The Frauds Continue: Most Dangerous Man In Aviation, David Riggs, Flaunts Reality
Over the course of the last ten days, the massive amount of evidence involved in a growing 'Aero-Scam' victimizing the air combat adventure business, and what certainly appears to be (at least) hundreds of potential/innocent customers, has grown beyond our worst expectations.
Despite aggressive efforts to contact and undertake dialogs with the staff of a number of "Daily Deal" websites used to purvey these fraud-riddled offers of daring air combat adventure rides, the offers not only continue to be sold... but are escalating to more sites, and utilizing different aerial come-ons.
As previously noted in Part One of this series, ANN, after a tip from Kristy Graham of "Aviation Criminal.com" undertook an aggressive investigation of several (and eventually dozens of) online offers for air combat adventure rides utilizing either the Extra 300 or SF260 airframes. These Daily Deal sites, or the main site referred to in the online pitches, featured glitzy pictures and glowing commentary of the amazing adventures that could be had for as little as $400-$600 dollars. The pictures and copy were found to have been stolen from respectable, accredited and certified Air Combat Adventure operators, while addresses and locations of the suspect 'Fighter Combat Adventures' operation were found to belong to vacant lots, a restaurant, non-affiliated airport business and administration offices and at least one municipal office.
Some addresses didn't even exist at all--even as vacant lots.
Over the course of a number of calls and searches, the name of Convicted Felon and Aero-Con-Man, David G Riggs, came up again and again... either personally, or via the names of some of the businesses that he has conducted a number of very questionable operations under. Principally known as the pilot of an L-39 that terrorized a Santa Monica pier via a high-speed, low-altitude buzz job that scared hundreds and posed a serious danger to the lives of those nearby, David Riggs ultimately had his tickets pulled for a year and a criminal conviction and penalties entered against him (for which he has yet to complete his sentence). Since then, with his tickets questionably restored by the FAA, Riggs has continued with a stunning litany of dangerous activities and efforts that have caused many to report him to the FAA and other Federal agencies, while his dangerous and harmful activities continued, inexplicably, unabated and unchallenged.
Riggs is currently under investigation in connection with an illegal jet-ride scam that is connected to the deaths of a pilot and an unwary passenger -- and also has more than a passing connection to the 2006 crash of N39DF, an L-39 known as 'Wild Child.' That aircraft went down, killing two experienced pilots, while Riggs was allegedly acting as the Director of the alleged aviation-themed movie they were flying for. Riggs' last actions commanded the L-39, reported by the NTSB to be operating at 5500' MSL over hilly terrain, to "Give me a sharp snap roll to the right and pull down out of frame..." Seconds later, N39DF impacted the terrain below at 3100' MSL. Riggs is named in a litany of other scams to defraud persons or companies out of airplanes and other property, and is a party to dozens of documented legal actions and lawsuits.
The latest series of Air Combat offers appeared on sites such as Groupon, Living Social, FatWallet, Amazon, Dailydealsgo, Yipit, MemberDealsUSA, Zozi, and others. Contacts with a number of these sites, specifically Groupon, Living Social, and MemberDealsUSA eventually (and with great difficulty) resulted in limited conversations with staffers who all indicated varying but unimpressive levels of concern about the potential for fraud but, thus far, no evidence has been shown that the offers have been curtailed or canceled... and in the case of Groupon, an effort to comment on one fraudulent site's offers (with a series of questions posted by ANN but posted by someone outside of Aero-News), was refused publication...
Customers continue to be exposed to the questionable, non-credible offers being made and the Daily Deal sites seem to be only too happy to keep collecting the money. Over the course of these site's inaction to our complaints (over nearly two weeks), several hundred new customers may have been victimized by buying Air Combat rides for which there is NO EVIDENCE to support 'Fighter Combat Adventures' ability to provide what there were selling. Conversations with the FAA, other Air Combat operators and members of the SF-260 and Extra 300 community have failed to reveal ANY evidence that there is an actual operation that can legally (or otherwise) provide the services being sold... and for which many thousands of dollars appears to be involved. Continuing complaints to the various Daily Deal sites have not resulted in any known curtailment of the offers and attempts to alert potential customers to the problems with this offer (by posting the previous ANN story in attached comments) have
been either disallowed or in the case of Yelp.com, removed after having been posted for several days.
A phone number affixed to the Fighter Combat Adventures site leaves a voicemail message that claims to be "Fighter Combat and California Aviators" while inquiring messages left on the voicemail (by a number of parties, not just ANN) have not been returned over the course of the two weeks that we have been looking into the matter.
Since we first published Part One of this report, other new sites and offers have popped up... as well as efforts to shore up the increasing holes, errors, and lack of credibility these sites' offers have exhibited. ANN has uncovered a previous series of offers for Tandem Parachute rides... which WERE reportedly conducted, in some measure... but the California-based parachute school/vendor conducting those rides told ANN, via phone interview, that they were working through a middle man, Dave Riggs (no surprise there), for that program -- and that they were discontinuing the use of the Daily Deal sites because "we're having real problems getting paid."
ANN has uncovered several others sites, some as yet not activated for future offers, including derivations on the Air Combat scheme... one offering aerobatic rides (featuring photos of a Foreign registered Pits S2), and others that promoted (and apparently conducted in some limited fashion) Aviation-themed summer day camps for children. The last offering particularly worried us... as there is evidence to suggest that at least one of these events was held and/or staged.... with pictures posted to Facebook and the 'Incredible Adventures' website... another known affiliate of Riggs. There is at least one photo, a terrifying one we might add, that shows Riggs sitting in a Christen Eagle's back seat... while a small child sits in the front. The thought of a felon, with multiple convictions and a history of threats toward others, in close proximity to innocent children terrifies us to the core.
The attempts to defraud and cloak Fighter Combat Adventures in a veil of faux legitimacy has taken on some interesting and extreme dimensions. Late last week, Yelp.com, a well-known "User Review and Recommendation" site posted reports of two highly encouraging and overtly positive reviews claiming to have flown with Fighter Combat Adventures and had a very good time doing so. The reviews were posted (unlike others with dubious histories) by two persons with quasi-solid/credible ratings on Yelp and looked quite genuine... until investigated.
'Lauren D' posted, "What a RUSH! As I was suiting up, the thought crossed my mind, am I crazy? Then the adrenaline kicked in. I felt the push in my back as the engine roared and we were off. Nothing in the world can compare to this experience."
The same day, 'Matt F' claimed, "I bought this for my Dad as a Fathers day gift. He and I suited up and went thru the briefing. On the ground it was all Mavrick (sic) and Iceman jokes but when we got in the air it was a different world. Wow! I really felt the "killer instinct" kick in, amazing. I have to say the pilots are the best. Calm, cool and yet underneath you can tell they are trained killers... it all adds to the experience. If you ask me this is the most fun my Dad and I have ever had together. I recommend it highly."
"Trained killers??" -- or trained liars?
Well... as it turns out, Lauren and Matt are frauds. Neither took a ride with "Fighter Combat Adventures" and both posted such glowing but false reviews because they were working for a "Search Manipulation" company that Riggs had hired to clean up his online reputation. Contacts with the company confirm that Riggs hired them to "polish" his rep, that the reviews were false, and that David Riggs, specifically, hired them to undertake the actions we questioned some time ago. When the company that posted these glowing reviews learned about the background of Mr. Riggs, and did a little checking of their own (at our urging), the reviews were removed within minutes. Complaints to Yelp about this problem resulted in no action -- and no calls (zero, zip, nada) were returned by Yelp to discuss the blatant frauds we unearthed.
The FAA remains silent, as of this moment, as to the status of their 'ongoing' investigation into Riggs... but he is apparently feeling the heat.
ANN has been the recipient of several 'ID-blocked' phone calls in which we have been threatened and informed that our lives are "worthless... we have someone coming to put you down..." -- among other detailed threats in which our lives and property have been directly threatened. Riggs and others apparently associated with Fighter Combat Adventures (or possibly, Riggs using assumed names--pictured below) is now attempting to counter our criticism with references to old websites published some time ago by sympathizers with some of aviation's biggest embarrassments/hazards/frauds... whose sites were an attempt to silence ANN and E-I-C Jim Campbell when he investigated previous (and proved) hazards to the aviation community. These hate sites, outside of being woefully short on reality and long on insult and hyperbole, have not stopped the mission of this organization...
What they may have done, however, is aid several known criminals as they try and escape the heat placed upon them by ANN -- by utilizing a desperate but-too-often-effective "Shoot The Messenger" defense -- and, in so doing they seem to be aiding and abetting these criminal acts (for which, in our opinion, we have a hard time looking at them as anything but thugs and cyber-terrorists). In the past, these hate-sites defended the deadly Mini-500 (an experimental helo kit in which over a dozen pilots died), the almost as deadly Adventure Amphibian (at least two known deaths) and a number of scam artists who took money from innocent aviators without providing the services or products promised. The folks who are trying to discredit ANN are harming aviation in a number of ways (and betraying the interests of their fellow flyers, in our opinion) and while their lives may be sad and unfulfilling until they get their jollies by trying to harm others, we must note that at least one of these site's
authors has advocated the death of Jim Campbell while the other has an author that has been affiliated with competing publications. All this data, including data concerning the anti-ANN hate sites (which our threatening caller asserts are allegedly working with them), are part of an information package being assembled and forwarded to California legal authorities as well as the FBI and the National Computer Crime Squad. We urge anyone who has been affected by this matter, either as customers of the Fighter Combat Adventures scam, or those led astray by the aforementioned hate sites, to get in touch with ANN so that we may make some recommendations as to how you may seek criminal prosecution of those involved and seek civil redress for the damages you may have incurred.
E-I-C Note(s): In the meantime, the rest of the aviation community has had little to say about the several years of damage and disreputable actions that Riggs and his efforts have exposed our community to. Riggs has besmirched the generally positive rep of aviation, time and time again, made a number of people fear airplanes and pilots, defrauded unknown but considerable numbers of people, and made a laughing stock out of whole aspects of the aviation industry. Calls and requests for assistance in this matter to AOPA, EAA, FAA, and other aviation organizations has resulted in little or no support and exhibited what we consider to be blind indifference to the plight of those affected by these dangerous machinations. With all the many obstacles that aviation faces these days, we have a feeling that its not going to take many more embarrassments and hazards like David Riggs, and his many questionable actions, to create lasting damage to what's left of the aviation
world.
If the likes of the so-called member associations won't take a stand against these crimes, ANN will do its best to fill the gap... but we strongly urge our readers to forward copies of both parts of this article (and other articles about Riggs and a number of other ANN Special Investigations) to the FAA, FBI, NCCS, and other related or criminal investigative branches of our state and federal governments, as well as our elected officials, and see if we can finally get some remedial action.
The embattled aviation world, simply put and coarsely out, really can't take much more of this crap.
Additionally and as previously stated; Let me be perfectly clear about one very important issue in this story... both Arizona's Fighter Combat International as well as California's Air Combat USA operation have excellent reps and appear to be solid professional operations... we have uncovered NOTHING to suggest any true affiliation with the Fighter Combat Adventures scam outside of being victimized by the theft's the FCA site has made of their intellectual property and their apparent intent to mimic their appeal and appearance. -- Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C
The Fraud-Riddled Fighter Combat Adventures Site
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.16.24)
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