You had me until you said it was his business card. Can't believe that someone would do that. Talk about a paper trail.

Nope, not the same. One is broken all the time, the other is not.

Hey, it's late over here !

Mark - you're absolutely right but that was what I was told and I have no reason to disbelieve it. Recall that the FAA has some real winners out there. Specifically, in the Baltimore FSDO is a prince who happens to live near Annapolis, MD. He regularly leaves the office early to "go inspect" and visits Lee. I know of two cases (and have seen the paperwork) where he really went nuts. In one case the chief pilot of a local flight school who had a C172 over at the airport for annual suffered after he "inspected" the plane. The result was a $15,000 annual to fix all the discrepancies he wrote up. In another case he left a notice "downing" an aircraft (think it was a Bonanza but don't remember" for massive engine oil leaks all over the nose gear...said oil leaks were actually grease on the steering mechanism which had recently been serviced. The owner of that plane actually scanned the write up and posted it to the DC pilots list.

There are plenty of really, really good people in the FAA. I've been very pleasantly surprised by how easily some things went or how some of them bent over backwards to help me, but like anything, there are also some winners in there who are a detriment to aviation and a safety hazard. Personally I don't think you should be permitted to be an inspector if you aren't a licensed and active pilot, but the bureaucracy actually discourages that these days...simply amazing...

Somebody is already looking forward to the next corporate jet...