March 16 2009
Known as the “Grim Reaper,” Ken Hill, specializes in repossession of financed airplanes. His average before 2008 was repossession of 30 airplanes per year. In 2008, he repossessed 50. Mr. Hill has a process for repossession:
1. He is contacted by the lender to repossess the airplane. At that point the lender has tried to collect from the owner and has offered a surrender, but the owner has refused.
2. Mr. Hill travels to the airport where the plane is stored.
3. Mr. Hill contacts the owner and asks if they are willing to surrender the airplane. If they surrender the airplane, he moves it to one of his facilities and charges the lender only his out-of-pocket expenses.
4. If the owner refuses to surrender the airplane, Mr. Hill uses a master key to get into the plane. Airplane repossession does not require hot-wiring. Once inside the plane, starting it takes nothing more than knowing how to fly a plane.
5. Mr. Hill contacts the air traffic control tower to let them know who he is and what he is doing.
6. Mr. Hill places a lock on the propeller of the plane so that the owner cannot return and take the plane.
7. Mr. Hill has a mechanic check the plane to make sure that it is suitable to be flown.
8. Mr. Hill is occasionally confronted at the airport by an owner who tries to resist the repossession. During one repossession, he was chased down the runway by a female owner who was chasing him with a rake.
9. Mr. Hill flies the plane to a facility for storage after he has contacted the lender to let them know that he has the airplane.
10. Mr. Hill then sells the plane through a website where he generally has about 20 planes listed at one time.
11. Mr. Hill and the lender split the proceeds from the sale of the plane according to a percentage arrangement determined when he is hired.
What are the rights of a secured lender? What are the restrictions on repossession?
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Sean Silcoff, “Airborne Repo Man,” New York Times, March 14, 2009, pp. B1 and B5.