Aaliyah Crash Investigation Focuses On Charter Company's Owner
11/21/01

In searching for information about the crash that killed Aaliyah and eight others in the Bahamas in August, federal investigators have seized the business records and computer hard drive of the owner of the small charter company that provided the fatal flight.

Though the FBI declined to comment, as is their policy with all pending investigations, a 26-page affidavit filed in support of a search warrant charges that Gilbert Chacon, owner of Blackhawk Aviation, has been withholding airport and engine logs and records for the Cessna twin-engine plane involved in the accident (see "Aaliyah Killed In Plane Crash"). Chacon is also suspected of lying to federal investigators, concealing information, falsifying documents and obstructing and impeding due process.

Of particular interest to investigators is a clarification of Chacon's relationship with the Cessna 402B's pilot, Luis Morales III. Investigators also requested details regarding the origin of the flight, names of those who scheduled the flight and the plane's maintenance information.

Up to this point, Chacon had provided some information to investigators via his attorney, Michael Moulis, but had not produced the aircraft and engine logbooks as well as many requested documents, saying that they were not in his possession because he had leased the Cessna to Morales, which absolved him of responsibility for the aircraft.

Investigators now believe Chacon lied about the lease, the transfer of records and logs to Morales prior to the crash, and efforts to locate those records after the crash.

Morales' father, according to the affidavit, insists that the plane was never leased to his son and that Chacon has never inquired about any documents.

The pilot's belongings were searched during the process of retrieving his personal effects, and no aircraft logs were recovered. Morales' father also claims that his son had no means to lease a $250,000 aircraft and that he was paid cash on a per flight basis.

U.S. agents seized Chacon's business records from his Fort Lauderdale, Florida-area residence on Monday, but mostly found training forms and bank statements, according to news reports from Miami television station WSVN.

The affidavit contends that Chacon is concealing his responsibility for the plane, since Blackhawk Aviation did not have permission from the Bahamas to conduct commercial flights there, according to the Civil Aviation Department of the Bahamas. To fly without permission would be in violation of FAA policy.

Since the crash, Chacon — who in 1993 pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud involving another charter service, Caribbean Express — has given up his operating certificate.

Chacon and his lawyer were both out of town and unreachable for comment, according to their employees. Chacon has claimed in the past that he was not responsible for the employ of his pilot, since he had been fooled by Morales about the extent of his experience, which Chacon characterized as inflated.

Moulis even filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration in a letter filed September 10 that accused the late pilot of falsely logging hours: "It is alleged that Mr. Morales inappropriately logged hundreds of hours as pilot in command when it is questionable whether he was even a pilot of the flight," the letter read.

In addition, Morales had recently pleaded no contest to cocaine possession and was not registered to fly for the airline (see "Pilot Of Aaliyah's Plane Had Been Caught With Cocaine, Was Not Authorized To Fly").

Neither the FAA nor the National Transportation Safety Board could be reached for comment Wednesday (November 21).

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