ADI tells feds: ex-CEO will sell his shares

VIENNA — Scott Beale resigned as president, CEO and chairman of the board of Aerodynamics Inc. Jan. 26 and will sell his 100 percent ownership in the company within 120 days, the company told the U.S. Department of Transportation Thursday.

Aerodynamics, of Atlanta, provided that information and detailed background on three new company officers and board members in its written response Thursday to the D.O.T’s Jan. 22 finding that ADI lacked “fitness” to offer daily air service between Youngstown and Chicago.

The D.O.T. said Jan. 22 it was tentatively denying ADI’s request to start up the service between the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport because of D.O.T. concerns about the fraud that a federal judge said Beale committed while soliciting investment funds from a former business partner in 2012.

The D.O.T. also at the time proposed revoking ADI’s existing certificate enabling it to provide charter flights. But it gave ADI 14 days to respond to the proposed order before any action would be taken.

ADI’s response says the company appointed F. Darrell Richardson as CEO, president an chairman of the board Jan. 26 and also appointed three new board members.

The response asks that the D.O.T. issue an order giving Beale 30 days to place his ownership shares in ADI in a voting trust, give him 120 days to complete sale of the company, asks the D.O.T. to withdraw the Jan. 22 order that proposed revocation of its charter certificate and indicate its willingness to consider ADI’s application to run the Youngstown-Chicago service.

“Because the [Jan. 22] order has raised concerns in the marketplace and among ADI’s customer base, ADI requests that [D.O.T.] act immediately on this request,” ADI’s response says. “ADI has acted swiftly and decisively to address the concerns relating to ADI’s ownership and management discussed in the [D.O.T.] order.”

Dan Dickten, director of aviation at Youngstown, said he is “optimistic that the DOT will ADI to move forward with the new Youngstown flights, which would restore daily air service to the airport that has been missing since 2002. The D.O.T. has seven days to respond to ADI’s reply, Dickten said.

One ADI official told Dickten that Richardson and ADI’s attorney had a positive face-to-face meeting with the DOT staff about a week ago, but it’s too soon to say what the D.O.T.s response will be to ADI’s reply.

Beale has removed himself from the management, governance, employment and operations of ADI and its parent company ADI Holdings, which is owned by Aviation Capital Partners, which Beale owns.

Three people were appointed to ADI’s board Jan. 26, Mickey Bowman, Kenneth Swieter and Donald Greeson.

Bowman, of Owensboro, Ky., became vice president of airline services in January. Swieter, of Colleyville, Texas, and Greeson, of Pompano Beach, Fla., do not have day-to-day positions with the company, according to documents contained in ADI’s response.

Robert Ward has resigned from the ADI board, despite not being named in the D.O.T.s Jan. 22 order, ADI noted.

The Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, approved giving ADI a $1.2 million revenue guarantee to ensure ADI a 5 percent profit during the start-up phase of the service. That money consists of $420,000 from the port authority and $780,000 from a D.O.T. grant. The port authority also pledged another $130,000 to ADI before the service begins.