Aviation Crime & Crisis. Investigations. Criminal Law.

Multidimensional solutions for crime-related crises in companies – with a focus on aviation – and for selected high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs): discreet, international, at senior-advisor level.I work at the intersection of aviation, criminal law and crime & crisis management – in situations involving investigations, criminal prosecution or attacks on core assets, where decisions must be made under intense time and outcome pressure.

The focus is on out-of-court troubleshooting, strategic conflict resolution and internal investigations – informed by six years of operational and advisory experience in this segment with Pan Am.

I operate at Senior Advisor level: I structure the situation and decision architecture, personally handle selected operational steps – in particular key interviews and confidential settlement discussions – and, where further steps are required, engage specialized investigative service providers or litigation-focused colleagues, whom I centrally coordinate and strategically direct for my clients to ensure efficiency, procedural economy and clarity of objectives.

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.

Go to Internal Investigations page
Go to Short Dossier Internal Investigations

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

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

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Christmas approach into New York

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

To the 2025 Christmas story

With peace on earth, good will to man
Frohe Weihnachten · Merry Christmas