Nixon’s Kin Met Plane in Reagan Near-Miss

The passenger in the light plane that had a close call with President Reagan’s helicopter Thursday was on his way to a business meeting with Donald Nixon Jr., nephew of the former President, the man’s employer said Saturday.

The pilot, Ralph W. Myers, 32, an Army private absent without leave from Ft. Lewis, Wash., is being held in the brig at the Long Beach Naval Station pending the arrival of the officers from his base.

The information about Nixon came from Steven Hoffenberg, president of Tower Financial Corp. He said that Harlan Lee Jones, a Tower salesman, was traveling to Orange County to report on sales in Jones’ territory of Oregon to Nixon, western regional marketing manager for the commercial financing firm.

Nixon, who could not be reached for comment, was at the John Wayne Airport when Jones, 52, and Myers, both of Lake Oswego, Ore., arrived in a rented single-engine Piper Archer after their close encounter over the President’s ranch.

‘Pure Coincidence’

Nixon’s decision to meet Jones at the airport was “a pure coincidence” and Nixon was “extending a courtesy” by picking him up, Hoffenberg told reporters in New York.

In small towns in Oregon and Washington, meantime, acquaintances Saturday recalled Myers as a “good pilot” and Jones as a colorful local character.

Skip Trout, an auto body repair man who is friendly with both men, said his first reaction when he heard that the two had been in the plane that narrowly missed the presidential helicopter was, “Those two goofballs?”

Jones and Myers “were always hanging around together,” Trout said in a telephone interview. And from 1983 to 1986 Myers worked for Jones’ construction company in Oregon.

Myers, who enlisted as a full-time soldier in 1986 after several years in the Nevada Air National Guard, has a rank as a Private E-2. Army officials said he failed to report for duty at Ft. Lewis.

Falsified Application

Myers rented an apartment in Vancouver, Wash., in June, 1986, when he went on active duty, saying in his rental application that he was a flight attendant for PSA making $1,600 a month and that he had been previously employed by the Reno Flying Service as a flight instructor, according to the apartment manager, Sharon Weaver.

But a PSA spokesman said no one named Ralph William Myers had ever worked for the company. Tom Griffen, manager of the Reno Flying Service, confirmed that Myers had worked there, but as an aircraft refueler, not a flight instructor.

Weaver described Myers as a model tenant, a quiet man who kept to himself, paid his $295 monthly rent promptly and kept his studio apartment spotless. She said she was sorry to see him leave in March.

In Odell, Ore., however, Trout depicted a more extroverted man. “He’s a hell of a nice guy, outgoing, likes to drink, have a good time. That’s all we did, fly and drink. But he was never in a plane after he drank. He was very careful about that,” Trout said.

Jones now lives with his wife and a child in Lake Oswego, an affluent suburb south of Portland, in an attractive house. The address, 2846 Southwest Vale Court, is also apparently used by Myers: the Federal Aviation Administration is mailing the revocation of Myers’ pilot’s license there.

No one contacted by The Times in White Salmon, where Jones grew up, was able to say with any certainty what Jones did for a living.

“That is a really good question,” said Sonya Grove, an associate with Pacific Rim Brokers, a real estate firm once involved in a transaction with Jones. “He didn’t work an eight-hour job locally. Nobody really knew.”

Jones sought the Democratic nomination for the 4th Congressional District in Oregon in 1986 and said at the time that he had a firm known as VIP Consultants. He operated it out of his house, according to Sverre Bakke, editor of the Enterprise newspaper.

Efforts to reach Donald Nixon Jr. in Orange County were unsuccessful Saturday. His brother, Rick Nixon, said his family would not comment.

Malnic reported from Oregon, Stein from Los Angeles. Staff writer Ray Perez contributed from Orange County.