Father, son charged with theft from flight students

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported the arrests of Alex Hamlin, 34, and Harlan Hamlin, 59, on 20 counts each of theft by conversion and one count each of violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The GBI investigation began following a February 2025 request from local police, who had been contacted by students complaining of missing money. The accused remained in Fayette County Jail on September 8, according to jail officials. Each was held on $125,200 bond, county records show. "Additional arrests are expected," according to the GBI release.

The arrests cast in a new light the story of a flight school launched in May 2020 that quickly grew to a fleet of eight aircraft and more than a dozen instructors a year later. AOPA reported on the family business at the request of Harlan Hamlin, who contacted AOPA seeking coverage. 

"So during the height of the pandemic we did a thing," Hamlin wrote to AOPA in a text message in May 2021, recounting how Flyt Aviation, based at Atlanta Regional Airport Falcon Field, had grown in its first year from a single aircraft and instructor into a bustling operation "and now as of Friday May 21st we are the newest Delta Airlines Propel flight training partner."

US Aviation Academy acquired Flyt Aviation in October 2024, according to the GBI, and Peachtree City Police began hearing from students soon after, fielding "multiple complaints from flight students regarding financial discrepancies within their FLYT Aviation accounts. The investigation revealed that several students accounts, including those of students participating in aviation scholarship and financing programs, were misappropriated by Alex Hamlin and Harlan Hamlin while the business was operating as FLYT Aviation." US Aviation Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jessica Sales wrote in an email reply to questions that all publicly available information will be posted on the GBI website. The case has not yet been referred to prosecutors. Anyone with information relevant to the ongoing investigation is "encouraged to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Midland at (706) 565-7888. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online... or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app."