I think there’s a couple strategies:
1)Appear legit (and then just do all by the books – minus the transport of drugs of course)
2) Try to be quite discrete – fly from uncontrolled to uncontrolled, so you can lie on callsign and or type, and do the minimum (VFR OCAS), and possibly arrive well in advance of your GAR
3) try to be invisible (no FP / comms / transponder)
Between 1 or 2, not obvious to me which one is better for the smuggler, but having flown all in situation 1, I never got the plane or myself searched.
alioth wrote:
was involved in a fatal accident. On landing in a field at night one of the smugglers walked through the prop arc while the engine was still running
In the opinion of a lot of people he got exactly what he deserved….If I remember correctly the police/customs officer found half of a broken handle to a briefcase next to the passengers body, which led him to search for the other half and was found in a nearby hedge still attached to to the briefcase full of smuggled drugs.
If one really wants to get a true picture of whats going on at an airfield, speak to the refueller…they almost always know everything…
Often the people who know everything are also the ones who embellish / invent / repeat hearsay the most. Generally people with an fairly uninteresting activity and having good stories makes them feel more interesting. Cab drivers etc. Maybe a bit pessimistic but that’s my personal opinion. Always sceptical of people with lot a of good stories
I posted my view in post #12 why just about everybody doing this will get caught, and usually quite soon.
The flight itself is not the problem. Often, it is done as a legit flight between two big airports, and with a drop-down into a field to pick up and another one to drop off, along the way.
The problem is that almost all your customers will be “usual suspects” well known to the police and will be under surveillance. So it is very difficult to do the pick-up and drop-off without you being seen by whoever is watching your customers.
Noe wrote:
Always sceptical of people with lot a of good stories
Noe, for example, I was thinking about John the refueller at North Weald, he was typical of refuellers at a lot of places, always keeping his eyes on what was going on, sadly he is no longer there.
Not there since when? Saw him quite recently, a week ago or so. At least the john that was there in the last 3 years. Brought him back some nice port when I went to Portugal.
Gosh. So it is a good thing that the Daily Mail contacted Theresa May and made her aware of what is going on so they could actually stop them!
lenthamen wrote:
The aircraft landed at Teuge airport (EHTE) and the crew and aircraft was inspected. The police also made use of a detection dog.
I landed right after this aircraft and was on the ramp next to him. I didn’t realise what was going on on the ramp until the next day.
I have a strong personal interest in this case:
And would love to be alerted to any more news as it dribbles out, please.
There is a thread running in the “Private Flying” section on PPRuNe since some time. Among other things there is the callsign (N101VV) of the aeroplane used for the operation.
The funny thing is that I, as pilot in command, am threatened with a fine of 3500 Euros for every passenger I fly into France without a valid passport. So flying people without passport out of France should actually be honored with a gratification of 3500 Euros…
