Plane loaded with drugs makes emergency landing on Southern California highway

PIC identified as 21-year-old CFI (Breit). Second occupant (Smith), 36-year-old, identified as a passenger in some news reports and a student pilot in others. Media briefing indicated that the passenger was the backpack tosser as well as the holder of the on-person drugs.

Possible the CFI was unwitting? Oceanside police apparently don’t think so as both charged.
 
AquaLand said:
PIC identified as 21-year-old CFI (Breit). Second occupant (Smith), 36-year-old, identified as a passenger in some news reports and a student pilot in others. Media briefing indicated that the passenger was the backpack tosser as well as the holder of the on-person drugs.

Possible the CFI was unwitting? Oceanside police apparently don’t think so as both charged.
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Pretty typical for all occupants of a vehicle to be charged when drugs are found. If one of the people charged really didn't know about it, that will hopefully come out in court, if it gets that far.
 
Half Fast said:
"One kilogram!" would have been a much better answer. :)
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Kilogram is a unit of mass, not weight. While giving it in pounds was the most helpful way to answer, if he really wanted to show off, he could have said 9.8 Newtons. :biggrin:
 
172andyou said:
And get arrested for unsafe dropping of objects from an airplane!
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It depends, right? You can drop things if they don't create a hazard to persons or property. But who determines if there's a hazard? I was involved in dropping hundreds of paratroopers. Seems like a "hazard to persons." <g>
 
AquaLand said:
PIC identified as 21-year-old CFI (Breit). Second occupant (Smith), 36-year-old, identified as a passenger in some news reports and a student pilot in others. Media briefing indicated that the passenger was the backpack tosser as well as the holder of the on-person drugs.

Possible the CFI was unwitting? Oceanside police apparently don’t think so as both charged.
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Passenger shows up on airmen registry as student pilot. I wouldn't be surprised if the CFI was aware....knowing what they get paid.

They landed in Mesa just before sunset. Then took off 4 hours later at 11:09pm. Seems both occupants were probably aware
 
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Dana said:
Pretty typical for all occupants of a vehicle to be charged when drugs are found. If one of the people charged really didn't know about it, that will hopefully come out in court, if it gets that far.
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Depends on location. My area won’t typically charge anyone except the driver, unless there’s something indicating it was in the specific possession of the passenger. Constructive possession isn’t a thing here, at least in my county.

Actually, they don’t seem to charge anyone with anything, but that’s a different rabbit hole…
 
If flying drugs, maybe try 2:00 in the afternoon rather than 2:00 A.M., less suspicious. Don’t forget to properly fuel the plane.
 
Half Fast said:
Pretty easy to forget little details when you're stoned.....
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If someone is using the product they’re transporting and their “management” finds out, an emergency landing is going to be the least of their concerns…
 
Dana said:
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.
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That's just crappy, I feel like it's understandable why they would WANT to look, seeing it as an aviation incident, but still the legality of that seems just obnoxious. Then again, I guess seeing a plane on the side of the road could be probable cause lol
 
Dana said:
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.
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looters?
 
The article I read said one of the occupants was observed throwing a backpack into the woods. In addition to the drug charge, they got them on littering.
 
Leaned Mixture said:
That's just crappy, I feel like it's understandable why they would WANT to look, seeing it as an aviation incident, but still the legality of that seems just obnoxious.
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I don't know that it was legal. I just wasn't going to argue about it; I was busy explaining that no, it wasn't OK to cut the wings off with a chainsaw to remove it from the field.
Bob Noel said:
looters?
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No, it was the cops, while I was about 500 feet away talking to other cops.
 
I'd like to be the first to say I think the sentence crossed the line. several lines.
 
Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Postal Inspection Service had been investigating Smith for more than a year for allegedly mailing a total of more than 2.6 pounds of cocaine to North Carolina

Hmm.....
 
Palmpilot said:
Kilogram is a unit of mass, not weight.
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The word "Weight" predates the idea that inertial mass and the force due to acceleration of gravity are two different things. So, the word "weight" tends to be ambiguous. That's why you buy potatoes by the kg not the Newton. And why the electronic scale you use to measure out retail quantities of the drugs you are selling can be switched to display either ounces or grams.
 
3393RP said:
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.
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Had to look that up - "Florida Square Groupers" ! - a new term to a Yankee. (But what would you do if you caught one of 'em ? )
 
We’ve passed square grouper floating in the Fl Keys on a couple of occasions. Never entertained the thought of picking it up
 
GoFly said:
We’ve passed square grouper floating in the Fl Keys on a couple of occasions. Never entertained the thought of picking it up
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But did you entertain the thought of calling the Coaxt Guard?
 
Yep, we got coordinates and notified them on one occasion. Never thought about it on the other.
 
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