[5][7] In 1984, at age 37, he was in the headlines for flying, on March 31 at 11:20, between the pillars of the Eiffel Tower aboard a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft.
He was part of a team entered in the Paris to Libreville air race but an engine failure south of Portugal forced him to drop out.
Moriarty piloted the L-19, better known as the "Bird Dog", a Cessna "forward air control" (FAC) and Observation aircraft.
Moriarty wrote of his service as; a "position whose glory had been lost to those of the military jet aircraft pilots".
He states that the "Marine ground pounder called the FAC in their Cessna' and the pilots of the A-37, 'The Small Giants of the PAC'".