C123 PILOT FLEW AID MISSION FOR U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605070050-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 50
• Publication Date: October 11, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST"T
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605070050-2
.R- -fir f A RSV ~
~ PA~fi ~ ' , 4v'ASHINGTON POST
11 October 1986
0123 Pilot Fletiv Aid Mission or
Cooper lYlade Earlier State Dept. Flight kith ll~onmilitary Supplies
~~~ By Jce Pichiraflo , --?
_W~shmRton-Po.t-StaN-W~ter
~~ ------
iVII.gMI, Oct. 10-William J.
Cooper, the pilot of the plane shot
down over Nicaragua carrying
weapons to rebels fighting there,
- flew at least one mission to Central
America for the State Department
office that supplied humanitarian
aid to the anti-Sandinista forces, a
U.S. official said today.
Cooper may have been the owner
of a second camouflaged C123 car-
go plane that was being serviced
until a day or two ago at Southern
Air facilities at the Miami Interna-
tional Airport. That plane flew out
of Miami for Honduras early yes-
terday, according to FAA records.
Cooper "was the pilot for one of
the aircraft we chartered for hu-
manitarian assistance from the
United States to Central America."
said Philip J. Buechler, the U.S. of-
ficial who is the operations coordi-
nator for the program.
Buechler, whose business card
was found in the wallet of another
crew member from the downed
plane, said the State Department's
humanitarian aid office had nothing
to do with the flight that was shot
down.
The office. which was charged
with dispensing ib27 million in aid
approved by Congress last year,
was barred by law from supplying
the anti-Sandinista rebels, known as
contras or counterrevolutionaries,
with military assistance.
Cooper, 62, a U.S. Navy veteran
who fle~,c missions during the Viet-
nam war for Air America, a now
defunct C[A-owned airline, was
killed along with two others-
Blaine Sawyer Jr. and an unidenti-
fied man-when their Fairchild
C123K transport plane was shot.
down Sunday by Sandinista units.
A fourth man, Eugene Hasenfus,
who was captured by the Sandinista
forces, has charged that CIA oper-
atives supervised the flight-claims
strongly denied by U.S. officials.
:+.~ ~ ED FoESS iN~ERNaiifr,a~
Credential issued by i?Iiami?based air cargo firm to C123 pilot William Cooper.
The downed C 123 cargo plane
had been serviced several times
this year by Southern Air Transport
Inc., aMiami-based air cargo and
charter firm that was once secretly
owned by the CIA. A Southern Air
employe credential issued to Coop-
er was found in the plane's wreck-
age. Acompany spokesman has said
that Southern Air did not own the
plane and that Cooper was issued
the credential so he could get ac-
cess to the firm's facilities while he
supervised maintenance on the
C123.
Cooper was supervising the
maintenance of a second C123 at
Southern Air, according to bVilliam
Kress. Southern's spokesman. He
added that officials of Southern Air
did not know who owned it.
According to Federal Aviation
Administration records, the second
C123, which reporters spotted at
Southern Air this week, flew out of
the A+Iiami airport at 5:23 a.m. to-
day.
The plane's pilot filed a tight
plan with the FAA showing that it
was bound for Catacamas, Hondu-
ras, which is about 10 miles front
Aguacate, a U.S.-built air base used
by the contras in Honduras. Hasen-
fus, the captured American, said in
Nicaragua on Thursday that he hacl
been on four Flights carrying arms
and ammunition to the contras that
flew out of Aguacate.
Robert Buckhorn, an FAA
spokesman, said the only identifi-
cation on the plane's flight plan is
the pilot's last name, identified as
"~IcRaney."
Cooper, .saying that he repre-
sented an entity called Corporate
Air Service Inc., purchased the
plane in July from a Southern C:~l-
ifornia aircraft dealer named r1s-
cher Ward, Ward said in an inter-
view with Washington Post ;tiff
writer Jay i4lathews.
Ward, who said he recognized
Cooper's name from news reports,
said he met with Cooper and un-
identified others, once in Tucson,
Ariz., and on another occasion itt
the Los Angeles area in May or
June. Ward said Cooper told him he
was putting together a fleet of
planes for Corporate Air Service.
It is unclear whether Corporate
Air Servtce actually exists. Accord-
ing to Bobbie Mardis, an FAA
spokeswoman, the only record the
agency has on the plane is a July S
request from Joseph Kappa, a
Sepulveda, Calif., air mechanic, to
reserve the plane's registration for
Corporate Air Service.
~nt;~ued
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605070050-2
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605070050-2
Kappa saiti to an interview "t'hurs-
day that he contacted the FAA ;tt
Ward's request. Kappa told the
FAA that the address for Corporate
Air Sr.r~-ice was 3500 N~V 64th
Ave.. Miami, which is the address
for Southern Air Transport.
Company spokesman Kress said
today that the firm is unfamiliar
with Corporate Air Service and has
no ties to it.
Nicaragua's military intelligence
chief, Capt. Ricardo Wheelock, has
said that Hasenfus and documents
from the downed plane refer to an
entity called Corporate Air Service
being involved with planes supply-
ing the contras. Buechler, the State
Department aid official, said that
Corporate Air Service and Southern
Air Transport were not among the
fnur or five firms hired to fly cloth-
ing, medical supplies and other non-
military assistance [o the contras.
Buechler declined to identify the
companies that were hired, citing
security concerns. He said the aid
office worked closely with the Unit-
ed Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO),
the contras' umbrella group, and
UNO recruited the air charter firms
that were hired by the United
States. Ele said the flights, which
heRan in September 1885 and ran
through last May, left from either
Miami. New Orleans or Dulles In-
ternational Airport outside Wash-
inRton.
Buechler said he does not recall
where he met Cooper. "These crew
members change from day to day
froni company to company," said
Buechler, who added that the crews
for the aid flights were hired by the
individual companies, not the State
Department.
"Che crew- member's wallet that
contained Buechler's business card
also had a business card fora Rob-
ert W. Owen.
Buechler said that, at the request
of top CJNO officials, his office hired
Uwen as a consultant to serve as a
liaison with the contras. As aspri-
vate citizen, Owen was able to trav-
el to Central America and observe
any problems with distribution,
Buechler said.
Owen could not be reached for
comment today.
News reports have alleged that
Owen is an associate of Lt. Col. 01-
iver North, a member of the Na-
tional Security Council staff.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605070050-2