[Old Pilot]

As I have said before there is a profile that fits a lot of pilots that end up in trouble. The alpha male who has pots of money and launches in any weather and the guy who wants to be like him but needs the cash hence the get rich scheme.

Most drug running pilots either want to build hours or if they own the aircraft want to make money out of their investment

[jwebb]

There was a pilot arrested with 5m gbp of cocaine at Breighton Aerodrome in North Yorkshire a year or two back. Does anyone know what the sentence was ?

I was very surprised that anyone would do something so stupid. The chances of detection are quite high. Airfields are full of Pilots who tend to be morally upright sorts unlikley to turn a blind eye to a few millions worth of drugs turning up. The Pilots concerned will now no doubt loose everything they ever worked for, all for the sake of a roll of the dice in a get rich quick scheme.

[flybymike]

We are an enterprising lot, us Yorkshire pilots.

Just not very bright.....

[Old Pilot]

Well it does not take much googling to discover he was a succesful pilot and company director for many years who must have succumbed to the temptation of some easy money.

Driving a C210P in to a small airfield must have raised a few flags.

Drug mules of all sorts always pay the price while the big bosses see them as just part of the risk. He was due to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court On March 30 2015 but nothing appeared in the press.

[Flyingfemme]

Driving a C210P in to a small airfield must have raised a few flags.

Really? Why? It's an aircraft and they land at airfields........

[Old Pilot]

This was no chance seizure. I am sure he had been profiled and there was substantial intelligence to have the authorities waiting. They use a similar technique for nice boats. We are not talking PC Plod on a bike in these cases.

If I can google a pilot and his aircraft plus his company and accounts in a few minutes it is not rocket science for the authorities to flag up certain individuals for further attention.

[patowalker]

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/felixstowe_man_butted_nightclub_doorman_after_he_suspected_them_of_being_involved_in_drugs_at_the_grand_1_2023376

[Joe Dell]

Now we'll get the (totally unnecesarry) bill. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... plane.html

[flybymike]

Aircraft no longer safe to “drive” apparently.

Not many £150k PA28s around either.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Usual Quality reporting:

Unusable: Mr Ash said the aircraft, kept in the 'safe keeping' of the Border Force and Home Office, is now not safe to drive because the extent of the damage

[romille]

Aircraft no longer safe to “drive” apparently.

Not many £150k PA28s around either.

Maybe it's got one of those 22 carat gold engines, like that C150 in another thread on here.

[tomshep]

No, but it has had a recent decoke.

[Joe Dell]

What bothers me is that a perfectly good aircraft was trashed for no good reason. They had a number of offers to fly it, free of charge to the storage hangar. I was one who offered. They let the ARC run out then had it pulled apart unceremoniously and carted off on a lorry, like so much scrap. The numbnuts responsible for that particular act of senseless vandalism should be paying the damages. Not us.

This whole sorry saga has been a fiasco from end to end. It pains me to think I'm contributing to their wages.

[romille]

What bothers me is that a perfectly good aircraft was trashed for no good reason. They had a number of offers to fly it, free of charge to the storage hangar. I was one who offered. They let the ARC run out then had it pulled apart unceremoniously and carted off on a lorry, like so much scrap. The numbnuts responsible for that particular act of senseless vandalism should be paying the damages. Not us.

This whole sorry saga has been a fiasco from end to end. It pains me to think I'm contributing to their wages.

They did exactly the same with a Cessna P210 at Breighton. The aircraft was seized and sold but they would have got a damn site more money for it if they hadn't almost destroyed it. Watching the fashion in which they dismantled it made my blood run cold.

[Aeronco]

If HM Customs sold the contraband on the open market then they'd have enough money to pay for repairing the aeroplane. Sounds like a winner, reduces financial liability to the taxpayer and the junkies get their stuff.