I wanted to share a story that happened on Thursday (March 1, 2012) and wanted to see if this has happened to anyone else. I departed from Scottsdale at 1:30 pm. We (GF and me) flew non-stop to Horseshoe Bay (DZB). We stopped there to overnight with friends, and then fly on to Brenham (11R) the next morning to conduct some horse business. Back to DZB, overnight, and home on Saturday.
We were VFR with no flight plan filed, but under flight following. Cruising at 11,500 we were almost through the Texon MOA when Houston Center made a traffic alert to us. Less than a mile, no transponder, but he was getting a traffic alert. We saw nothing on the TCAS, but made a turn to the right of 20 degrees. The target followed. The controller then came back, and told us it was a duplicate return. What I found out later was that it was the Omaha King Air 200 that was intercepting us. I thought it was odd, but continued to DZB.
We entered the pattern at DZB, made standard calls, and landed. The King Air made no calls.As I was turning off the runway, I saw a King Air 200 landing directly behind me, and close enough that I heard him go into Beta. I parked the airplane, and was approached by two ICE officers who were already on the ground who had landed moments earlier in a C210. We unbuckled and got out of the airplane. They conducted a ramp check, and by this time, the airplane was surrounded by the 8 officers who had piled out of the King Air.
My girlfriend and I were separated by the officers, and the grilling commenced. "What's in the airplane that I need to know about?" Uh oh.... There was nothing, and I told them so. 2 hours later, after the dog had come along, did a false alert on the wing root of the airplane, and the airplane subsequently torn apart, they said that we were good to go. That was also after the dog had climbed all over the wings and fuselage of the airplane scratching the ever living hell out of it.
Questions asked: Why did you fly direct from Scottsdale? (Because I had the gas and the tailwinds?)
Why are you here?
Why did you fly from Scottsdale?
How long have you had airplane?
This sure is a nice plane, how do you pay for it? (I'm a trust fund baby.
)
You REALLY breed horses?
How much does that make you a year?
Where do you fly?
How often do you fly?
What do you do?
How long have you done it?
Do you use drugs?
Are you sure?
Why are you nervous?
Why do you look nervous?
What are you hiding?
Who do you spend time with?
Who's your business partner?
What does he do?
What's his name?
How long have you known him?
How did you meet?
How often does he fly the plane?
What ratings does he have?
What ratings do you have?
Does anyone you know smoke weed recreationally? (DUH?)
Who are they?
My gf: Does he let you fly the plane? Never? Not EVER? (Still no)
Do you smoke weed recreationally?
Why are you here?
What are you doing in Texas?
What does your bf do?
How do you know bf's business partner?
What do you do for work?
When I began to ask questions, I was stonewalled. Who is the OIC? We ALL are was the answer.... Honestly...
Also of note, though I was not under arrest, I was prohibited from using my cell phone, and the officers got really twitchy when I pulled it out.
I will say that only me, and my business partner fly this plane. It belonged to a flight school in its previous life. It is kept in a secure and locked hanger. It has never been flown internationally.
I also found it interesting that even though I showed them my CTO, as well as my licenses, and informed them of my vet status, and that I have an active secret clearance, and that I am currently using my GI Bill benefits, and that I am service connected (all of which I lose if I have a felony charge) AND told them that my gf's dad is the Director of the NTSB (yes, really), it all fell on deaf ears.
The most troubling part of this whole thing was that they told me
1. not to tell anyone that it happened
2.to call them first if anyone asks me to run a load of dope in my airplane (WTF??!!), and
3. that I need to become better friends with my pilot friends to see who is moving dope out of Phoenix. I did get two business cards with names and phone numbers and am contemplating my next move. I played nice for 2 hours and it made me feel quite violated. Did I REALLY serve 6 years, and do two foreign conflicts for THIS? Is this what we call freedom now?
The coup de grace was, as we were gathering our stuff off of the ramp, an officer says, "Well, at least you'll have a great story to tell."
Anyone else have this fantastical experience?
**So, who needs a load of dope run? And whoever is running the dope needs to fess up now.**
We were VFR with no flight plan filed, but under flight following. Cruising at 11,500 we were almost through the Texon MOA when Houston Center made a traffic alert to us. Less than a mile, no transponder, but he was getting a traffic alert. We saw nothing on the TCAS, but made a turn to the right of 20 degrees. The target followed. The controller then came back, and told us it was a duplicate return. What I found out later was that it was the Omaha King Air 200 that was intercepting us. I thought it was odd, but continued to DZB.
We entered the pattern at DZB, made standard calls, and landed. The King Air made no calls.As I was turning off the runway, I saw a King Air 200 landing directly behind me, and close enough that I heard him go into Beta. I parked the airplane, and was approached by two ICE officers who were already on the ground who had landed moments earlier in a C210. We unbuckled and got out of the airplane. They conducted a ramp check, and by this time, the airplane was surrounded by the 8 officers who had piled out of the King Air.
My girlfriend and I were separated by the officers, and the grilling commenced. "What's in the airplane that I need to know about?" Uh oh.... There was nothing, and I told them so. 2 hours later, after the dog had come along, did a false alert on the wing root of the airplane, and the airplane subsequently torn apart, they said that we were good to go. That was also after the dog had climbed all over the wings and fuselage of the airplane scratching the ever living hell out of it.
Questions asked: Why did you fly direct from Scottsdale? (Because I had the gas and the tailwinds?)
Why are you here?
Why did you fly from Scottsdale?
How long have you had airplane?
This sure is a nice plane, how do you pay for it? (I'm a trust fund baby.
)You REALLY breed horses?
How much does that make you a year?
Where do you fly?
How often do you fly?
What do you do?
How long have you done it?
Do you use drugs?
Are you sure?
Why are you nervous?
Why do you look nervous?
What are you hiding?
Who do you spend time with?
Who's your business partner?
What does he do?
What's his name?
How long have you known him?
How did you meet?
How often does he fly the plane?
What ratings does he have?
What ratings do you have?
Does anyone you know smoke weed recreationally? (DUH?)
Who are they?
My gf: Does he let you fly the plane? Never? Not EVER? (Still no)
Do you smoke weed recreationally?
Why are you here?
What are you doing in Texas?
What does your bf do?
How do you know bf's business partner?
What do you do for work?
When I began to ask questions, I was stonewalled. Who is the OIC? We ALL are was the answer.... Honestly...
Also of note, though I was not under arrest, I was prohibited from using my cell phone, and the officers got really twitchy when I pulled it out.
I will say that only me, and my business partner fly this plane. It belonged to a flight school in its previous life. It is kept in a secure and locked hanger. It has never been flown internationally.
I also found it interesting that even though I showed them my CTO, as well as my licenses, and informed them of my vet status, and that I have an active secret clearance, and that I am currently using my GI Bill benefits, and that I am service connected (all of which I lose if I have a felony charge) AND told them that my gf's dad is the Director of the NTSB (yes, really), it all fell on deaf ears.
The most troubling part of this whole thing was that they told me
1. not to tell anyone that it happened
2.to call them first if anyone asks me to run a load of dope in my airplane (WTF??!!), and
3. that I need to become better friends with my pilot friends to see who is moving dope out of Phoenix. I did get two business cards with names and phone numbers and am contemplating my next move. I played nice for 2 hours and it made me feel quite violated. Did I REALLY serve 6 years, and do two foreign conflicts for THIS? Is this what we call freedom now?
The coup de grace was, as we were gathering our stuff off of the ramp, an officer says, "Well, at least you'll have a great story to tell."
Anyone else have this fantastical experience?
**So, who needs a load of dope run? And whoever is running the dope needs to fess up now.
**
