Pilot left the plane at 2000 feet over FL?

mikea said:
Why did he check into the motel? Just to look good to the cop?
Click to expand...

They took him to the motel. Bigger question (if this part of the story is true) is WHY did HE approach the cops?

http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE50C5ZE20090113

A man believed to be the pilot approached police near the Alabama city of Harpersville on Sunday night, wet up to the knees and seeking help. He told them he had been in a canoe accident, showed them a drivers license identifying him as Schrenker and was taken by police to a hotel, investigators said.
Click to expand...
 
As bad as all this was, I'm grateful his wife had the sense to leave before he flipped, and that she and their three children didn't become innocent victims of his plot.

Remember a Columbo episode with Johnny Cash, called "Swan Song"?

Synopsis of Columbo: Swan Song

An Evangelist Singer Tommy Brown (Johnny Cash) with an attraction to young girls is blackmailed by his wife Edna Brown (Ida Lupino) who threatens to turn him over to the police if he doesn’t give all of his income to her crusade to build a $5 million dollar tabernacle. Brown sets up a airplane crash by drugging his two passengers and parachutes to safety as the plane crashes. Columbo gets involved because his brother in law becomes suspicious becase Tommy had given him his guitar to take on the bus. When Columbo finds the pilots seat belt unfastened at the crash scene he becomes suspicious himself. As he investigates, the missing maps in the navigation kit, the missing Thermos, and Tommy’s past experience as a parachute rigger all lead to the discovery of the truth.
 
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/13/missing.pilot/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Meanwhile, shortly before 2:30 a.m. Monday, Schrenker showed up at a residence in Childersburg, Alabama, and said he had been in a canoeing accident, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

A resident gave him a ride into Childersburg, and police made contact with him, identifying him through his FAA pilot's license, authorities said. Childersburg is about 35 miles south of Birmingham.

Unaware of the crash, the officers took Schrenker to a hotel in nearby Harpersville. After hearing about the crash, they went back to the hotel, where they found that Schrenker had checked in under a fictitious name and was gone, possibly into a wooded area, police said.
 
I'm grateful his wife had the sense to leave before he flipped
Click to expand...

One theory is that she is in on it - and they have a 'bogus divorce' in the works to throw the police off her being an accomplice.
Maybe disproven by now, but thats the theory I heard.
We're allowed wild speculation, no? :D
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
We're allowed wild speculation, no? :D
Click to expand...
Maybe he was part of some super secret black project and planned to erase his old identity by faking his demise out in the gulf but just botched his "sheep washing".

Now thats wild speculation, though it could be close to the truth.:yes:
 
TangoWhiskey said:
I'm with you. He could have donated it to a medical airlift charity or something, then gone and sought whatever help he needed. Seeing that bird upside down in the muck was tough.
Click to expand...

He probably owed more than it was worth so a donation woudn't be likely.
 
It's a shame he wasn't using a Jetprop conversion, it would have had the range to make the ocean.

Kevin
 
Looks like the caught him in Quincey, FL. 8:15PM.

Fox News is reporting he had tried to slit his wrists.
 
Last edited:
Apparently he was a douchebag in the aviation community:

However, Schrenker is also accused of defrauding people outside of the financial arena. A suit filed in January 2008 in Houston County, Alabama, accuses him of misrepresenting the condition of an aircraft he sold to a local man.
Schrenker told Barnett Hudson that the 1996 Extra Flugzeugbau Ea 300L aircraft was "squawk free," had "exceptional maintenance" and had "never been damaged," according to the suit.
But Hudson says he later learned that the plane had made a "hard landing" and that a wing had been overstressed, and that Schrenker had made a $104,000 claim with his insurance company for damage to the plane but made only cosmetic repairs.
The suit claims that the defendants, including Schrenker, "breached their express warranty by selling an aircraft that was not squawk-free ... had been damaged and was not fit to even be flown, given the internal damage to the wing."
Click to expand...
 
wbarnhill said:
Apparently he was a douchebag in the aviation community:
Click to expand...

Yes it appears so and he misused the trust of other pilots. This was a note from a couple of years ago on airlinepilotsofrum.com
I have known Marcus Schrenker for about 10 years. He is one of the most honest guys I have ever met. Very, nice, courteuous - and works his butt off. I have known few people with as much energy as he. Thumbs up for this guy.

I would listen to this guy.

Dan Fargo
Click to expand...
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/hangar-talk/828-do-pilots-really-know-how-invest-2.html

Be careful as there are still other people from his company that have posted to avaition web boards. As an example:
You're not mistaken. Here is the best comparison that I have found. It seems to have a nice, understandable explanation. Real Estate Vs. Stocks

On the subject of diversification, which as you know from before, I am totally for, you can own a real estate mutual fund. This way you can let the professional money managers buy and sell the holdings they are trained to, while taking advantage of as broad of a holding in the real estate market as possible. After a quick search, I like T. Rowe Price Real Estate (TRREX). Please note, I am not saying go out and buy this fund, I just wanted you to see the kind of fund I'm talking about. I like this one because it is a 4star fund and has a middle of the road approach. From its inception through May 05 only 3 other funds have topped its 13.2% annualized gain. That seems pretty impressive to me. Something that stood out to me was the low turnover rate. 8% in 04. This is because Lee the fund manager seems to really believe in his choices for the long run. This makes me feel more comfortable with his stance in the market.

After saying this, I know a few of our clients that have made a killing in the real estate market. It seems that a few good choices on location and property type go a long way. However, I suppose a few bad ones and you are looking at a major problem.

I have a great chart that compares small and large stocks agianst inflation and bonds but I can't figure out how to insert it into the post. The best part about it, is how it puts them in timeline form and tells the major events in history from 1925 to 2004. Pretty neat to look at. Email me if you would like it. adammoore@heritage-wealth.com.

-adam
Click to expand...

All I am saying is be careful with the information you get about your money be it on a web board or any where else. Trust is just something you cannot afford in this area.
 
Local Philly News says he has been arrested in Northern Florida. as of 11:05 PM
 
Schrenker was taken into custody around 10 p.m. EST after officers from the U.S. Marshal's office in Tallahassee, Fla., found him at a campground in nearby Quincy, Richard said. He was in a tent with a slashed wrist when they arrived.


"He had cut one of his wrists, but he is still alive," Richards said.

The missing pilot was tracked down after investigators developed leads that he might be in Florida and forwarded to U.S. Marshals officers there, Richards said.

Schrenker was on the run not only from the law but from divorce, a state investigation of his businesses and angry investors who accuse him of stealing potentially millions in savings they entrusted to him.

"We've learned over time that he's a pathological liar — you don't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth," said Charles Kinney, a 49-year-old airline pilot from Atlanta who alleges Schrenker pocketed at least $135,000 of his parents' retirement fund.
Click to expand...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-plane-crash-mystery,0,6709323.story
 
Re: Pilot's 3-Day Run Comes to an End

Sad more than anything... what a waste of a plane! He could have given it to me and I would've done a better job of faking his death. ;)
 
smigaldi said:
I have seen you post that before, what does that mean? :dunno:
Click to expand...

Means he needs to go out and buy some:

Pic_Gumption_suppliedImage.jpg
 
Gumption = grit, backbone, common sense, guts, mother wit...you know...the stuff that gives you integrity and courage and the presence of mind to be honorable and caring and respectful of others.
 
4763E said:
Gumption = grit, backbone, common sense, guts, mother wit...you know...the stuff that gives you integrity and courage and the presence of mind to be honorable and caring and respectful of others.
Click to expand...
I think he gave that away a long time ago.
 
Kim, I couldn't agree more with your sentiment.

I do wish they figured out a way to add gumption to drinking water supply...
 
4763E said:
Gumption = grit, backbone, common sense, guts, mother wit...you know...the stuff that gives you integrity and courage and the presence of mind to be honorable and caring and respectful of others.
Click to expand...
Thanks Kim,

I am more familiar with the book definition
gump·tion (gŭmp'shən) Pronunciation Key
n. Informal

  1. Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness.
From that and the way this person was being described he seemed to have all of those things above, hence my uncertainty of your definition.
 
smigaldi said:
Thanks Kim,

I am more familiar with the book definition
gump·tion (gŭmp'shən) Pronunciation Key
n. Informal

  1. Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness.
From that and the way this person was being described he seemed to have all of those things above, hence my uncertainty of your definition.
Click to expand...

The first definition in my dictionary says "sound practical judgment"...followed by "fortitude and determination"...
 
4763E said:
The first definition in my dictionary says "sound practical judgment"...followed by "fortitude and determination"...
Click to expand...
This is one of those words that means different things based on regional interpretation. That is why I asked. Where I grew up gumption was not a compliment so lack of gumption would be a good thing. It is just one of those vagaries of language. I could tell from your post that you did not mean to compliment him hence my confusion and request for clarity.

My source BTW
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Click to expand...
 
I still think that "Gumption" would be a good name for a cereal, based on Kim's dictionary. ;)
 
Let me get this straight. So he screwed up his marriage, he screwed up his businesses, he screwed up a faked death, he screwed up his escape plan, and they found him screwed up his suicide?

I think I'd be safe safe to call him a screwup.
 
Pi1otguy said:
Maybe he was part of some super secret black project and planned to erase his old identity by faking his demise out in the gulf but just botched his "sheep washing".

Now thats wild speculation, though it could be close to the truth.:yes:
Click to expand...

He might have gotten a burn notice while he was in the air.
 
What did he have top afraid of? Maybe he didn't have enough fo the right friends, but Bernie Madoff just got a second chance from a judge to walk around his own house after stealing $50 billion and then "mistakenly" trying to "give away" some of his money while he could.
 
Diana said:
I still think that "Gumption" would be a good name for a cereal, based on Kim's dictionary. ;)
Click to expand...

I was thinking a brand name for an energy drink. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top