A 57-year-old man from Palmer was convicted Wednesday of two federal aviation violations after he almost caused a midair collision last year.
William Marsan was convicted on charges of operating without an airman certificate and operating an unregistered aircraft. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on a third charge of operating an aircraft displaying a false registration mark.
Marsan was not in custody Friday, but is scheduled to be sentenced on the felony charges in April. Each of the charges could bring up to three years in prison.
Marsan is a longtime pilot and owned a commercial aviation business for decades with his wife, their company website previously said. In 2020, he failed to renew a medical certificate required for him to fly, according to to the indictment filed against him. In 2022, Marsan sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration asking to cancel his airplane’s registration, the indictment said.
In June 2023, Marsan took off from the Palmer Municipal Airport without announcing his plans over the radio and flew against the flow of traffic, the indictment said. He nearly caused a midair collision with a plane that was trying to land, it said.
An FAA inspector talked with Marsan about the encounter about a month later and Marsan told the inspector he was a “free citizen” and “did not need a pilot or medical certificate, and adding that his aircraft had been deregistered,” the indictment said.
Marsan’s plane had a sticker that is used as a symbol for the sovereign citizens movement, which is a far-right ideology whose followers claim they are not subject to government authority and are exempt from laws.
The FAA issued an emergency revocation in 2024 to revoke Marsan’s pilot license, the indictment said. He continued to fly, even though he no longer had a license or plane registration, it said.
Marsan’s trial began Monday and the jury reached a verdict by Wednesday.
He had been released from custody after an initial court hearing, but repeatedly failed to appear for subsequent hearings and was arrested again in September, court records show. Marsan represented himself at trial. He did not immediately return a message on Friday.