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Investigations

Date

Tennessee Man Pleads Guilty to Piloting an Aircraft Without Certification

On July 1, 2013, in U.S. District Court, Greenville, Tennessee, Steven Cate pleaded guilty to piloting an aircraft without holding a valid airman certificate.

On April 1, 2013, air traffic controllers identified aircraft N5863S as an unregistered civil aircraft that was being piloted from Daytona Beach, Florida, to Morristown, Tennessee. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contacted the Morristown Police Department and officers met the aircraft at the airport and identified Cate as the pilot. The FAA reported that Cate did not possess a valid pilot's certificate.