Manager @ MD airport: "Nothing here raised any eyebrows" regarding Connell's departure

[sabra]

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/01/08/320733/tampering-appears-unlikely-in-controversial-bush-consultants.html

<snip>

Lee Schiek, manager at College Park airport in Maryland, Connell's departure airport and the nearest general aviation airport to downtown Washington DC, says Connell had been flying to the airport once or twice a month for the past year, generally staying one night and leaving the next day.

Police security at the airport is tight, as College Park is one of three airports in a special zone where pilots must obtain background checks and receive approval from federal authorities for each take-off and landing. Schiek says a review of a security camera of the airport's only pedestrian entry during Connell's most recent visit on 18 and 19 December showed no intruders.

Connell had planned to leave the airport at noon that Friday, says Schiek, but waited until after 15:00 to decide to take off because of frontal and icing conditions along the route. He was offered fuel, but declined, earlier telling airport employees that the flight in from Akron took only 70min.

"Nothing here raised any eyebrows," says Schiek, adding that Connell performed a "thorough" pre-flight check before departure. During a previous trip in the summer, however, Schiek says a handful of people came to the airport to await Connell's arrival, confronting him on the tarmac. Employees broke up the scuffle.

[Mika]

1. Link not working.

[sabra]

2. wow - looks like they just purged the page?

was there a few minutes ago:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flightglobal.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F01%2F08%2F320733%2Ftampering-appears-unlikely-in-controversial-bush-consultants.html&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

[sabra]

3. looks like the link works again..

[mod mom]

4. What the heck does this mean:

“Nothing here raised any eyebrows,” says Schiek, adding that Connell performed a “thorough” preflight before departure. During a previous trip in the summer however, Schiek says a handful of people came to the airport to await Connell’s arrival, confronting him on the tarmac. Employees broke up the scuffle and drove Connell to the metro train for his usual trip downtown. –ends

WEIRD!

[sabra]

5. weird indeed - plus they just updated the paragraph

was different from my OP

[mod mom]

6. it's like they slipped it in as an afterthought.

I forwarded to OH attys with a comment to note the last paragraph.

[Peace Patriot]

9. Sabra, in what way was the article changed? I'm going to re-read both, but

was there a change that I wouldn't catch?

[sabra]

10. when I first posted the snip it didn't have this part in the last paragraph

"and drove Connell to the metro train for his usual trip downtown."

[Peace Patriot]

11. I just caught it. It was the drove him to the metro train part.

Is this the change you noticed?

"Schiek says a handful of people came to the airport to await Connell’s arrival, confronting him on the tarmac. Employees broke up the scuffle and drove Connell to the metro train for his usual trip downtown."

I discuss this part of the story below.

An additional thought: Why did he need the employees to drive him to the train? If he traveled this way so frequently, why didn't he use his usual means of transport to the train? (A car parked at the airport? A taxi?) (Or, DID employees generally drive him?) One possible answer is that he felt some on-going threat from this "handful" of people (5? 6?) with whom he had the altercation.

There are of course several possible reasons for such a confrontation. Many possibilities, actually--except that these guys had access to the airport, or rather, a gang of them had access. If it was a repo man, or a mistress' brothers and uncles, or somebody like that--somebody who had a personal beef with him--would they have gotten in? The article says "police security at the airport is tight." And five or six of them?

Who would have the badges, or could get the badges, to let them by police security en masse?

Could there have been any reason to leave the train part off of the article? Hard to think of one. Maybe it was a sensitive FAA item until just before it was uploaded?

[mod mom]

12. Highly suspicious.

I really hope someone delves into this "scuffle". It sounds to be as if who ever is reporting this was given info to put out, then decided this incident might be related.

[creeksneakers2]

13. Unless Schiek was off on the time

Connell was served his subpoena at the airport and the scene was ugly. That happened around late September.

[mod mom]

7. Do any pilots know anything about this site?

[Peace Patriot]

8. "Employees broke up the scuffle"?!?

"...a handful of people came to the airport to await Connell's arrival, confronting him on the tarmac. Employees broke up the scuffle."

What on earth kind of physical altercation could Rove's chief IT expert have gotten into in this alleged secure area?

Even if this occurred in connection with a prior flight, not his fatal one, I certainly hope that this is being investigated.

And I don't know about you, but the fact that Connell did a thorough pre-flight check, prior to his fatal flight, increases the suspicion of sabotage. He would have checked all the normal things, so it would be the abnormal things--something not in the routine, or something sabotaged in such a way as not to be noticeable--that went wrong. Or sabotage from some external source at the end of the flight.

It could still have been ice (although he had de-icers, and there were no reports of ice). It could still have been pilot error or disablement--or just random mechanical failure that could happen to anyone. But that he did a thorough pre-flight check, and this altercation--especially given what was going on with the election fraud lawsuit--further raise my suspicions about his death. It is my understanding that he attended or was going to attend the deposition alone, and that someone in Washington (the RCN? Rove?) assigned lawyers to him, who then accompanied him at the deposition (Nov '08). Could this have been the cause of the altercation? How did those he had the altercation with get into this airport? And what was their purpose? And why, in heaven's name, did he have to fight them off?

--------

NOTE: The link is back up.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/01/08/320733/tampering-appears-unlikely-in-controversial-bush-consultants.html

The full section on the altercation is as follows:

“'Nothing here raised any eyebrows,' says Schiek, adding that Connell performed a 'thorough' preflight before departure. During a previous trip in the summer however, Schiek says a handful of people came to the airport to await Connell’s arrival, confronting him on the tarmac. Employees broke up the scuffle and drove Connell to the metro train for his usual trip downtown." (emphasis added)

Those employees would therefore have had time and opportunity to hear what the altercation was about, from Connell, after it occurred, if not while it occurred.

[creeksneakers2]

14. Scheik is probably off on the time

There was a nasty confrontation at the airport when Connell was served his subpoena there. It happened around late September. Its normal for someone trying to remember when something happened to be off on the time.

[creeksneakers2]

15. From EPluribusMedia

Mr. Ervin (Connell's attorney) challenged the serving of a subpoena on Mr. Connell in Maryland, saying the server was working in league with Arnebeck and "showed up with a camera crew and began to harass our client, and almost threw the subpoena at him, saying that he's served."

http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/state-news/34-ohio-news/208-mike-connell-qno-magic-bulletq-for-2004-or-2008-elections-attorney-says

The date was September 22, according to Wikipedia