Plane loaded with drugs makes emergency landing on Southern California highway

Flying Keys said:
Whoa, this could be an epic thread. Getting my popcorn out! :popcorn:

3 hour flight from Mesa, so could be lack of fuel or something to that effect.
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If so, they are incredibly lucky regardless of the drug bust. FlightAware shows them having turned for something like a final approach after flying downwind and base over the ocean.
 
frfly172 said:
Wondering what warranted the search of an airplane after an emergency landing?
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If you make an emergency landing, they're gonna poke around the plane. Not sure about the legality of that. When I made my forced landing, while I was talking to the cops out near the road they went through the plane and dumped all my bags out, I never did find some of the small items that rolled away. They didn't ask me or say anything about it, or that they had looked, I just found the mess when I walked back to the plane.
 
Well, that’s a 235 we’ll probably never see again.
Maybe in a Fed auction in a few years.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
You still need probable cause.
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"The occupants were acting suspicious; I smelled an odor of (fill in the blank)" etc.. With a good attorney the probable cause may get tossed in court but probably not...regardless if it is truthful observations by the arresting officers.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
You still need probable cause.
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i don't see any judge saying they didn't have probable cause to be on scene of an aircraft on the freeway, so plain view would be a slam dunk, now probable cause for bringing out the K-9 might be a bit more difficult.
 
robin ardoin said:
"The occupants were acting suspicious; I smelled an odor of (fill in the blank)" etc.. With a good attorney the probable cause may get tossed in court but probably not...regardless if it is truthful observations by the arresting officers.
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suspicious is not a crime, and cannot be uses as RAS.
 
An emergency landing, it’s not hard for the cops to say they needed to check the plane for safety reasons. Make sure no one else was on board, electrical power off, no flammable fluids, no smoldering fabric, etc.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
You still need probable cause.
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Yes, probable cause is part of the “plain view” search; i.e., the LEO has to reasonably believe that the item in plain view is contraband. It could be by visual characteristic (e.g., white powder or green leafy substance in clear plastic bags) or odor emanating from the vehicle.

Regarding the drug dog, the police in this instance would not be under the time crunch of a typical traffic stop; i.e., police may not prolong a traffic stop to get a drug dog on scene. Walking a drug dog around the exterior of a vehicle does not require probable cause and is not considered a search.
 
I never ever want to be IN a drug-filled plane when it has an emergency landing, but NEAR it when it happens? Sure, let’s give that a try. I’ll do my best to assist.
 
Half Fast said:
An emergency landing, it’s not hard for the cops to say they needed to check the plane for safety reasons. Make sure no one else was on board, electrical power off, no flammable fluids, no smoldering fabric, etc.
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How many officers know what to look for wrt safety in a downed aircraft? Fireman, sure, but a LEO?
 
They should have just taken a load of gas powered weed eaters instead . Would have greater demand and less availability.
 
eman1200 said:
I never ever want to be IN a drug-filled plane when it has an emergency landing, but NEAR it when it happens? Sure, let’s give that a try. I’ll do my best to assist.
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I have a friend that lives in Florida and often goes fishing offshore. He's always looking to catch a few Florida Square Groupers, but no luck so far.
 
If it was a lot of weed, chances are you can smell it pretty easily.
 
unsafervguy said:
i don't see any judge saying they didn't have probable cause to be on scene of an aircraft on the freeway, so plain view would be a slam dunk, now probable cause for bringing out the K-9 might be a bit more difficult.
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Probable cause isn’t needed for having a K9 sniff the air surrounding a vehicle. Open air is a public place with no expectation of privacy. You can’t detain the occupants longer than necessary for the original stop while waiting for the dog, but in the case of a plane crash, a sniff while awaiting aircraft removal is in line with very clear and longstanding search and seizure law.
 
Did they land on the pavement, grass or weeds?
 
www.nbcsandiego.com

Cocaine found in small plane that made emergency landing on SR-76, Oceanside police say

Two Oceanside residents were arrested Thursday on suspicion of illegal transportation of narcotics after their plane made an emergency landing on state Route 76 near Canyon Drive, the Oceanside Police Department said.
www.nbcsandiego.com www.nbcsandiego.com

I wonder if the CFI was in on it, or if he just jumped at the student's offer to pay for some sweet night cross country time.
 
I was on this jury.

Car crash, multiple injuries and vehicles. Traffic at a total standstill, and a K9 officer decided his car was too hot for his dog, there was an overpass a hundred yards ahead, so he walked toward the shade.

The dog stopped, and sat next to a car with three occupants. The officer pulled his dog up, and continued, then turned between two cars, out of view of the suspect car, and radioed for backup from the crash scene. He wanted the backup, not for safety, but expected the occupants to jump and run.

The dog re identified the vehicle, the three occupants were removed, the dog pinpointed the large stash of hard drugs, all were arrested ant the car towed to evidence lot.

All three did time, but the leader had the famous third strike felony drug conviction, and received hard time. He owned the car and drugs, and they were delivering to retail dealers.

The evidence was so good, the jury only deliberated an hour to find him guilty on all charges.

Dogs walking by, and signaling, are all an officer needs for a search. Federal court, in MD
 
On a somewhat related note...have you seen videos of those supposedly "cartel" planes landing on 1000ft mountain runways, with trees on both sides barely a wingspan apart and a surface condition that I'd be hesitant to take my 4x4 on? These are not bush or STOL planes. Are those pilots that good or that lucky, or is it "do or be killed". The money must be really good though.
 
Unfortunately I resigned my membership from Plus One when I bought my plane. It would be fun to read the incident safety report from the club.
 
This discussion got me thinking, how do the police impound airplanes? Vehicles, obviously get towed to an impound yard. But in this case, how do they impound an airplane? Where does it go? I'm assuming they seized it under Narco Forfeiture laws...
 
You would think when transporting a kilo of coke, the emergency landing checklist would include:

Perform clearing turns
Establish best glide attitude for 68 KIAS
Ensure that the flaps are up
Trim to maintain airspeed
Determine the wind direction
Select a reference point that is near an area where an emergency landing can be made
Fields are best, roads may contain powerlines
Look for flat, high populated, low obstruction areas
Turn the aircraft toward the landing site
Complete the engine failure during flight checklist:
If engine restart is unsuccessful, plan and fly a pattern
Open the cabin door and throw out the backpack containing the blow
Establish a high-key point at 1,000' AGL downwind and abeam to the touchdown point
Establish a low-key point at 500' AGL on base before the turn to final
Maneuver as necessary to reach the high-key point
Not to exceed 60°
Clear the engine on the upwind legs every turn
Operating the engine at idle speed for prolonged periods may result in excessive engine cooling or spark plug fouling
Check engine operation during the glide by "clearing" the engine on every upwind or every 1,000' AGL (to minimize any variation in ground-speed and turn radius) as appropriate

Etc...

:biggrin:
 
FPK1 said:
This discussion got me thinking, how do the police impound airplanes? Vehicles, obviously get towed to an impound yard. But in this case, how do they impound an airplane? Where does it go? I'm assuming they seized it under Narco Forfeiture laws...
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I had a case where Homeland Security seized an aircraft. It stayed at the FBO where it had been seized for over a year before it was returned to the owner.
 
3393RP said:
You would think when transporting a kilo of coke, the emergency landing checklist would include:

Perform clearing turns
Establish best glide attitude for 68 KIAS
Ensure that the flaps are up
Trim to maintain airspeed
Determine the wind direction
Select a reference point that is near an area where an emergency landing can be made
Fields are best, roads may contain powerlines
Look for flat, high populated, low obstruction areas
Turn the aircraft toward the landing site
Complete the engine failure during flight checklist:
If engine restart is unsuccessful, plan and fly a pattern
Open the cabin door and throw out the backpack containing the blow
Establish a high-key point at 1,000' AGL downwind and abeam to the touchdown point
Establish a low-key point at 500' AGL on base before the turn to final
Maneuver as necessary to reach the high-key point
Not to exceed 60°
Clear the engine on the upwind legs every turn
Operating the engine at idle speed for prolonged periods may result in excessive engine cooling or spark plug fouling
Check engine operation during the glide by "clearing" the engine on every upwind or every 1,000' AGL (to minimize any variation in ground-speed and turn radius) as appropriate

Etc...

:biggrin:
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Aviate, navigate, defenestrate.
 
3393RP said:
Open the cabin door and throw out the backpack containing the blow
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And get arrested for unsafe dropping of objects from an airplane!

Seems like it's always the secondary crime (e.g. tax evasion) that gets people... :p
 
Ashara Keliyn said:
On a somewhat related note...have you seen videos of those supposedly "cartel" planes landing on 1000ft mountain runways, with trees on both sides barely a wingspan apart and a surface condition that I'd be hesitant to take my 4x4 on? These are not bush or STOL planes. Are those pilots that good or that lucky, or is it "do or be killed". The money must be really good though.
Click to expand...

Or building time for the airlines.
 
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