of the pilots who flies AIG's corporate jets. (The use of the present tense will become clear shortly.) And in a recent conversation, where my friend expressed his concern about his fellow pilot's employment, this pilot of AIG corporate jets said he was still busy. Not as busy as he historically has been, but employed all the same. Why, how could that be?
More below the fold...
While AIG executives are now flying commercial (but only first class, I'm guessing) to save themselves any further aviation-related embarrassment in front of Congressional committees, the corporate fleet is still busy. For some of the top executives at least, whenever they take a commercial flight, a corporate jet (with a complete crew) shadows them on the trip, just in case any commercial flight in their itinerary is delayed, cancelled... whatever.
So, for PR's sake, AIG executives are begrudgingly submitting to the indignity of traveling like the rest of us schmucks (but in first class, of course, so as not to become too terribly contaminated). And god forfend that they might be put out by an equipment problem on one of those nasty ol' jet airliners they're more than happy to insure and finance... they're bringing their ultimate perk along just in case. But wait: It gets worse.
In several cities where the commercial airport and the general aviation field are separate operations, helicopters have been chartered and stationed on standby, in case such an inconvenience does occur, to ferry the AIG exec from the commercial airport to his/her waiting corporate jet.
As I said, I've e-mailed and called my Representative (Sherman is a bit of a fiscal conservative but thank god not a full-fledged, card-carrying Blue Dog), who sits on the House Committee on Financial Services, and its subcommittees on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises; Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit; and Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology. For several months in local (San Fernando Valley and L.A.) media, he has expressed his preference for skipping all the nice preliminaries and placing AIG in receivership, which (like bankruptcy) would allow the government to void all contracts (including those obnoxious executive bonuses), allow the government to break up and sell off AIG's profitable business, and deal more forcefully with the bad apples that clearly are still holding court at 70 Pine Street.
So I'm hoping he can use his staff and influence to find out what's really going on. Calling the FAA and checking flight plans for corporate jets would appear to be one avenue they can (and hopefully will be) pursuing. (Maybe someone here has some facility with such research?)
The Financial Services committee is questioning AIG executives tomorrow, so I hope his staff has enough time to ferret out whatever truth there is in this story, and if it is true, to make it a headline.
Make me proud, Brad.