Homeland Security got suspicious...

[Palmpilot]

We were held on the runway then told to follow a Citation to the ramp. The Citation had just landed on a crossing runway.

Is there any more you can say about that? Sounds like an interesting story.

 

[Everskyward]

Is there any more you can say about that? Sounds like an interesting story.

There's nothing confidential about what happened. They were suspicious because we were doing low-level mapping in Big Bend National Park (for the NPS). We were being tracked by the Marfa balloon. I guess we must have disappeared from radar a few times as well as lingering in the area for about an hour (?). Obviously they suspected drugs so they dispatched a Citation from ABQ. I decided to land for fuel in Roswell. How they figured this out, I'm not sure, but we landed, they landed, and tower told us to follow the Citation to parking. I had no idea even though they had asked us to hold on the runway for a minute or two (unusual). They asked to look in the airplane but the minute they stepped onto the wing to look inside they knew they were mistaken. They were actually apologetic and a bit sheepish.

 

[Palmpilot]

Interesting.

 

[PPC1052]

The government just doesn't care where you pee. And it amazes me that people here think they are so important that anyone would care.

Sorry for the necropost, and I don't mean any disrespect to MAKG1 for his post because this was probably a fairly reasonable assumption at the time, but this just really struck me as funny in light of the federal government's crack down on North Carolina over its bathroom bill.

 

[James331]

There's nothing confidential about what happened. They were suspicious because we were doing low-level mapping in Big Bend National Park (for the NPS). We were being tracked by the Marfa balloon. I guess we must have disappeared from radar a few times as well as lingering in the area for about an hour (?). Obviously they suspected drugs so they dispatched a Citation from ABQ. I decided to land for fuel in Roswell. How they figured this out, I'm not sure, but we landed, they landed, and tower told us to follow the Citation to parking. I had no idea even though they had asked us to hold on the runway for a minute or two (unusual). They asked to look in the airplane but the minute they stepped onto the wing to look inside they knew they were mistaken. They were actually apologetic and a bit sheepish.

I had something similiar happen years ago.

What would be the ramifications if you just didn't comply, as I read this tower was overriding your operational control as PIC?

 

[Everskyward]

I had something similiar happen years ago.

What would be the ramifications if you just didn't comply, as I read this tower was overriding your operational control as PIC?

How do you figure the tower was overriding anything? I had no qualms about complying. I don't get suspicious or wonder what is happening when things are a little out of the ordinary. I asked to taxi to the FBO. I had not been to Rowell before so I didn't know where it was. Yeah, back in the day I just landed wherever I happened to be when I needed fuel. Perhaps not the best flight planning.