Epstein Data Wiki

Epstein's Flight Department

17 min read

Crew as described in 2006A chief captain, two further full-time pilots, a full-time flight engineer, and a contracted pilot used in 2004 and 20051
Chief captain (to January 2005)David Rodgers; employed from July 1991; demoted from the post in January 2005; his salary at the time of the 2006 interview, more than a year after the demotion, was $165,000 plus benefits1
Manifest practicePassenger manifest forms completed by the captain or co-pilot every time either fixed-wing aircraft was used; unidentified passengers entered by gender or as “passenger” or “pax”1
Fixed-wing aircraft in 2006Boeing 727, N908JE, held by JEGE, Incorporated; Gulfstream, N909JE, held by Hyperion Air, Incorporated1
Helicopter in 2006A six-passenger Bell 407, tail number given as 491GM1
Aircraft in the FBI’s 2019 listN908JE, N909JE, N120JE, N212JE (serial 5173, the Gulfstream G550, a different airframe from the G-IV that carried this tail number earlier), N331JE, N722JE and N491GM2
Holding companies named in FAA recordsJEGE, Incorporated and JEGE, LLC; Hyperion Air, Incorporated and Hyperion Air, LLC; Air Ghislaine, Incorporated, later Shmitka Air; Freedom Air International, Incorporated; Plan D, LLC34

This page is about the flight department itself: the crew Epstein employed, the companies that held his aircraft on the register, and the record-keeping practice that produced the flight manifests. It rests on one FBI interview of 2006 and on the correspondence between the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration in 2019 to 2021 that traced the registration history of each airframe. It does not cover the hangar at St. Thomas, which is on Cyril E. King Airport and the Virgin Islands Port Authority, the September 2014 charter, which is its own event page, or the company that held the Gulfstream G-IV, which is JEGE LLC.

What flight records establish, and what they do not. A manifest entry records that a person was carried on an aircraft on a date. It does not establish knowledge, intent, participation or criminal conduct by that person, and no such inference is drawn here.

The 2006 interview

One of the fullest descriptions of the flight department in the released files is a three-page FBI FD-302 recording an interview of David Rodgers, Epstein’s former chief captain, at the Palm Beach County Resident Agency, with his own attorney present.1 The document carries two dates and neither may be preferred over the other: the narrative in the released copies opens with 08/18/2006, while the FD-302a continuation sheet held in the House Oversight production prints the interview date as 08/15/2006 under file number 31E-MM-108062.15 A third copy of the same interview is a 2019 electronic communication that reproduces the narrative under a placeholder case number ending NEW, is watermarked as a draft on every page and prints a “Drafted By” field reading “Missing”; the contemporaneous 302 is the record.6

The crew

Rodgers told the agents that he had been employed as a pilot for Epstein since July 1991, that his salary at the time of the interview was $165,000 plus benefits, and that before that he had sold aircraft for a company near The Limited’s flight department between 1987 and 1991. Epstein had, he said, two other full-time pilots and a full-time flight engineer, and on occasion in 2004 and 2005 a contracted pilot was needed to help fly Epstein to different locations.1

He had been chief captain until January 2005, when the responsibilities of chief pilot passed to Larry Visoski after what the document describes as a continual disagreement with Epstein over landing techniques. It records that this “was a demotion and a decrease in pay,” and that Epstein was unhappy with the way he landed the aircraft when arriving at Palm Beach International Airport.1

Flight notification came from Visoski or from Epstein’s office, with lead time most commonly between eight and twenty-four hours, and Epstein’s personal assistant was responsible for coordinating travel arrangements.1

The manifests

Rodgers produced, under a grand jury subpoena, his 2004 and 2005 personal aircraft log book and the passenger manifest forms for all flights in those two years on the Boeing 727 and the Gulfstream. He described the practice: the forms “were filled out by the Captain or Co-pilot every time either aircraft was used for travel,” and where he or the other pilots could not obtain the names of the people travelling with Epstein “they would list the individuals on the passenger manifest form by gender,” entering “male” or “female”, or “passenger” or “pax”.1

He also said “that it was seldom that he would pilot either aircraft without EPSTEIN being a passenger on the planes.”1 That is a statement about his own flying and not about every flight either aircraft made.

The same page records what he said about who else was aboard. He “advised that he had never witnessed any underage females aboard the aircrafts.” The document then records that he “did state that there had been to many to count when it came to females ranging in age from 21 to 23,” and that he “had never observed any sex toys aboard either of EPSTEIN’s aircraft.”7 The wording, including “to many” in the second of those sentences, is the document’s own.

The aircraft and the companies that held them

Rodgers described the ownership arrangement in 2006. The Boeing 727, N908JE, was “owned by a subsidiary company of EPSTEIN, JEGE, INCORPORATED, and can fly up to 26 passengers”; the Gulfstream, N909JE, was “owned and operated by another of EPSTEIN’s subsidiary companies, HYPERION AIR, INCORPORATED, and can fly up to 12 passengers”; and he “believes EPSTEIN has separate entities for each plane for liability reasons.” He also said Epstein owned a six-passenger helicopter, printed in the document as a “Bel 407,” tail number 491GM.1

Between 2019 and 2021 an FAA law enforcement liaison traced the registration history of each airframe for the FBI. The account below is his.34

The Boeing 727. A 1969 Boeing 727, serial number 20115, registered N505LS, was sold on January 19, 2001 by Real Estate Exchange Inc. of Portland, Oregon, to JEGE Inc. of New York, NY 10022. The tail number was changed to N908JE in April 2001. On the 2013 re-registration application Darren K. Indyke signed as vice president of JEGE Inc. The company was the registered owner from 2001 until the registration was cancelled on October 5, 2019. The aircraft was on the Part 125 certificate of JEGE Inc., whose chief executive was Epstein, and was “certificated for passenger operations only (not cargo).”3

The Gulfstream. In 1994 a 1974 Gulfstream G-1159B, serial number 151, registered N979GA, was sold by Gulfstream to Hyperion Air Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware. Epstein signed the paperwork as president and the chief pilot signed as chief pilot. The tail number was changed to N909JE in May 1994. Indyke’s name appears on documents for Hyperion Air Inc. in 1999 and 2013. In November 2013 the aircraft was sold to Starbridge Landing Inc. of Dover, Delaware, and it was deregistered on December 2, 2014 for export to Venezuela.4

A 2011 landing-clearance request. In May 2011 a trip handler working with Visoski asked him for departure times and other information “for N909JE upcoming trip,” including local business contacts “in order to obtain landing permits for Gabon and Mali.”8 Visoski forwarded the request, and a reply of May 14, 2011, printed under the sender name “ME Karim WADE,” read: “Thanks to give Tail Number and type of aircraft. U can put on landing request Presidency of Republic of Senegal, Mali and Gabon. As trip limited to Senegal now, u can process the request and I will make sure that all process quick.”9 The sender is identifiable as Karim Wade, Senegal’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, Regional Development, Air Transport and Infrastructure from 2009 to 2012.10 The reply offers to route the landing request through the Senegalese Presidency for all three countries named in the correspondence, Senegal, Mali and Gabon, not for Senegal alone.

The Bell 430. An email of January 13, 2012 has Larry Visoski, signing as chief pilot of Freedom Air International, Inc., asking Epstein’s approval to offer $1,500,000.00 for “N901RL a Bell 430 Helicopter with serial # 49078,” the same registration and serial number as the airframe below, after a broker had supplied a market survey of comparable Bell 430 sale prices; the message was sent to Epstein, who replied the same day.1112 In March 2012 a 2001 Bell 430 helicopter, serial number 49078, registered N901RL, was registered to Hyperion Air Inc., with Indyke signing the registration application as corporate secretary. The tail number was changed to N331JE in June 2012 and the aircraft transferred to Hyperion Air LLC in St. Thomas in August 2013. In May 2020 it was sold to CMG Aircraft Leasing Inc., a Miami broker, who sold it the same day to QIR Air Resources LLC of Salt Lake City, Utah, and in July 2020 the tail number was changed to N430D.4

The Sikorsky. On December 30, 2008 a Sikorsky S-76C-2, serial number 760750, registered N750A, was sold to Air Ghislaine Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware, the registration signed by Larry Visoski as director of aviation. On February 11, 2010 Air Ghislaine Inc. changed its name to Shmitka Air Inc., and in March 2010 the tail number was changed to N722JE. On August 25, 2010 the aircraft was registered to Freedom Air International Inc., Indyke signing as vice president. It was sold in July 2011 to ASI Wings LLC of Hartford, Connecticut, then sold to Hyperion Air LLC in June 2019 with Visoski signing as manager, and sold again in May 2021.1314

A second Sikorsky. A 1997 Sikorsky S-76C, serial number 760472, was registered in August 2011 to Freedom Air International Inc., Indyke signing as vice president; that same month Visoski signed the registration change from N162AE to N162AD as director of maintenance. On February 9, 2012 Freedom Air International Inc. sold the aircraft, by then N162AD, to Greenwich Aerogroup Inc./Brazil Leasing Inc. of Middletown, Delaware, and it was deregistered on April 10, 2013 for export to Brazil.15

The Gulfstream G550. A 2007 Gulfstream GV-SP (G550), serial number 5173, was registered to Chevron USA Inc. of Oakland, California, before being sold on March 29, 2017 to Plan D LLC of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, with the tail number N415LM; Larry Visoski signed the registration as manager, and Plan D LLC’s own statement to the FAA names Epstein as a member. In August 2017 Visoski requested the tail number be changed to N212JE, which took effect in January 2018, the same tail number the 1988 Gulfstream G-IV had carried from 2013 to 2017, discussed below, on a different airframe. By a bill of sale of December 22, 2020, Visoski sold the aircraft on Plan D LLC’s behalf to Six G Aviation LLC, which sold it the same day to N550GP LLC of Ontario, California; the tail number was changed to N550GP in March 2021.16

The Gulfstream G-IV. The 1988 Gulfstream G-IV, serial number 1085, was registered to JEGE, LLC in May 2013 and carried the tail numbers N423TT, then N212JE (2013–2017, before that tail number passed to the G550 above), then N120JE from August 2017.17 Its history, the 2019 offer for the company’s membership interests and the FAA amendment that followed are on JEGE LLC.

The Bell 407 nicknamed Air Ghislaine 1. A Bell 407, serial number 53375, registered G-IORB in the United Kingdom, was deregistered there on November 4, 2002 for export and sold on October 30, 2002 to Air Ghislaine Inc.; it was registered in the United States as N491GM on November 13, 2002. On February 23, 2010 it was registered to Shmitka Air Inc., and on August 25, 2010 to Freedom Air International Inc., Indyke signing as vice president. By a bill of sale of April 30, 2012, Freedom Air International Inc. sold N491GM to Eagle Copters Ltd. of Calgary, Canada; the aircraft was registered in a trust and deregistered on May 7, 2012 for export to Canada, and was later re-registered in the United States as N405PJ.18 That supersedes the FAA liaison’s own earlier account, below, in which he had not yet traced the aircraft’s serial number.

The Beech 400A fractional interests. Air Ghislaine Inc. also held two 6.25 percent fractional interests in Beech 400A jets through the Flight Options program: one in serial number RK-260, tail number N787TA, bought January 29, 2000 and sold to Flight Options LLC on May 1, 2009; and one in serial number RK-244, tail number N439LX, bought May 1, 2009 (by then styled Air Ghislaine Inc. of Richmond Heights, Ohio) and sold, as Freedom Air International Inc., to Flight Options LLC on June 2, 2011.19

The same liaison recorded that no other aircraft was registered to or indexed to Hyperion Inc. or LLC and none to Ossa Properties Inc.4 That sentence closes an inventory of aircraft he had just listed; it is not a statement that Epstein had no aircraft.

The helicopters and the 2019 request

The FAA correspondence began with a request from an FBI New York agent on the child exploitation and human trafficking squad, dated December 6, 2019. Its own summary of the aircraft says: “Below are the aircrafts we believe Maxwell has/had been using. The helicopter we know that she personally piloted, while the jets we know her to be a passenger. You’ll notice some of the aircrafts will be associated with Jeffrey Epstein, as she traveled with him frequently.”14 That is an investigator’s working description in an internal request rather than a finding of any kind. It was written on December 6, 2019, nearly seven months before a grand jury indicted Ghislaine Maxwell on June 29, 2020, nothing in the documents cited here records any response from her to it, and the charges, her defence and the outcome are on her own page.

A second FBI message of the same day, pasted into the same thread, records a private pilot certificate in her name with a date of issue of October 2, 2007, category rotorcraft, helicopter.2 It lists the Sikorsky S-76C, N722JE, as “nicknamed Air Ghislaine 2,” and a second helicopter, N491GM, as “Nicknamed: Air Ghislaine 1” and as a Bell Jet Ranger.2 The FAA liaison’s reply of January 14, 2020 opens by saying that what he had found “appeared to be slightly different from what was included in the original e-mail to me below” and restates the helicopter registration history at length; his own list describes N491GM as a Bell 407, which is the model the 2006 interview also gives, and he records that at that point he had not been able to identify its serial number.20 The two documents describe that aircraft differently and neither is preferred here. By the time of the September 2021 thread above, the same liaison had traced the airframe’s full history through its earlier United Kingdom registration and given its serial number as 53375.

The limits of the flight-plan record

In January 2020 the FAA liaison sent the FBI spreadsheets of flight plans for N331JE, N491GM and N722JE, covering 2000 to 2020 in the file names. His covering note states two limits that bear on any use of that material: “the earliest information on this batch of information is from 2007. It was around that time that we started keeping these records,” and all of the departure, destination and estimated arrival times in the columns “are in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) which we use in aviation.”21 A search of the released files for phrases the spreadsheets would carry, “SIMPLE FLIGHT PLANS,” and the column headers “DEPT TIME” and “DEST DOM,” returns only pages of covering emails, not flight-plan data itself, which suggests the spreadsheets are not in the released files as separate documents.

Cyril E. King Airport and the Virgin Islands Port Authority; JEGE LLC; September 8, 2014 charter; Darren Indyke; Ghislaine Maxwell; Little Saint James; Palm Beach police investigation.

Footnotes

  1. FBI FD-302, interview of David Rodgers, Epstein’s former chief captain, Palm Beach County Resident Agency. The FBI’s own records spell his name Rogers; the FD-302 itself prints both Rogers and, once, Rodgers. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00269585 p. 1. His date of birth, home address and telephone numbers are boxed in the image and are not reproduced here. No name beyond his own, and no number, is taken from the pages that follow. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  2. FBI New York summary of aircraft, December 6, 2019, quoted in the same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00040848 p. 4. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Federal Aviation Administration law enforcement liaison to the FBI, aircraft registration history, in a thread of September 29, 2021. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 pp. 2-3. No number printed on those pages is reproduced here. JEGE Inc.’s street address on p. 3 is a solid redaction box and is not reproduced here. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 p. 3. No number printed on that page is reproduced here. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. FD-302a continuation sheet, page 2 of the same interview, in the House Oversight production, cited for the file number and the interview date printed in its header. https://epstein-data.com/HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019076 ↩

  6. FBI FD-1057 electronic communication reproducing the same interview narrative, dated January 14, 2019, watermarked DRAFT on every page, with a “Drafted By” field reading “Missing” and a case identifier ending NEW. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00269580 p. 1. Cited only to identify it as a later re-export and not for anything it states. ↩

  7. Same document. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00269585 p. 2. Nothing else on that page is cited here. ↩

  8. Office email thread, “Fwd: Africa,” trip-handling correspondence addressed to Visoski (“Larry,”), signed Janet Curl, Delta Team, May 12, 2011. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02020228 p. 2. The “To” and “Reply-To” fields are redaction boxes and are not reproduced here. ↩

  9. Same thread, reply of May 14, 2011, forwarded on to Epstein the same day under the heading “Fwd: Africa.” https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02020228 p. 1. The sender’s email address and the “To” field are redaction boxes and are not reproduced here. ↩

  10. Wikipedia, “Karim Wade.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karim_Wade ↩

  11. Office email, “Bell 430 offer for your approval,” sent to Epstein, January 13, 2012, forwarding a draft offer signed by Larry Visoski for Freedom Air International, Inc. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01843439 p. 1. The sender’s name and a block beneath the signature are redaction boxes and are not reproduced here. ↩

  12. Same subject line, Epstein’s reply of the same day, quoting the offer with its closing terms restated. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00927685 p. 1. The “To” field is a redaction box and is not reproduced here. ↩

  13. Same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 p. 4. No number printed on that page is reproduced here. ↩

  14. Requesting agent’s covering message, December 6, 2019, and the liaison’s restatement of the Sikorsky registration history. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00040848 pp. 2–3. ↩ ↩2

  15. Same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 p. 6. No number printed on that page is reproduced here. ↩

  16. Same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 p. 2. No number printed on that page is reproduced here. ↩

  17. Same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 pp. 3-4. No number printed on those pages is reproduced here. ↩

  18. Same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 pp. 5-6. No number printed on those pages is reproduced here. ↩

  19. Same thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00021666 pp. 4-5. No number printed on those pages is reproduced here. ↩

  20. Federal Aviation Administration law enforcement liaison to the FBI, January 14, 2020, forwarded October 4, 2021. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00040848 pp. 2–3. ↩

  21. Federal Aviation Administration law enforcement liaison to the FBI, January 28, 2020, forwarded October 4, 2021, with five flight-plan spreadsheets named in the attachment field. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00010702 p. 1. ↩

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