Tony Kennedy and Paul McEnroe Star Tribune Published Nov. 10, 2002 PILO10

The pilot-in-command of the plane that carried Sen. Paul Wellstone to his death exaggerated his flying experience by telling managers at Executive Aviation that he had 400 to 500 hours of prime experience at a major commuter airline, American Eagle.

An aviation official with knowledge of Richard Conry's history at American Eagle told the Star Tribune on Friday that Conry only trained there. Conry never was named a first officer or co-pilot at the airline and never flew a passenger flight at American Eagle, the official said.

According to an employment record obtained by the Star Tribune, Conry resigned in April 1990 after only four months in the training program. The stated reason for his leaving was "better job opportunity."

In fact, Conry was sentenced to federal prison on fraud charges a week after he resigned from American Eagle.

Conry was a licensed pilot and had flown private planes over the years. But at American Eagle, "he never carried passengers," the official said. "He never flew a scheduled flight."

The official said he was certain of the information because Conry "never had a classification other than trainee, and trainees don't fly passenger flights."

Executive Aviation owner Roger Wikner said in an interview that Conry had excellent, verifiable flying skills regardless of his background. But Wikner said he never would have hired Conry if he knew the pilot had a felony conviction and less flying experience than he claimed.

American Eagle declined to comment, saying its personnel records are confidential.

Several pilots at Executive Aviation say Conry led them to believe that his American Eagle experience was a major part of his flying career.

Conry never disclosed his criminal history to Executive Aviation, and the charter company's chief pilot, Alan Hoffert, said Conry claimed to have 400 to 500 flight hours at American Eagle in twin-turboprop ATR airplanes that carry up to 66 passengers.

Conry was hired by Eden Prairie-based Executive Aviation in April 2001 as a pilot-in-command. He was one of Wellstone's trusted pilots at the firm. Hoffert, the chief pilot, said Conry's claim of up to 500 hours of co-piloting experience at American Eagle certainly would earn him positive consideration in a job interview.

The question of Conry's experience at American Eagle notwithstanding, Wikner said Conry had excellent ability as a pilot and was legally licensed to fly.

"His training record with us is impeccable," Wikner said. "Some very important people wanted him as their pilot. They liked what he did. They liked the way he handled the airplane."

But Wikner said he would "absolutely not" have hired Conry had he known about his felony conviction and his lack of passenger flying experience at American Eagle.

"There's no question there's enough people wandering around who want to be pilots and are good pilots and have the time and training," Wikner said.

Conry, 55, died in the crash Oct. 25 along with co-pilot Michael Guess; Wellstone; Wellstone's wife, Sheila; their daughter, Marcia; two Wellstone campaign workers, and a DFL Party official.

Conry's widow, Johanne Conry of Minnetonka, did not respond Friday to a reporter's question about her late husband's record at American Eagle.

While the employment record doesn't indicate how Conry spent his time as a trainee, the aviation official with knowledge of Conry's history said he would have spent a significant amount of time in the classroom and practicing on simulators before taking any training flights with an instructor.

Even under a different scenario, however, it still would have been improbable for Conry to have spent 400 to 500 hours flying for American Eagle. Tom Wychor, an executive vice president of the Air Line Pilots Association International, said 85 hours a month of flying time is considered a "high average" for a full-time turboprop pilot at a standard regional airline. Four months at 85 hours would net a pilot 320 hours.

Issues of trust

Kit Darby, founder of Air Inc., an Atlanta career information service for airline pilots, said personal integrity is an important issue in evaluating a pilot for hire.

"The system is built on trust, and you want somebody who is a person of their word," Darby said. "Pilots work autonomously. You are counting on them."

Many of the entries in a pilot's logbook, for example, are self-reported under the honor system.

Further, Darby said, a good pilot has to be comfortable disclosing problems or shortcomings to correct them. It's common for pilots to make small mistakes, and admitting them is the first step in improving.

"You look for a pilot to have good self-appraisal skills," Darby said.

Darby said a past felony conviction wouldn't automatically disqualify a pilot from getting a new job if the conviction were disclosed by the pilot in the hiring process. But the discovery of a concealed conviction certainly would spoil any employment bid, he said.

"Nothing makes employers more uncomfortable than not having a true picture," Darby said.

As previously reported, Executive Aviation's application form at the time Conry was hired in 2001 asked whether he had been convicted of a felony in the past five years. Conry, who was convicted in 1990 on 14 counts of mail fraud in connection with a home construction business, answered "no."

Once hired at Executive Aviation, Conry didn't stop talking about American Eagle. He told fellow pilots that he flew the European-made ATR, a plane that is more than three times bigger than the eight-passenger Beechcraft King Air A100 turboprops flown by Executive Aviation.

Wore Eagle insignia

Conry also proudly wore an American Eagle insignia on his uniform.

"He wore their [American Eagle's] uniform," said Bob Fiske, Executive Aviation's most senior line pilot.

Fiske said he was "totally surprised" to hear that Conry never flew passengers for American Eagle.

"I thought he was a [pilot] for American Eagle," Fiske said. "That was my understanding and everyone else's."

Fiske, a highly experience retired captain from Northwest Airlines, said the peculiar thing is that Conry could have landed a job at Executive Aviation without claiming experience at the regional affiliate of American Airlines. Even the felony conviction could have been overlooked if managers knew about it and found it to be not pertinent to flying, he said.

Mark Schmit, a former Executive Aviation pilot, said Conry told him he had flown for American Eagle. "I remember him telling me he flew ATRs for American Eagle," said Schmit, who left the company in January. "Which model, he never said. Just generally, ATRs."

"He never was more elaborate than that," added Schmit, who said he flew only once with Conry while at Executive Aviation but said he talked with him casually at the company's offices. Schmit said he worked at Executive Aviation for a little more than a year.

Conry had experience flying private planes, and he owned planes over the years.

Federal Aviation Administration records show that in 1989, Conry obtained an air transport pilot rating, the highest rating a commercial pilot can get and one that requires at least 1,500 hours of flying time. That rating requires a minimum of 250 hours as captain or co-pilot, among other requirements.

He also was licensed to fly single-engine and multiengine, land-based airplanes and single-engine seaplanes, records show.

On the basis of those certificates, and his successful completion of training and flights tests administered to him by Executive Aviation, Conry was legally qualified to fly as captain.

Wikner said Conry passed a proficiency test just two days before the fatal crash. In addition, in August 2002, Conry completed a recurrent training program on the same type of plane he flew for Wellstone, Wikner said.

Hoffert, the chief pilot, said, "From our standpoint he was very qualified, and we have the documentation to show that."

Hoffert said Executive Aviation attempted to verify Conry's stated experience at American Eagle before hiring him. But the commuter airline responded in writing that the information was not available at that time because of the merger of several American Eagle affiliates. "We are unable to confirm the requested information due to missing preceding airline records," American Eagle wrote.

Probe continues

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are still in the early stages of their work and probably won't know the likely cause of the crash for months.

For example, investigators have not determined which pilot, Conry or Guess, was actually flying the plane at the time of the crash. As a routine part of their investigation, NTSB officials will explore the backgrounds of both pilots.

Conry's employment as a pilot trainee at American Eagle spanned five months, according to the record obtained by the Star Tribune. According to the record, Conry began his training Nov. 27, 1989. He resigned April 20, 1990. His brief stay included a leave of absence from Feb. 5 to March 6, 1990, the record said.

According to records from Conry's criminal fraud conviction, his training experience at American Eagle was sandwiched between his indictment in the fraudulent home-building scheme and his sentencing to a federal prison camp in South Dakota in connection with that case. He was sentenced April 27, 1990, and was released from prison in November 1991.

During the 10-year period between his release from prison and his hiring at Executive Aviation, Conry pursued a nursing career. He became a licensed practical nurse in December 1992 and got his registered nurse license in September 1994, according to state records. He subsequently worked as a dialysis nurse.

Executive Aviation said Conry had no other company flying jobs on his résumé when he was hired as a pilot-in-command. But Wikner said they were aware of extensive flying experience that Conry accumulated in privately owned planes.

In a racketeering lawsuit in which he was a defendant in 1987, Conry testified that he ran three companies: a real estate firm called Lake Minnetonka Homes Inc., a limited partnership lending company called DiCon Financial and a carpentry company called American Engineering Services Inc. He also was the chairman of the planning commission in Greenwood.

Asked whether he did anything else for a living and whether he was a commercial pilot, Conry said: "Oh, yes, on-demand commercial pilot."

Conry explained in that testimony that he flew charters, but he didn't name a company.

Conry lost his civil case and his appeal in 1989 and was later indicted on 14 federal criminal counts of mail fraud.

At his sentencing hearing, Conry's attorney, Paul Engh, sought mercy. He said Conry had been wiped out financially. After Conry lost the appeal, Engh said at the hearing, "what he did next was significant. He decided to be a pilot. This was before the indictment came down, and we had no idea that the government was considering an indictment until it did come down.

"He got trained by a subsidiary of American Airlines to be a pilot, and he passed the training and he was going to be a flier. It was a way for him to continue on with his life."

James Hurd, a business associate of Conry's dating back 25 years, said in an interview that Conry flew him about 50 times on business and recreational trips throughout the Midwest and Canada in the time he knew him. On those trips, he said Conry flew him in a single-engine Cessna.

"I trusted him totally as a pilot," Hurd said. "He was unbelievably careful. Never cut a corner. I can't say strongly enough what a good pilot he was."

Last spring, Hurd said, he chartered an Executive Aviation flight on a King Air to the Chicago area. Conry was the pilot, and the flight was uneventful, he said.

"Dick was the most careful person," he said, recalling all the flights he had taken with Conry. "It's spooky now when I think about it. When we finished landing, he'd say, 'Well, we cheated death one more time.' He said it because he took it so seriously."

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2002