Fugitive Practiced in Rented Copter Before He Scooped Up Sweetheart

Fugitive swindler and ex-combat pilot Ronald J. McIntosh rented a helicopter to practice flying only four days before he carried his prison sweetheart from the Federal Corrections Institution at Pleasanton in a bold helicopter escape, it was disclosed Friday.

The pilot who took McIntosh on the flight from Buchanan Field in Concord said in an interview that the fugitive used the name Lyle Thompson, claimed he was recently divorced, was from the Midwest and was deciding what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

“I asked him where he lived, and he said, ‘Between places.’

“Now I know what he meant,” added Patrick Corr, the Navajo Aviation flight instructor who took McIntosh up in the helicopter last Saturday.

Disappeared at Depot

McIntosh escaped from the Pleasanton prison Oct. 28, after authorities dropped him off at the bus depot in Livermore and told him to take an unsupervised ride to the federal prison camp at Lompoc, where he was to serve the remaining year of his prison sentence for an investment fraud. Instead, he disappeared.

Eight days later, the portly 45-year-old man commandeered a helicopter from a San Jose charter company, forced pilot Peter Szabo to leave the aircraft--minus his shoes--and then flew to the prison where he swooped into the recreation yard and picked up prisoner Samantha D. Lopez, 37, in a split-second escape.

Authorities believe that McIntosh and Lopez, who was serving a 50-year term for bank robbery, met in a co-ed prison--male and female prisoners are housed separately but share a recreation yard--and became romantically involved.

On Friday, FBI agents and deputy federal marshals pressed their search but apparently lacked solid leads. Agents did discover that McIntosh set the copter down in a canyon about a mile from where he dropped off Szabo Wednesday. They found the pilot’s discarded shoes.

15 Months to Serve

McIntosh had 15 months left to serve on four-year prison sentence stemming from his no-contest pleas to state fraud and federal parole violation charges. The swindle involved the defunct First International Trading Co., which he co-founded and which bilked $18 million from 2,500 investors during an 18-month period ending in early 1985.

Authorities believe McIntosh may have access to $1.7 million or more in unaccounted-for cash and gold coins. Lopez also may have money, because none of the $111,000 from two bank robberies she masterminded has been found.

As he planned the escape of his girlfriend, McIntosh evidently wanted to make certain he remembered how to fly. So on Friday, Oct. 31, he made an appointment at Navajo to go out on a flight. He showed up the following day at 9 a.m., paying for the ride with $50 in cash, a reduced fee that is given to potential flight students.

Describing his client as pleasant, Corr said that McIntosh, noting that the fee had been lowered, seemed concerned that Corr would not be paid. McIntosh appeared prepared to give Corr a tip until Corr assured him that he was being paid. Corr said that McIntosh paid for the flight in cash from a wad of bills.

Looked ‘Scruffy’

Corr said McIntosh was wearing a “hunter’s jacket,” and baseball cap, and had a two- or three-day growth of beard. He looked “scruffy,” as if he had a “hard night the night before.”

Calling the outing “fairly routine,” Corr said the flight lasted 40 to 45 minutes. “We didn’t go anywhere near Pleasanton. I think the reason he came to me was that he wanted to practice,” Corr said.

Corr said that McIntosh told him he had only limited helicopter experience, gained as a crew member during the Vietnam War. In fact, McIntosh was an Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and a helicopter test pilot.

When Corr turned over the controls to McIntosh, it was apparent that his knowledge was extensive.

“I expected the normal apprehension of someone who is not experienced. But when he took the controls, he was very confident and skillful,” Corr said.

Practice Hovering, Turns

McIntosh practiced hovering, turns and vertical movement, Corr said.

Corr said he doubted that McIntosh intended to hijack the two-seat helicopter, a Navajo Aviation Robinson R22, because that particular craft was far less powerful than the Hughes 500D model that he ultimately commandeered.

Corr said he recognized McIntosh from a television broadcast the night of the hijack and escape. He was sure of the identification after seeing pictures of McIntosh in newspapers on Thursday, prompting him to telephone the FBI.

Ronald Sorenson, co-owner of Navajo, said the company would not have rented McIntosh a helicopter for solo use because he would have been required to produce medical records and a pilot’s license. Such background information, Sorenson noted, “would have blown his cover.”