Aviation Crime & Crisis | Senior Advisor | Legal & Strategic

Aviation Crime & Crisis. Investigations. Criminal Law. Delict-Based Employment Law.

I advise aviation companies on crises with criminal-law, security and political dimensions – legally, strategically and drawing on operational experience from my time as a troubleshooter (CTS) at Pan Am from 1985–1991.

In such matters, views on what constitutes an appropriate solution may diverge between my clients and regulatory authorities, security agencies, or political actors. In this field of tension, I remain the clearly subjective advocate of my clients’ interests (“procurator”) and continue to pursue those interests consistently even where governmental objectives are weighted differently.

More about me

Today, I develop multidimensional solutions to such problems at senior-advisor level and tend to leave the operational execution to others – pointedly put, I am more “M” than “James Bond”. My clients benefit from my well-maintained network across airlines/aviation, politics, the justice system, security services and investigators.

Depending on the client’s preference, I either produce comprehensive reports or work in a low-profile, robust old Pan Am style: “Memos? No memos. I throw ’em all in a running JT3D.” “A CTS’ job is done best if you’re remembered only as a shadow.”

Aviation Crime & Crisis Internal Investigations Complex Criminal Law Delict-Based Aviation Employment Law

Martin Heynert in front of a historic Pan Am aircraft

From complexity to causality.

In safety-, aviation- and complex criminal-law-related situations it is rarely “just one case”. Technical, organizational, human and political factors usually interlock – and many players try to influence the situation at the same time.

My task is to translate this complexity into actionable causality. I work with an analytical lens that looks at developments across several levels and condenses them into a robust overall picture:

What actually happened – and what did not?
Which interests and patterns are at work in the background?
Which developments and scenarios are realistic?
Which options do you have at decision-maker level?

In this way, decision architectures are created for boards, managing directors and individual clients – in aviation, in internal investigations and in complex criminal proceedings.

The analytical lens in brief

Multi-dimensional view instead of a pure file chronology
Structuring hypothesis spaces and causal strands
Backward: origin and development of the crisis
Forward: realistic developments, risks and exit scenarios

More detail: Dossier Analytical Working Method.

Overview of all dossiers

Aviation Crime & Crisis

Criminal-law crisis intervention, cargo crime, fraud at stations, corruption and counterintelligence for airlines and aircraft manufacturers.

Special: Bogey Parts – when counterfeit parts enter the fleet. Counterfeit or life-expired components circulating as “fresh” parts.
Go to Bogey Parts case story

On diplomatic terrain: crises between airline, authorities and culture that can only be resolved diplomatically.
Go to “On Diplomatic Terrain” page

In individual cases, this also extends to supporting the release of employees or family members who are being held abroad – using legal, diplomatic and negotiation-based means.

Go to Aviation page
Go to Executive Dossier Aviation Crime & Crisis

Internal Investigations

Internal investigations according to international standards, including on the basis of the United Nations Investigation Manual.

The CTS Philosophy

Context · Trajectory · Stabilization
Developed between 1986 and 1988 by Martin Heynert and another Pan Am top-level crisis manager, based on hands-on international crisis work for that airline – to quietly, early and effectively remove politically sensitive and criminally caused crises in the fast-moving airline and aviation industry, with operational stability as the consequence of elimination.

Go to Internal Investigations page
Dossier: Internal Investigations
Dossier: The CTS Philosophy (EN)

Complex Criminal Law

Strategic advisory support in complex criminal matters, early advice at the investigation stage and discreet assistance during searches and interviews.

In individual cases this also includes bringing children back home who have been taken abroad by one parent.

Go to Complex Criminal Law page
Go to Short Dossier Complex Criminal Law

Delict-Based Aviation Employment Matters
Misconduct-related terminations involving delictual elements or potential criminal-law implications in the aviation environment – for employers as well as for employees who are wrongfully accused, especially in safety- and license-critical roles.

Go to Briefing Dossier Delict-Based Aviation Employment Matters

Vita

Rechtsanwalt & strategic crisis analyst

I combine complex criminal-law advice or representation with internal investigations and a strongly analytical perspective: complex situations are structured along their causal strands – from the origin of the problem through to realistic exit scenarios. I take on my own operational steps where they are inseparably linked to the lawyer’s responsibility; additional resources such as IT forensics or surveillance are brought in on a case-by-case basis via specialized service providers.

Career stages in aviation, international experience and my way of working – like an old navigator in the worst storm pinpointing the exact position and finding the best way out.

This also includes missions in which engineers and children who were being held abroad could be brought safely home again – using legal, diplomatic and negotiation-based tools rather than “special forces”, and with a steady hand in the background.

More on this in: The Old Navigator – finding position, setting course.

Go to Vita

Contact Magdeburg

Would you like to discuss a confidential matter? I am available for a discreet initial conversation in person, by phone, or via video. DE-39104 Magdeburg, Hegelstraße 39. E-mail: martin@heynert.com, Phone: Office +49.391.5982-243, Mobile +49.171.4135269

North American Meeting Points

In addition to my German office, I maintain discreet meeting points in Montreal and Vancouver. I am generally available there about once per quarter for personal meetings with North American companies and decision-makers.

In this context, an initial discussion and a first confidential assessment of the matter are possible without separate billing of travel costs. Further legal and strategic advisory work is undertaken exclusively within the framework of a mandate.

Appointments and location details are coordinated through my office in Magdeburg.

A Pan Am vignette

A short scene from the Pan Am days: an approach into JFK, radio traffic with New York TRACON, and a “Welcome back home in New York, boys” that still resonates to this day. A reminder of homecoming, safety and responsibility – and of how operational experience still informs my work in Aviation Crime & Crisis.

Read the vignette