Depends on the details. I think you get a 2/3 remission if you plead G and behave well in jail. The judge can also make a recommendation.
Normally you get 2 weeks community service, which is doubled if you are dumb enough to not change your gender 
However, this is quite serious, due to stuff like this. In northern schengen-land people don’t have a problem because almost nobody goes there directly, so immigration is much less visible to the locals, and is less of a political football. The real action happens around Greece and Italy, where the govts are struggling anyway just to keep a lid on the situation, and by the time the immigrants reach say Germany (or Sweden?) they have already been “processed” and have places to go to, etc. Whereas the UK is on the front line, so to speak, and while actual GA smuggling numbers are utterly insignificant, it is a technically viable route because the distance is so short (France → UK). To smuggle into say Sweden you would need a TBM.
And reporters for the regional papers are not the smartest people so GA is an easy target for some sensational piece.
The other problem is that obviously this is a political extra hot potato post-brexit.
And reporters for the regional papers are not the smartest people so GA is an easy target for some sensational piece
Sorry for the thread drift, but reminds me of something we saw in a paper in Scotland a couple of years ago.
Somebody dumped a sub 600kg plane in a field due to engine failure, ended up on its nose in the boggy ground.
The headline in the local paper was “Hundreds Narrowly Escape Near Certain Death”, with a picture of said plane in the field. The article described how the field was 6 miles away from the local primary school, and if the airplane has crashed vertically into it instead, the ensuing fireball…… etc.etc.etc.
That is completely normal everywhere and plays a part in why this is a sensitive topic. It doesn’t have to be rational. If I was smuggling anything I would use a boat; a half decent “powerboat”
plus a couple of k for a secondhand motor, and you can cross the Channel overnight, on a calm night, and obviously you would not do it here.
Only really stupid people do it with a plane, because of the high visibility, but even before that it is not easy to arrange the “business” and the departure and arrival spots, whereas with a boat any bit of a beach will do.
From the news paper report quoted above
Upon being arrested, he said: “I normally get arrested for drugs so it’s a bit strange to be arrested for illegal immigration.”
So if I understand this correctly, apparently he’s been arrested previously for using light aircraft to import drugs on more than one occasion?
If so, how is he out and about about to do this and not locked up in jail long term?
So if I understand this correctly, apparently he’s been arrested previously for using light aircraft to import drugs on more than one occasion?
The story of one of his drug smuggles is detailed here,
https://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Wycombe-Air-Park
“It turned out that some damn fool had hired G-GEAR to do a drugs run but the Belgian authorities had got wise, and, as this clown started his take-off roll the police blocked the runway with a line of vehicles. Did he pull the power and accept is was “a fair cop, guv.”? Not at all, he kept charging on and chickened out at the last minute, veering off and crashing through two fences and a ditch into the grounds of a prison next door to the aerodrome, thereby writing off a fine aeroplane. I sincerely hope he will still be serving a very long sentence banged-up.”
Just read this. In a way hilarious. The guy overflew a nuclear power plant in France (BIG no-no!), was chased by a Rafale, then threw drug packets out the window, finally landed at a small airfield and fled on foot. Got apprehended a little while later. Suggestion: do NOT, I say again, do NOT fly through a P area if you’re carrying contraband!
Article in French here
Well. There must be 1000 flights of which 1 gets caught, and only out of total stupidity of the pilot…
Sometimes it snows in June…
Maybe worthy of a separate thread but drug smuggling by GA can be a real threat. Good reason for authorities to clamp down on us. I remember one joker dumping drugs on a remote piece of land in Menorca years ago from a ULM. Checks at LESL intensified afterwards. I honestly don’t know what I would do if I would spot someone smuggling. Intuitively I would denounce him, but the consequences are for us. And here on the islands no doubt the real smuggling is done differently, by boat. So denouncing an aviator is not meaningful in stopping the problem.
Food for thought from aart.
It will be interesting to read more details about this.
It would have been easy to tell ATC you’re landing somewhere, then fly off again no-transponder. Not sure how to escape once intercepted: fly very low and slow and hope the jet looses sight of you or runs low on fuel?
