Oregon Aviation Company Played Key Role in Venezuelan Migrant Fiasco

Jeff Lewis, former Air Traffic Controller, FAA Whistleblower and founder of
Aviation Impact Reform
Miki Barnes, founder of Oregon Aviation Watch

September 23, 2022

It may be happening at an airport near you. An airport operator taking advantage of the low costs, enabled by federal and state subsidies, to eagerly profit by providing aviation-related services with an increasingly militaristic, political and hostile aspect.

The latest big story is how the Governor of Florida tapped a $12 Million state transportation fund and dispatched 'recruiters' to San Antonio, TX, to defraud Venezuelan refugees into a godsend trip to new jobs in the land of the free. The migrants, including families with children, were then duped into boarding two overpriced charter jets at Kelly Field, "one of the Department of Defense's only joint use airfields." After a token stop in Florida, they were flown to Martha's Vineyard at the end of the summer vacation season. Despite this being sold to the air passengers as a generous gift, there was ZERO coordination with local officials at this remote island location.

People who are concerned about the excesses of aviation—its subsidies, the destruction of local control, the concentration of benefits to an aviation elite at great costs to the majority non-aviation population—may be interested in knowing what role aviation played in Desantis' air charter migrant relocation stunt. And, it is revealing to see how this event is connected to Oregon. This web of undeserved power concentration and anti-democratic inequity needs to be unwoven. Agencies, like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and state-level aviation regulators need to break clean from the current situation, wherein regulations are not used to assure safety and stop bad aviation practices, but instead are used by captured regulators to serve aviation money. Local airports have become federally protected occupied-zones; the beneficiary tenants make money serving the elite occupant community, even to the extreme of reselling Russian assault helicopters and military services. This is not the 'general aviation' we are supposed to hear about.

Who Were the Aviation Players in this Fiasco?

On September 14, 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, contracted with Vertol Systems, a Hillsboro, Oregon, based company, to transport 48 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard. Vertol Sytems then arranged for Ultimate Jet, a private jet charter service headquartered in North Canton, Ohio, to fly the migrants to Massachusetts.

A very good local news story about the charter flights is "Flights Carrying Migrants to Martha's Vineyard Were Private Jet Charters Originating in Texas", at MassLive.com. Two aircraft were used, N359SK and N411FJ; both were Dornier 328-300 jets, with registrations indicating a capacity of 34 seats and a range of roughly 1,100 miles. Both arrived at Martha's Vineyard (KMVY) in the mid-afternoon, Wednesday, September 14th.

For N359SK, the itinerary was: arrived San Antonio Kelly Field (KSKF) on Tuesday at 1:21PM from Cincinnati Lunken (KLUK); departed 8:03AM Wednesday to arrive Crestview, FL (KCEW) at 9:51AM; second leg departed Crestview at 10:36M arriving Charlotte (KCLT) at 12:46PM; and the third (and final) leg, departed Charlotte at 1:49PM to arrive Martha's Vineyard (KMVY) at 3:28PM.

For N411FJ, the itinerary was: arrived San Antonio Kelly Field (KSKF) on Tuesday at 6:43PM from Chattanooga (KCHA); departed 7:59AM Wednesday to arrive Crestview, FL (KCEW) at 9:47AM; second leg departed Crestview at 10:30AM arriving Spartanburg, SC (KSPA) at 12:31PM; and the third (and final) leg, departed Spartanburg at 1:19PM to arrive Martha's Vineyard (KMVY) at 3:12PM.

Imagine you were one of the migrants. This was sold to you as a great new chance in the USA, and you were treated with a very expensive jet charter, but then you make two stops enroute. Turns out, the limited range of the D328, coupled with the weight of you and the others, made it necessary to fly at least two legs to cover the 1540 miles between San Antonio and Martha's Vineyard. Oddly, the itinerary had to stop at Crestview in the Florida panhandle (why, for legal reasons, for a photo op, or what?). Crestview is too far from Martha's Vineyard, so two legs had to stretch to three legs. You and the other passengers, who thought you were going in a jet to Boston, instead stopped at two other alien airports en route. What would you have thought, especially given the lack of facts and communications? What anxieties were created by the clowns who paid so much for these two bizarre jet itineraries?

There are four listings in the FAA Registry for Ultimate Jet, one of which has been deregistered. Of note, this company was the recipient of two PPP grants adding up to a combined total of $2,905,301.

A 9/20/2022 CNN report revealed that Vertol Systems has received two payments for transporting the migrants — an initial payout of $615,000 followed by a second payment of $950,000 from Florida's transportation department, bringing the total to date to $1,565,000.

Per the report cited above,

"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday said he intends to use 'every penny' of the $12 million his state budgeted to relocate migrants and set the expectation for buses and 'likely more' flights full of migrants paid for by the state.

'These are just the beginning efforts,' the Republican governor said. "We've got an infrastructure in place now. There's going to be a lot more that's happening.'"

After learning of the first $615,000 payout former governor, Charlie Crist, who is currently running against DeSantis in the November gubernatorial race, pointed out in a 9/16/2022 twitter message,

"Ron won't answer questions so we looked ourselves: FL paid Vertol Systems $615,000 on Sept 8th out of the $12m deportation fund. So Floridians paid $12,300 for each refugee DeSantis trafficked for his own political purposes."

When the second payment of $950,000 is added in, the total comes to $1,565,000, bringing the amount spent to fly 48 migrants on chartered jets from Texas to Massachusetts, to $32,604 per passenger — a remarkably expensive one-way ticket by any stretch of the imagination. Because many of the migrants are same-family members, one very nice car and a generous spending stipend would have been feasible, at the same cost. DeSantis also had the option of spending this money on providing food, housing, health care, job training and other humanitarian aid. Instead these exorbitant fees were funneled into the hands of a sketchy, overpriced, for-profit, publicly subsidized military contractor, one that is apparently accustomed to receiving inflated handouts from people like Ron DeSantis as well as the U.S. military and its Russian connections.

In response, some of the migrants have filed a class action lawsuit against Governor DeSantis and Florida's transportation secretary. As reported by The Hill, "The suit provides a detailed account of how the migrants came to board the two planes allegedly under false pretenses, arguing the relocations violated their Fourth and 14th Amendment rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

Who is Vertol Systems Company and What are Its Oregon and Russian Connections?

As Evan Watson, a 9/16/2022 KGW Channel 8 reporter, aptly stated in an article entitled Florida Paid Oregon-based Aviation Company $615K to Fly Migrants to Martha's Vineyard, "The company's reported involvement in migrant flights brings Oregon into a multi-state clash over immigration policy that's playing out on the national stage."

A 9/16/2022 Willamette Week article, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Hired Longtime Hillsboro Company to Ferry Migrants to Martha's Vineyard, found that "Vertol Systems Company Inc. operated out of Oregon for over two decades before moving to Florida in October 2021." Click here to view the Oregon Secretary of State filing documenting Vertol Systems' conversion from an Oregon to a Florida corporation.

It is also worth noting that Vertol Systems was awarded two $555,585 PPP grants (totaling $1,111,170) during the pandemic.

In addition, according to a 9/20/22 Tampa Bay article, "Vertol Systems has also received roughly $25 million in federal contracts since 2004, mostly from the Department of Defense, according to a review of a U.S. spending database. Most of the contracts were for flight training, the database shows."

Though the Vertol Systems website was taken down after the story broke, an archived version can be found here. Below are quotes taken directly from the site.

A 9/20/2022 AlterNet article sheds additional light on this company,

"Vertol Sytems is owned by James Montgomerie," attorney Daniel Uhlfelder, a Democrat who ran for Florida Attorney General, says. "Vertol also is managing member of [a] company affiliated with Destin developer Jay Odom called Zeppelin Holdings. Odom went to prison for laundering campaign funds for Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign."

The address provided by Vertol Systems when signing off on Zeppelin Holdings Florida Corporation Division annual reports was PO Box 230756, Tigard, OR 97281. Incidentally, the Jay Odom Group, a real estate company that also owns Destin Jets, received two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) grants for a combined total of $787,185.

FAA Registry Listing of Vertol System Aircraft - Multiple OR Addresses

The FAA Registry yielded 55 matches for aircraft registered to Vertol Systems and an additional 18 under Vertol Systems Company, though there does appear to be some overlap. A number of the aircraft have been deregistered. Nine of the helicopters were built for use by the Soviet military. The MIL MI-24D is described as an armed gunship, military assault helicopter. Many of the other helicopters listed were designed for both civilian and military uses. The majority of the helicopters and Cessnas on the list are registered to PO Box 727 in Destin, Florida, with a few notable exceptions.

Regarding Oregon connections, one helicopter (N266VS) is registered to 14220 SW Stickney Dr., Hillsboro, OR 97123.

The deregistered aircraft offer additional clues to various other Oregon addresses provided by Vertol Systems. One was PO Box 230756, Tigard, OR 97281. A different address appears on a deregistered Hughes (N382HH), 25-6 NW 23rd Pl., Portland, OR 97120 as well as another deregistered Cessna (N988WA) with a slightly different street address 2 5/6 NW 23rd Ave.

State of Oregon Ties to Russian Aviation Businesses

The bottom line is that this company, which has ties to the U.S. Military, Russia, and the State of Oregon, is profiting from shipping migrants to sanctuary cities.

But Vertol Systems is not the only aviation company with Russian connections doing business in Oregon.

Epic Aviation, located at the Bend Municipal Airport in Central Oregon, is owned by Russian-based Engineering LLC, a company that received an eye-popping $3,497,900 PPP grant.

In addition, Oregon Senator Brian Boquist owns International Charter Inc. of Oregon. A 2/7/2012 Willamette Week article, Senator of Fortune: A Lawsuit Lifts the Curtain on Sen. Brian Boquist's Military Deals—and How Republicans May Be Benefiting, included the following excerpts.

Solutions

FAA's actions routinely destroy the balance that Democracy is supposed to insure; they persistently undermine equity creating an elite minority of aviation 'winners' at the expense of the majority, who are all non-aviation 'losers'. But, the fact is, FAA is by design bound by the directives issued by Congress. So, our elected leaders, if they choose to lead and serve ALL of us (not just those with money interests), can and should reform the current failed situation. Isn't it only right that each of us should know what is going on at our local airport—who the operators are, whether they are using the airport to sell attack helicopters or do paramilitary training, and which equity firms and foreign corporations are investing distant money that impacts our local lives?

• Mandate full transparency on aviation companies. Who is the company, who are the principals, what is their mission, their assets, their history? Any company that makes money within a federally 'regulated' aviation system in any way, including the transport of migrants to other states or communities, should not be allowed to just shut down their website; all of that website content should be on file with FAA, which should ensure it is all immediately available to journalists, citizens, residents...anyone who asks.
• Increase transparency on foreign investment in aviation companies, at airports, etc. Any aviation entity from outside the U.S. setting up any aviation office and/or operation at a local airport, should be required to do a detailed filing with generally all the above information/data and mandatory annual updates. FAA should maintain a current online database, fully viewable by the public.
• Mandate the annual detailed filing by any aviation entity NOT from a local community, setting up any aviation office and/or operation at a local airport. Same concept: an easily publicly viewable FAA-funded and FAA-maintained web database. This should apply to the training of foreign students at U.S. airports as well.
• Apply this transparency measure to ALL aviation companies.
• ALL tenants for ALL airports gaining FAA funding: if a person or LLC or company or multinational corporation makes ANY money related to their leasing airport space or buildings, or operating on/off a specific airport, the public impacted by that airport has a right to know the details—who, using what, doing what, etc.
• Regarding aviation PPP: the indecency of this aviation-enabled event presents Congress with an opportunity to focus on all involved aviation companies (such as Vertol, Ultimate Jet, Jay Odom Group) with an official investigation. The investigation needs to dive deep into what PPP funds were received and precisely how that money was spent within each company.
• Stop funding general aviation airports with FAA Airport Improvement Plan grants derived from fees affixed to commercial passenger tickets and cargo shipments. General aviation airports should be self sustaining rather than chronically dependent on public handouts.

Take Action

This is a serious national security issue sorely in need of transparency and public oversight. U.S. residents deserve answers. Contact your federal senators and representatives. Urge them to immediately launch a thorough investigation into the shady dealings of U.S. politicians, Port authorities, the State of Oregon, airport owners, and aviation businesses with ties to Russia, foreign governments, defense contractors, and the U.S. military as well as the shifty maneuverings of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, and others who are intent on using migrants as pawns in their efforts to bolster their own political ambitions and discriminatory ideologies.

To locate contact information for your Congressional Senators and Representatives click here.