Mar. 10—A 52-year-old Pearland resident has pleaded guilty to putting false statements in an aircraft maintenance log for a plane that later crashed, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Ronald P. Franklin admitted to falsifying an aircraft's annual inspection records around Oct. 9, 2020, according to a Justice Department press release. He fraudulently representing himself as an inspection authorization holder and falsely claimed to have inspected airplane and determined it to be airworthy, the release said.
The plane later experienced an in-flight power loss that led to the crash, according to the Justice Department. Further information about the crash, including if it resulted in injuries, was not included in the release and a spokesperson for the Justice Department provided no additional details.
According to a Federal Aviation Administration document, the aircraft, identified as a Beech B35 single-engine plane, was only involved in one crash since the 2020 inspection.
A National Transportation Safety Board report said that an aircraft with that tail number was damaged in an April 3, 2021, accident near Pearland in which no injuries occurred.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires most U.S.-registered general aviation aircraft to undergo annual inspections by a FAA-certified mechanic. The FAA requires that an inspection authorization holder make an entry in the aircraft's log book certifying the inspection was properly completed and that the information was correct.
Franklin is scheduled for sentencing on May 24 and faces up to five years in federal prison, with a possible $250,000 maximum fine. He was permitted to remain on bond until then.
U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison accepted the plea.
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