But Pilots Say Tactics Are Aggressive, Unwarranted

For several years -- and long before AOPA and a few other entities decided to pay attention -- ANN has been trying to alert the GA industry to the hazards and concerns we noted over the CBP's aggressive surveillance and intrusive searches of GA aircraft. A recent incident in which a 23-year-old private pilot was flying from Opa-Locka, FL to Marathon in the Florida Keys for a lunch date with a young woman has raised additional questions about tactics perceived as aggressive by the pilot community  being employed by Customs and Border Protection.

In the incident in question, the pilot and his date landed in Marathon, and in his recounting, were surrounded by federal agents in body armor and carrying "assault rifles." They demanded that they be allowed to search the plane, and grilled him on the purpose for his flight, according to the pilot, identified in a report from the McClatchey News Service as Aron Banks. Banks said he did not consent to a search of the airplane, but admitted that he did say "I'm not authorizing anything, but you do what you need to do."

The subsequent search turned up nothing but $700 which Banks said he keeps in the airplane in case of emergencies.

After 90 tense minutes, according to the pilot, the agents said Banks and his date were free to go, and that they were "just doing their jobs to keep everyone safe." Banks felt differently.

CBP justified the search, and said that Banks' account was inaccurate. The agency’s Office of Air and Marine on Monday said the encounter lasted only about 20 minutes and was done because on an error in Banks' flight plan. They said the search was allowed, and no weapons were ever drawn or used to intimidate the couple.

Banks' story is just the latest in what seems to be an increasing number of such incidents happening across the country. A growing number of private pilots are reporting that they have been subjected to warrantless, and possibly illegal, searches on the part of federal agents, and that such incidents can be emotionally scarring.

AOPA general counsel Ken Meade told McClatchey that its members have reported more than 50 such cases in the recent past, and that none of those flights crossed any international borders. They say their planes were searched by CBP "without probable cause or reasonable suspicion of illegal activity.”

After a meeting with AOPA last month, CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske said that the agency would "conduct a comprehensive review of the searches." Kerlikowske said that domestic flight are monitored for odd flight patterns or practices, and agents may make "contact" with a pilot based on an "abnormal flight profile" or a tip from another law enforcement agency.

Most pilots interviewed for the story say they understand that the CBP agents are "just doing their job," and are aware that private planes are a popular way for the bad guys to move drugs and other contraband. But that doesn't give them carte blanche to search airplanes and question pilots who have done nothing wrong. In the words of 66-year-old Tom Lewis, who says his airplane was surrounded and searched by M-16-bearing agents in Frankfort, KY when he and his wife stopped for the night on a flight to New Hampshire two years ago that originated in Grandview, TX, "It's excessive to stop Grandma and Grandpa on their way to see the grandkids."

Meade likened flying an airplane on a cross-country trip to driving a car on a similar trip. He said pilots should not have to worry about gun-toting agents tapping on their aircraft's window and asking to search the plane.

FMI: www.cbp.gov/border-security/air-sea