Private IFR Aircraft Flown by Reserve Military Officer Met by
Cops... Based On Shaky Info
Here we go again...
yet another GA flyer has been met at his
destination by a fleet of police cars, an atmosphere of
intimidation, and pretty flimsy excuses for the effort.
Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC)
Surveillance Chart
A pilot (who has asked ANN to keep his name out of this for now)
flying a personal morning flight from Arizona to Missouri, in a
high-performance experimental aircraft, canceled IFR just a few
minutes short of his intended destination and landed VFR. Instead
of an uneventful arrival home, the pilot, (a reserve military
officer flying a front-line fighter, no less) found himself (and
his wife, the only other soul on board) confronted with the local
police -- a force estimated to be some 6 Police cars and 10
officers. The pilot's report to an experimental mailing list noted
that, "I exited the plane and was approached by the supervisor and
asked if I had any identification. I produced my military ID as
well as my driver's license, and asked the supervisor what the
problem was. He told me that he got a 'tip' from the Federal
Government that there may be a federal fugitive on board by the
name of Robert Mcrae. He wasn't sure of the name and asked me if I
knew anyone by a name similar to that, to which I answered 'no' to
all. He also stated that he was surprised to see a woman in the
plane with me since his informant said there would be two men in
the plane."
The pilot got only vague responses when he questioned the source
of the 'tip' and his wife was forced to produce ID and answer
questions, as well.
The Pilot reported that, "It was apparent to the supervisor
pretty quickly that my wife and I were not federal fugitives as
they ran our ID's, but he asked to search the airplane anyway. I
told him that I was aware of my rights and he could not search
anything without a warrant, and he was quick to add 'or your
permission' and 'I could have the dogs come out.'
The Pilot surmised that the LEOs did not 'need a warrant to have
the dogs check out your aircraft - if the dogs find something and
indicate, then they have probable cause to search you without a
warrant. If the dogs find nothing they cannot search your aircraft
until a warrant is issued,' but put conditions on the search.
"I told him that I would play nice, had nothing to hide, and
that my plan was to take my belongings out of the airplane and put
them in my car to go home, and I would allow him to see what I took
out and visually see inside the cockpit and baggage compartment,
but I was not allowing a search of the airplane. He agreed to this.
I took my 2 pieces of luggage out of the back and showed him the
contents briefly (not a complete search but opened up the zipper
and showed clothes on top) as well as the couple of vases we had
bought in Phoenix and lunch/sodas we had in the cockpit. They saw
nothing of interest and returned my wife's ID, but kept mine and
made further calls. The supervisor indicated, 'I'm on overtime, I
am outta here' and left, but another officer checked with
'EPIC'... which he told me was an international consortium
that traded information on travel, etc."
To add insult to the matter, the pilot was informed that the
LEOs (by then) knew about previous trips he had made to
international destinations (and God knows what else) but that the
data didn't indicate any further need to hold him -- and he
was released.
Aero-News Analysis: The
matter brings much to mind... and additional info indicates
that the tip was found to be bogus. Despite the fact that the local
cops questioned the process from the start, they engaged this
private aircraft and citizen on data that would never have been
allowed to instigate minimal and proper procedures for a
proper warrant or other actions. The fact that the LEOs
commented with direct knowledge as to his recent private
trips/movements further erodes one's confidence in our ability to
travel and move about the world without Big Brother breathing down
our back. These incidents are happening more and more... armed LEOs
(some of whom are beginning to make Barney Fife look
like Super-Cop) are nearly always involved and it is a matter
of time before a nervous officer or a nervous pilot/passenger does
something, right or wrong, that gets someone hurt for no good
reason...
The fact that GA makes for such an easy target makes us fearful
that many of these bogus tips will be pursued just so that LEOs get
the opportunity to undertake a takedown for reasons other than the
need to protect the nation. In the past, aircraft have been damaged
by careless searches, pilot's reputations have been besmirched and
a far number of fliers and their passengers have been intimidated
in no small way... and while AOPA's attention-loving Craig Fuller
was all over the
Santa Barbara incident last year involving John and Martha
King (another bogus tip leading to a false
detainment), persons working this incident from the airport in
question report difficulty in getting AOPA's attention this time
around. Apparently, if you're not John or Martha, your dues don't
go as far as they used to... Big surprise, that.
Mind you, this is allegedly the THIRD such incident at
this particular airport, alone... and yet we have not
gotten the kind of aggressive response demanded by the seriousness
of these detainments that our-so-called aviation associations are
supposedly set up to handle. The aviation world will keep being the
victim of such Draconian detainment, search, and enforcement
actions until this industry stands up to this nonsense and demands
that reasonable rights and protections are observed... including
working on REAL Intel and not some bloated bureaucrat's idea of a
silly 'tip.' WAY too many times, these efforts are undertaken with
a hint of suspicion, and a total lack of common sense, and if this
industry does not put up a solid defense against this kind of
UN-AMERICAN activity, someone will die or be hurt -- and the world
of aviation will lose yet another small battle in its war for
survival.
Unwarranted actions like that described by
this pilot are but one more reason that the civil aviation
world is dying the death of a thousand cuts... and since
the aviation associations seem willing to roll over and play dead
when the Feds want to play Thug, maybe its time to find a different
way to stand up to them -- and yes, that is part of what we'll be
discussing the next few days as we get the new ANN site operational
and have time to detail, properly, an intriguing idea we have about
how to turn GA pilots and persons from unwilling victims to
motivated participants seeking a better future for all those who
fly. More info to come... --Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.13.24)
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