Smuggling in GA

I would estimate that Pilatus’ business is more than 10% with the drug cartels. Same with Cessna Caravan.

Drug trafficking from Paris to Berlin is not very interesting. If you fly Albania Germany regularly, I’m sure there will be more scrutiny. I have flown 5 times from/to Egypt with my Cessna and the airplane was never searched. That surprised me a bit because I could have easily stowed a few hundred kilos of drugs, all those inspection covers, raised floor, etc. The US perform those total inspections on GA planes coming from South America.

The biggest danger I see is that somebody hides drugs in my plane. It is a very popular method and planes are easy and fast. It is being done a lot in Albania where they use magnetic boxes that get attached to innocent cars and then removed back in Central Europe. If that happens to you, your chances of getting away are not that great…

Money (cash) smuggling is an issue only between countries which have exchange controls.

Nobody in Europe has exchange controls.

There are personal limits, beyond which AFAIK you have to declare it, but they can’t stop you flying from say UK to France with a million quid in a suitcase. They will question where it came from, and will very likely report it to the tax people (because, obviously, a million in cash is suspicious) who will likely then hit you with a “lifestyle audit” but they can’t actually stop you if it turns out to be yours and all after-tax etc. And if it is your money they might send you off on a family planning course because you really should not be passing your stupidity genes on to an offspring

I did a google translate of that article. Of course the Dominican Republic is going to be involved in smuggling… along with most of the earth’s surface. But not 7% of flights within Europe.

Even VAT fraud, within Europe, is very limited. Most of the time you pay VAT on the purchase, anyway. And it’s not as if anybody is going to be buying an IWC watch in Switzerland or Norway, at the prices there In Hong Kong, maybe…

I think the biggest problem with drugs in GA is that it is a very visible means of transport, and most of the gangs involved will already be under surveillance. So if a new guy on the block pops up with a nice plane with G-XXXX on the side in 30cm high letters, they will just laugh and phone up their comrades at the other end who will pick you up. So the way it is done is by landing in fields in between the declared endpoints, for the pickup and the dropoff, but that is also highly visible. The countryside is full of people with camera phones etc. And you cannot do it at night – even the WW2 agent insertions involved lights on the ground etc.

achimha wrote:

The US perform those total inspections on GA planes coming from South America.

Not as a routine matter. The typical border check coming across the border by GA from Latin America into the US goes like this: taxi into the yellow box on the ramp, shutdown and get out while remaining in the yellow box. After a couple of minutes, the customs guy comes out, looks at passports and walks away. That takes about a minute. You can watch it all day long at GA points of entry.

What was happening in the US in terms of drug searches was the well publicized and in my view illegal tracking of ‘suspicious’ (by who knows what metric) light aircraft travelling long distance west to east. These were apparently tracked by airborne surveillance and intercepted by black dressed DHS thugs on the ground. It happened to a friend of mine twice with his Bonanza, flying VFR from the west coast to Illinois. The second time he told the guy (as per AOPA guidance) that since he wasn’t with FAA, if he affected the airworthiness of the plane in any way it would be noted and acted upon. Also that he explicitly did not agree to the search of his aircraft even though he would not forcibly act against it. That had some effect. Recently given the huge negative publicity and lobbying efforts this program gathered, it seems to have gone away but who knows.

I don’t have time now to listen to the whole program, but the intro itself is a case study in sensationalism (and yes, I speak fluent French). Don’t forget, France is probably the country with most envy towards anyone / anything successful, so not surprise that they hate GA. I know that it’s a great country (or at least used to be) for GA, but private aviation there has always come under the very French concept of ‘chasse gardee’ (Google it). Seems that’s changing.

On the general subject: during my time in southern Spain, there were regular press reports about airborne smuggling of dope from Morocco to Spain. Mostly done with Microlights and Autogyros. Why anyone would fly a few kilos if you can transport a ton on a fast Zodiac, I don’t know. However, the Guardia Civil did hide in the shadows at LEAX pretty often. Never bothered me, though.

Aviathor wrote:

But following the media coverage these last few days, the risk is that the impression among the general public is that any airplane operating out of a small field is suspect.

Biz jets and unfortunately all private planes have always been a subject of hate for the left envy mongers. I don’t think it is a coincidence that France has turned from aviation paradise to an area with more minefields than most other countries in Europe for GA under a Socialist administration and a President who hates anyone with more than a factory worker’s income. I guess we have to write France off the GA map for the forseeable future, at least if we don’t want to be subject to harassment.

I have the feeling that this is completely exaggerated. I’ve flown to France five times in the last 24 months, and it was – only – nice.

To me France, Germany, UK, CZ, HR, S and Austria are the least stressful countries in the EU/Europe. I bet Poland is nice too, but i haven’t been there.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

I guess we have to write France off the GA map for the forseeable future, at least if we don’t want to be subject to harassment.

You won’t stop until everything about life is bad and miserable, will you?

France is GA heaven. Cheap AVGAS, lots of (mostly free) airfields, H24, great places to see. Maybe there is more freedom for GA in the Midwest of the US but France beats the Midwest any day for me.