TJ Dominguez (4:53)
So I say, yeah, so I need to buy an airplane. I need to buy an airplane that's got two motors. Let me get the classified. So classified is the way it happened. Just like this. I picked up the newspaper classified. And I started looking for twin and I don't even know name brands on airplanes. Manufacturers. I don't know none of that. I've never been in small airplane. So I'm looking down, I say, oh, my God, look at this one. A Beechcraft, two engines, right? 50 grand. Wow. $50,000. Sounds like a deal. Where's the airplane? Tampa number. I call up the guy, you know, he said, hey, listen, you still got that airplane guy go? Yes, he's sitting right here. I said, all right. There's a thing called the air bridge. Back in those days, Eastern Airline, every hour on the hour, they had an airplane flight to Tampa in Orlando. So I said, I'll be there in a couple of hours. My name is TJ and I'm interested in that airplane. So I jump on an airplane, commercial Eastern airline. I fly out to Tampa to see this beach crab twin. And I get there. Thing was nasty. Needed a paint job. The paint was burnt underneath. So not knowing anything about airplanes, I look at this thing and I said, all right, so on. So it needs. It needs a paint job. Big deal. I'm a car guy. Just a paint job. What's that going to cost? Nothing, you know, Open up the door to the airplane. Got no seats. There's nothing in there. It's a shell. So I said, well, that's actually good because I don't need seats. I'm gonna fill this thing up with bales of marijuana. So I said, so that's a plus. We just carpet the thing. You know, I'm rationalizing all this stuff in my brain, right? So I look in the panel, which is what we would call the dash in a car, the panel of the airplane, full of holes. So I said there. Says, oh, it's missing some gauges. No big deal. Pep boys, right? Go down there, get some fuel gauges. Get this, get that. Well, I tell the guy, okay, 50 grand. Boom. I'm thinking I'm stealing this airplane, right? Stealing the airplane. Guy goes. So he said, cash, man. Does that still work? I don't want this thing reported. No problem. Give the guy $50,000 in cash. Now the airplane's mine. So I say to the guy, okay, man, I need you to get me a pilot to fly me back to Fort Lauderdale where I came from. And the guy says to me, okay, I could do that, but you can't go back with a plane. He said, what do you mean I can't go back with the plane? I own the plane, man. I just bought it, right? He goes, yeah, but it doesn't have the air certificate. I said, what's an air certificate? An annual. What's an annual? Well, a plane needs to be certified for safety every year. You have to comply. And this airplane is out of airworthiness, so it can't be transported. The only way we can transport this airplane is with a ferry permit, which means we got to take a special permission from the FAA to fly this airplane from point A to point B. And it can't carry any passenger. You would be a passenger. But I'm the owner. You're still a passenger. All right, all right, all right. Can you find me a pilot? Where does the airplane need to go? Fort Lauderdale. Can you give me a name over there? Guy's name is Billy, I said, okay, I'm going to be at Billy's, Okay? Make sure the plane goes over there. Fort Lauderdale. Fort Lauderdale International Airport, next to Runway nine, Right. Okay. So I now get to Billy's before he does because they got to file for special permission to fly this dud airplane that won't fly. Gotta find me a pilot, a jockey at that. You know, the one that is crazy enough to jump on an airplane that's not certified. So now I get to Billy's before Billy's office is from the ground to the ceiling, all glass, looking into Runway nine, right. Beautiful view of the airport. And so I'm befriending Billy, and so Billy says to me, so what kind of airplane did you buy? I. Man, I got a great deal on this airplane. Yeah, I see. I got a beechcrack, two engines, man. 50 grand, man. I stole the airplane. Really? Yeah. So I said, matter of fact, it should be here shortly. You know, sitting there talking back and forth. Next thing I know, Billy tells me, be quiet. He's got radios there in the office. Mayday, mayday, mayday. Wait a second. Shush. He says, you see look what's going on over there. They're right now dispatching the rescue unit and foaming the Runway. I said, what's going on? He said, there's an airplane coming in hot. He's got problems. I said, you're kidding me, man. He goes, yeah, this is like, look right now. You see where they're lined up? That's to foam the Runway. I said, you're kidding me. Yeah, yeah. Here he comes over there. You see? Look over here about 12 o' clock. I said, shit, Billy, that's my plane. That's what you bought? Yeah, that's my plane. So the guy lands. They land him in the longest Runway. He didn't have brakes, okay? Had some mechanical issues. So the guy lands safely. Taxis over, taxis over. Right in front of the ramp, right where we're looking at the thing. The guy still can get out of the. And he's like opening up the cockpit window, hey, get me out of here. What do you mean, get you out of here? Yeah, the door lock didn't work, so they screwed the door shut with sheet metal screws so you can get out of the airplane. Like somebody's with a screw gun, takes these sheet metal screws out, opens and drops the door. I said, oh, my God, that's my airplane. Billy goes, come on, let's go down there and look at it. He goes, where are the log books? I Said, logbooks? What are logbooks? He goes, you don't have logbooks. That's the history of the airplane. Everything that's ever been done to the airplane, whether it's opening up a window, closing it, turning a nut. This. That has to be written into the airplane. Without logbooks, this airplane's worthless. I said, well, I guess we got no logbooks. He says, okay, that means we're going to have to go from the ground up and create a set of logbooks. We going to have to take basically the engine apart, compression and do all of this stuff. I said, well, okay, do whatever, you know. He says, it needs a paint job. I said, okay, paint it. So now I'm a few hundred thousand or a couple hundred thousand dollars into this airplane. But before that happened, Billy calls me up. He says, hey, what color you want to paint the plane? We're going to have to strip it, take all the paint that's there that's burnt because there was a fire that started. Airplane had been seized in the Bahamas, and this guy bought it at an auction for a song and a dance. So I got really ripped off. I overpaid for this thing. I mean, the guy saw me coming from a mile away. So Billy says, what color you want to paint it? So I used to paint it blue, okay? Sky blue. I want this thing to blend in. So, all right, so now we do that. Now we're putting more money into the plane gauges. This airplane, when I bought it, it had this tape on the wings. It's called 100 mile per hour tape, okay? Because I have holes in the wing. This tape is guaranteed not to come off your mouth per hour. Flames full of holes all over. So I got all this money pumped into this thing, and the time is going by, I'm still waiting. And I hire a pilot to teach me how to fly. So now I can't fly this airplane that I own. So Billy says to me, I got another airplane that's ready to fly Air Commander. You could use that. If you want to buy that, I'll sell you that in the meantime that you're working on this other airplane. So I said to Billy, okay, fine, but I need an instructor to teach me how to fly. He goes, oh, I know a guy that's looking for a job, flight instructor. So I said, okay. So his name is Jack. So I said, okay, give me the address. So I jump on my Ferrari, I drive over to Jack's house. Beautiful home, right? So I pull up and I say, shoot, I should have come Like a Volkswagen or something. These guys got a really nice house. Sees my Ferrari, he's gonna want a lot of money for me to pay him for teaching me how to fly. Well, I get out of the car, I walk up to the front of the door. Nice home. Maybe like a four or five bedroom home. I ring the doorbell. Little old lady opens up the. She says to me, can I help you, son? I said, yes, ma' am. I'm looking for Jack Brackett, maybe your son. What do you want with Jack? I said, well, ma' am, I'm looking to have him teach me how to fly. I want to learn how to fly. I understand his instructor. So she goes, oh, you want to get my job, like in paint him? He said, yeah, that's the idea. She goes, all right, come with me. She closes the door. I'm thinking, I'm going in the house. No, no. She closed the door. Come with me. So now we start walking around the outside of the perimeter of the house. You got a sidewalk winding around the house. We were way in the back. She's renting out a little efficiency, like a little shed. Okay? Jack is living in this little shed. She would open up the door. Jack here, somebody wants to pay real money. You know, you're behind on the rent three months. I was looking at this lady. I said, oh, Jesus. So Jack opens up the door, he goes, we want to give me a job? I said, yeah. She goes, yeah, Jack, like he's gonna pay you, like, real money. So I said, yeah, I want to learn how to fly. Jack says to me, I don't have a plane, so how am I going to teach you? I said, well, I got an airplane. He goes, so you got an airplane? I said, yeah, you could teach me my airplanes. What kind of airplane you got? I got an air commander. He goes, all right. So I turn around and say to the lady, he owes you three months. So she gives me a figure. I said, okay, here's three for now and three for the future. And Jack turns around, he says to me, come on, boss, let's go. Let's go look at your airplane. That's how I got Jack involved in my life.
