A federal grand jury charged Marian Tillion Beck of Halibut Cove last week with willfully harassing the pilot of an aircraft, Eric Lee, who was attempting to taxi his floatplane out of the cove on Aug. 23. Lee operates Alaska Ultimate Safaris in Homer and was preparing to take a group of people on a flight-seeing tour, when Beck operated a boat “in a grossly negligent manner that endangered the life, limb, or property of a person.”
Beck owns the Saltry restaurant in the quaint settlement across Kachemak Bay from the Homer Spit. A video that was shared on Facebook showed a boat buzzing the de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, and appearing to threaten it with collision. The plane, with seven aboard, at one point wobbled and a propeller hit the water. The boat appeared to be within inches of the plane.
In all his years of flying, Lee said last summer, he had never encountered such an incident like the one that day.
There are two counts in the federal indictment: 1. Attempted destruction of aircraft, and 2. Gross negligent operation of a vessel.
Beck, the daughter of the late Sen. Clem Tillion and artist Diane Tillion, is a lifelong Alaskan who is a licensed maritime captain and the owner of the Kachemak Bay Ferry, the M/V Danny J., which her father operated for decades as the private ferry to the cove. Born in Seldovia, she attended high school in Homer and college at CalPoly.
An artist like her mother, Beck owns the Halibut Cove Experience Gallery, and she runs the Saltry Restaurant in Halibut Cove. Observers say that she was annoyed with all the tourism activity in the cove, which is on an island largely owned and controlled by the Tillion family for generations.
Agencies involved in the investigation included the U.S. Coast Guard, which submitted its findings to the U.S. Attorney for review and possible action. Amanda Gavelek, a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard, was copied on the indictment. Assistant Federal Public Defender Jane Imholte has been assigned to represent Beck until such time as Beck can financially secure her own representation.
Destruction of an aircraft is a serious crime and may be subject to a fine as much as $10,000 and prison of not more than twenty years, or both, although the Beck case is more about endangering the lives of seven people in what appeared to be a reckless disregard for human life.
According to 18 U.S. Code § 32 – Destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities, as found at Cornell Law School’s website:
(a)Whoever willfully—
(1) sets fire to, damages, destroys, disables, or wrecks any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States or any civil aircraft used, operated, or employed in interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce;
(2) places or causes to be placed a destructive device or substance in, upon, or in proximity to, or otherwise makes or causes to be made unworkable or unusable or hazardous to work or use, any such aircraft, or any part or other materials used or intended to be used in connection with the operation of such aircraft, if such placing or causing to be placed or such making or causing to be made is likely to endanger the safety of any such aircraft;
(3) sets fire to, damages, destroys, or disables any air navigation facility, or interferes by force or violence with the operation of such facility, if such fire, damaging, destroying, disabling, or interfering is likely to endanger the safety of any such aircraft in flight;
(4) with the intent to damage, destroy, or disable any such aircraft, sets fire to, damages, destroys, or disables or places a destructive device or substance in, upon, or in proximity to, any appliance or structure, ramp, landing area, property, machine, or apparatus, or any facility or other material used, or intended to be used, in connection with the operation, maintenance, loading, unloading or storage of any such aircraft or any cargo carried or intended to be carried on any such aircraft;
(5) interferes with or disables, with intent to endanger the safety of any person or with a reckless disregard for the safety of human life, anyone engaged in the authorized operation of such aircraft or any air navigation facility aiding in the navigation of any such aircraft;
(6) performs an act of violence against or incapacitates any individual on any such aircraft, if such act of violence or incapacitation is likely to endanger the safety of such aircraft;
(7) communicates information, knowing the information to be false and under circumstances in which such information may reasonably be believed, thereby endangering the safety of any such aircraft in flight; or
(8) attempts or conspires to do anything prohibited under paragraphs (1) through (7) of this subsection; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years or both.
(c) Whoever willfully imparts or conveys any threat to do an act which would violate any of paragraphs (1) through (6) of subsection (a) or any of paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (b) of this section, with an apparent determination and will to carry the threat into execution shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
