These Morons Cannot Do Aircraft Reposessions...
The episodes in which they reposess the corporate jet, as well as the episode in which they repo the helicopter is what tipped me off that this show is not factual.
Aircraft are NOT reposessed by a herd of fat thugs from the barrio. Aircraft are registered with the FAA in Oklahoma City. They have liens recorded against them thus clouding the title. Doing so costs only $5.00!
http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/record_aircraft_lien/
To reposess an aircraft you don't have a steroid pumping gorilla pick up a pilot who most likely isnt even the owner, and then slam him down on a desk while strongarming the log books out of him, only to have a pilot you brought along rush out and take the aircraft.
I have been a private, military, or commercial pilot since I was 16 years old. (I got my private ticket on my 17th birthday and have been flying ever since - 25 years so far.) The actual procedure for reposession of an aircraft is to record the lien with the FAA. Then you go to court, to get an order of foreclosure. (Yes just like a mortgage. To register it to you, you ask for an order of "strict foreclosure" and then you file form 8050-1 with the FAA. Now the aircraft is registered to the creditor. To recover it for sale you ask for "statuatory foreclosure" and then file form 8050-4. (All of this is specified by FAR 47.11)
The actual "repo" consists of walking into the FBO (Fixed Base Operation) with the appropriate paperwork and asking them to point out the aircraft. Most of the time you dont even fly it away, you just disable it by wrapping a chain with a padlock around the prop and spinner, or the rotor mast. Frankly, its usually no surprise and the aircraft is already disabled / rendered inaccessible because the guy owns the FBO a fuel bill, owes three months rent on the hangar or tie down, owes a mechanic bill, etc... Usually there is much laughter, and they will send someone out to do it for you.
I saw one about a month ago. A deputy from the Civil Division of the Sherrifs Dept came to the field and served the manager with an order seizing an aircraft stored on the property. The FBO manager laughed and said something along the lines of "Well it looks like that little prick of a ghandi doctor aint doing so hot! The bank done took his airplane!" The paperwork got passed around between all the pilots who were there, with much laughter and amusement, before being stapled to the wall in the general aviation lounge. Meanwhile, a mechanic volunteered to go pull the prop for the deputy, thus rendering the aircraft incapable of movement. Repo accomplished and the airport manager was delighted cause he could now collect his T-hangar rent from Chase instead of chasing after the deadbeat doctor.
On the other side of the coin - if you physically attack a pilot, you attack ALL the pilots present. Matt, Sonia, et al wouldnt have left that airport alive. LOL Seriously, pilots are a small and tight knit fraternity. We make up less than 1% of the population. Many of us are ex-military, and we arent afraid to fight. If you bodyslam a pilot like Matt did, then you will have every pilot on the airport, the mechanics, the ramp monkeys, the flight instructors, etc climbing up your ass in a big hurry. Picture what happens if say a merchant sailor punches a Navy man in a bar full of Navy Sailors. Same deal.
Under no circumstances would a pilot like the ones they show "grab and go". Frankly, I dont know if that aircraft is airworthy. I dont know anything about that aircraft. If the guy cant afford the payments, he probably skimped on repairs including being in non-compliance with airworthiness directives. He may have pulled valuable and necessary parts to make some fast cash. He may have pulled out $5 AN aircraft bolts and put in Walmart ones. He may not have been able to afford avgas - or had his pump privelages yanked for a past due bill - so hes been putting in car gas from a can and automotive oil instead of Aeroshell. Im not flying that aircraft until its been inspected and signed off by a mechanic, and then given a thorough preflight inspection by me. The final responsiblity for the safety of any flight, and hence the final legal liability, rests solely on "the pilot in command". In other words, its your ass!
This show totally gave away its fakeness when they started with the aircraft repos...