Former Air Force Pilot Arrested for Training Chinese

HeyEng

HeyEng

Well-Known Member
Looks like this is just breaking. It amazes me that people think they can just do this and not get caught. Says he was a A-10 dude at one time, so wonder if @MikeD knows him?

www.justice.gov

Former U.S. Air Force Pilot Arrested for Providing Defense Services to the Chinese Military

Former U.S. Air Force officer and pilot Gerald Eddie Brown, Jr., also known by the call sign “Runner,” 65, a U.S. citizen, was arrested today in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Brown was charged by criminal complaint for providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots...
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov

Brown served for over 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, leaving active duty in 1996 with the rank of Major. During his lengthy military career, Brown commanded sensitive units with responsibility for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor on a variety of fighter and attack aircraft, including the F-4 “Phantom II,” F-15 “Eagle,” F-16 “Fighting Falcon,” and the A-10 “Thunderbolt II” (Warthog). Brown then served as a commercial cargo pilot and, most recently, as a contract simulator instructor for two different U.S. defense contractors training U.S. military pilots on flying the A-10 and the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
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I’m curious about this one. Did he get State Department clearance to do A and he proceeded to do B?

I’ve seen a couple guys hired for primary instruction in GA aircraft without State Department clearance and they ended up instructing in P-7’s. Not sure if they received clearance or if it ever caught up to them.
 
HeyEng said:
Looks like this is just breaking. It amazes me that people think they can just do this and not get caught. Says he was a A-10 dude at one time, so wonder if @MikeD knows him?

www.justice.gov

Former U.S. Air Force Pilot Arrested for Providing Defense Services to the Chinese Military

Former U.S. Air Force officer and pilot Gerald Eddie Brown, Jr., also known by the call sign “Runner,” 65, a U.S. citizen, was arrested today in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Brown was charged by criminal complaint for providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots...
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
Click to expand...

Runner was a New Orleans Reserves A-10 guy when he was at UPS. I think came to UPS from UAL. Prior to that, he had another A-10 assignment active duty, and had come from the F-111 originally. Was kind of a walking disaster area from my buds who knew him better than me and were in same unit or sister units at the same base. Nearly packed an F-111 into the ground doing an unauthorized SAM defensive technique at night, managed to recover by sheer luck below 50 AGL. At F-111 speeds, that kind of altitude happens in less than the blink of an eye. Not sure what he was teaching the Chicoms, but if he had been an F-35 sim instructor, theres a lot of classified he would know.

Of course, being the disaster he was in ways, perhaps he was planted to make the Chinese Air Force worse, like some kind of reverse Manchurian candidate. 😆
 
MikeD said:
Runner was a New Orleans Reserves A-10 guy when he was at UPS. I think came to UPS from UAL. Prior to that, he had another A-10 assignment active duty, and had come from the F-111 originally. Was kind of a walking disaster area from my buds who knew him better than me and were in same unit or sister units at the same base. Nearly packed an F-111 into the ground doing an unauthorized SAM defensive technique at night, managed to recover by sheer luck below 50 AGL. At F-111 speeds, that kind of altitude happens in less than the blink of an eye. Not sure what he was teaching the Chicoms, but if he had been an F-35 sim instructor, theres a lot of classified he would know.

Of course, being the disaster he was in ways, perhaps he was planted to make the Chinese Air Force worse, like some kind of reverse Manchurian candidate. 😆
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The bolded implies a level of strategic competence that I believe far exceeds the current leadership's ability to fathom.
 
I only knew of a few people that got fired, and stayed fired, at UPS. You had to do something so outlandish. I knew a FFDO who failed a drug test. There was the guy who brandished a firearm during a road rage incident and ended up doing some time. You have to be a bit of a problem child.
 
DE727UPS said:
I only knew of a few people that got fired, and stayed fired, at UPS. You had to do something so outlandish. I knew a FFDO who failed a drug test. There was the guy who brandished a firearm during a road rage incident and ended up doing some time. You have to be a bit of a problem child.
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I think there was a guy at SJ, before my time, that got sideways with the local highway constabulary. Obviously made an impact if some rando guy like me from another airline knows about it.
 
DE727UPS said:
I only knew of a few people that got fired, and stayed fired, at UPS. You had to do something so outlandish. I knew a FFDO who failed a drug test. There was the guy who brandished a firearm during a road rage incident and ended up doing some time. You have to be a bit of a problem child.
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Gan Dryder?
 
DE727UPS said:
I only knew of a few people that got fired, and stayed fired, at UPS. You had to do something so outlandish. I knew a FFDO who failed a drug test. There was the guy who brandished a firearm during a road rage incident and ended up doing some time. You have to be a bit of a problem child.
Click to expand...
I can't fathom an airline pilot failing a drug test. As a teen I smoked the devils lettuce a few times but at 18 yrs old I got a job at an airport that required drug testing and never looked back at any illicit activities again. I was provided many opportunities to imbibe over the years by folks I still consider friends to this day but the risk was never worth the reward. Once you get that failure I always figured you're career in any safety related position was done. PRIA is not just for pilots, it's for everyone on the DOT program at your employer and it follows you for the rest of your career. I'm just a dumb mechanic but I knew sharing a joint with a buddy out in the desert was okay for him, a plumber, but not okay for me.
 
knot4u said:
I can't fathom an airline pilot failing a drug test.
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FL350

Thread 'QX2059 Jumpseater tries to shutdown engines'

PAE to SFO, diverted into PDX
At the 10:40 mark in the liveatc mark you can hear PDX approach ask for threat level, and crew says they got the guy who tried to shut engines down subdued in the back.

No idea what this must’ve been like, and my details could be wrong. Just piecing things together based on the information I have.

Good work to the crew getting the plane on the ground safely.

  • Wow
 
CFI A&P said:
FL350

Thread 'QX2059 Jumpseater tries to shutdown engines'

PAE to SFO, diverted into PDX
At the 10:40 mark in the liveatc mark you can hear PDX approach ask for threat level, and crew says they got the guy who tried to shut engines down subdued in the back.

No idea what this must’ve been like, and my details could be wrong. Just piecing things together based on the information I have.

Good work to the crew getting the plane on the ground safely.

  • Wow
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I know it happens, I don't understand the thought process. Although I'm not a 121 pilot it grates my nerves that pilots can put their entire career in jeopardy for seeking help, I'll also say I do not want anyone taking SSRIs flying airliners. Get to the root of the problem and try to fix it, if that doesn't work than perhaps this is not the right job for you because your brain isn't suited for it. You're going to argue and say it's the insurance companies fault because they won't pay, I agree and that's a valid argument but the main issue isn't pilots careers or ambitions, it's safety. Putting on a brave face and flying a trusting public when your literally crumbling inside because of possible repercussions is neither brave nor noble, just call in unfit and navigate that mess, at least you could stand tall for standing down and no one gets hurt. Some folks just aren't built for that job, just like some folks aren't PGA, MLB, NBA or NFL players. The world needs ditch diggers too.
 
knot4u said:
I can't fathom an airline pilot failing a drug test. As a teen I smoked the devils lettuce a few times but at 18 yrs old I got a job at an airport that required drug testing and never looked back at any illicit activities again. I was provided many opportunities to imbibe over the years by folks I still consider friends to this day but the risk was never worth the reward. Once you get that failure I always figured you're career in any safety related position was done. PRIA is not just for pilots, it's for everyone on the DOT program at your employer and it follows you for the rest of your career. I'm just a dumb mechanic but I knew sharing a joint with a buddy out in the desert was okay for him, a plumber, but not okay for me.
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People (in any profession) can make incredibly dumb choices. They can also make choices that end up going somewhere that they didn't foresee happening.

In the past 5 years I've helped out with HIMS cases for pilots who have had a cookie at a neighborhood pot luck and then went to work and busted a test, and pilots who have gotten busted mulling hard drugs across international borders while on overnights.

Not all poor decisions are created equal.
 
BobDDuck said:
People (in any profession) can make incredibly dumb choices. They can also make choices that end up going somewhere that they didn't foresee happening.

In the past 5 years I've helped out with HIMS cases for pilots who have had a cookie at a neighborhood pot luck and then went to work and busted a test, and pilots who have gotten busted mulling hard drugs across international borders while on overnights.

Not all poor decisions are created equal.
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Just cause ‘you’ can’t understand it or wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean it won’t or can’t happen. There’s a word for this, (CC take note) AMIRITE @derg
 
I used to think that pilots had a demographic that had and/or generated weirdness. Then I started hanging around other professionals courtesy of my SO, and quickly found the genpop is weirder. Think pilots without having to do a medical or a functional check of sane-ness or generally getting along every 6-9 months. It was amazing for me to learn that without even the most tenuous of restraint or tether to reality, people these days really do spin off into their own universe.
 
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