Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993                   TAG: 9310230194
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS `PHANTOM' AIR-TRAFFIC CONTROLLER

Rodney E. Bocook, 27, was named in an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

Authorities say Bocook identified himself as the "Roanoke phantom" when he used his own aviation radio to interrupt communications between pilots and the control tower at the Roanoke Regional Airport.

A two-count indictment alleges that Bocook gave false information to in-flight aircraft on "numerous occasions" between Aug. 1 and Sept. 21.

Bocook is also charged with using obscene language during some of the conversations. He is being held without bond and faces up to 22 years in prison.

According to an affidavit, Bocook used a radio he apparently purchased by mail to order incoming flights to change altitudes, switch radio frequencies or break off landings at the last minute.

He is also accused of making false Mayday calls and posing as the pilot of a medical emergency helicopter.

After an investigation that included tracing the radio transmissions, some of which were made from a car or other mobile source, authorities arrested Bocook last month as his Westover Avenue apartment.

Federal Aviation Administration officials have said the false instructions could have created a mid-air collision. However, authorities said it was usually obvious to pilots and air traffic controllers that the phantom was a fake, and his transmissions did not create any near-accidents.