Learjet 464 Juliet

In early 1980, noted NHRA drag racing and national record holder Bobby Wood had only recently opened an FBO aviation business in South Florida. As luck — or bad luck — would have it, he unknowingly found himself on the edge of one of the most extensively investigated federal crimes in American history.

The result of his months travelling to and from Colombia is a soul-searching, brutally honest, and often humorous account of the trials and tribulations of an American businessman thrust into a world of early-1980s shady intent, corruption and criminal enterprise.

What the Book Uncovers

• A true story of intrigue, deception, drug smuggling, and government abuse.
• The largest criminal investigation since the death of John F. Kennedy.
• The 1979 assassination of a sitting United States federal judge.
• A saga of perseverance and tenacity, and the good old-fashioned belief: never give up.

The Aircraft at the Center of It

The main character of this remarkable and compelling tale is actually the Learjet 464 Juliet herself — a jet ambulance on a medical mission of mercy. Juliet had been sent to retrieve an American named Bruce Douglas Allen, who had been horribly injured in a plane crash.

As Allen lay dying with third-degree burns over eighty percent of his body, Colombian officials and agencies — with the possible blessing of their United States counterparts — detained 464 Juliet on trumped-up charges of violating airspace. Days later they neatly confiscated her by planting six ounces of cocaine on board, ensuring she would never leave Colombia. Neither would Allen, who was left to die unattended a few days after 464 Juliet was seized.

One Man Against the Machinery

In Bobby Wood’s personal struggle to free 464 Juliet, he uncovered facts along the way that suggest collusion between United States and Colombian officials — entrapment, coercion, corruption, and a complete disregard for human life.

Wood’s experience reminds us that in the wrong hands, the pursuit of power based on political expedience, revenge and — more often than not — plain and simple money, is perhaps the greatest threat to America’s position in the world, and the greatest challenge to our culture of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Will Bobby Wood beat the odds and get Learjet 464 Juliet safely out of Colombia without inflicting collateral damage? The best politicians, brightest lawyers and businessmen from multiple countries tried and failed. Can he learn to survive in a psychological jungle, accepting that he will have to play by new, different and ever-changing rules to become adept at the mind games waged against him in an arena filled with cynicism and corruption?

Facing impossible odds, will God give him the gifts of wisdom, knowledge and perseverance to complete his journey to free 464 Juliet?

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