The initial email and phone call seemed as normal as any other. A potential customer contacted Luke Lysen's The Flight Academy, looking for details on how to fly.
"About 20 minutes later, the phone rang and said it was Colton Harris-Moore," recalled Lysen, "He seems interested in learning to fly. He's asking all the right questions."
Harris-Moore, now 25, became a media sensation back in 2010 after eluding police on an international chase when he was just a teenager. After a two-year crime spree stealing cars, a boat and planes, he was caught after he crash-landed a stolen plane in the Bahamas.
He earned the name "Barefoot Bandit" because he committed some of his crimes without shoes on.
"He asked me if I knew who he was," said Lysen, "I let him know that I did know. He had some questions about someone with his background, whether there's any hindrance to him getting a license.
"That shouldn't pose a problem," he continued.
One day later, Harris-Moore started a GoFundMe page to raise $125,000 for flight instruction. Specifically, he wants to learn to fly a Cirrus aircraft, notable because it has a parachute for use in case of emergency.
"I took it as someone who's been through a lot and still after all this, still has a passion about flying," said Lysen.
Attempts to reach Harris-Moore Monday were unsuccessful. His attorney John Henry Browne acknowledged his client had started the page, but indicated he was doing it on his own.
Lysen said there is plenty Harris-Moore can learn, even though he has flown thousands of miles alone. Specifically, landing.
"Might be interesting," he suggested, "Come back and interview me after."
Harris-Moore said any money raised would go to flight instruction and not to himself. Restitution to his victims was paid when he sold his movie rights to Sony.
