Pilot in Mystery Flight Case Gets Prison Term
A lawyer-pilot who survived a mysterious solo flight and crash into the Atlantic Ocean was sentenced on fraud and conspiracy charges in a radio-licensing scam.
Thomas Root, 39, was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison and fined $5,000 for his part in helping bilk thousands of investors who bought FM radio partnerships sold by Sonrise Management of Columbus, Ga.
Root radioed for help on July 13, 1989, while flying alone from Washington to North Carolina. Shadowed by military jets, his single-engine Cessna flew on autopilot down the coast before it ran out of gas and ditched near the Bahamas.
Root had a bullet wound he blamed on his gun going off accidentally and maintained that he was unconscious most of his flight.
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