Sawyer Soviet Cargo Jet Dispute
The Soviet cargo plane at Sawyer International Airport may finally be on its way out of the U.P.
Marquette County Circuit Judge Thomas Solka granted a motion for Headlands Limited to seize possession of the plane.
The company loaned Air Support Systems LLC of Florida a million dollars in 2008. The plane, its engines and its documentation secured that loan.
Air Support Systems has never repaid the loan.
Jonathan Cyrluk, counsel for Headlands Limited, says hopefully, this ruling will bring an end to the entire affair. He says his client intends to fix the plane and fly it away as soon as it’s allowed by the court.
Air Support Systems violated a Texas court order when it flew the plane out of Texas in 2009. The jet stopped to re–fuel at Sawyer and never left.
Cyrluk calls the case crazy, saying truth is stranger than fiction sometimes and wondering if the case may eventually be the subject of another movie taking place at the Marquette County Courthouse like “Anatomy of a Murder”.
The plane has been tied up in an ownership dispute involving courts in Michigan, Texas and Missouri.
Solka will hold a bench trial June 27th through the 29th to decide whether or not Headlands will be allowed to fix up the plane and fly it away.