Ultralight Entered Arizona From Mexico

It was probably the last thing the pilot of an untralight aircraft expected, or maybe wanted, to see when he crossed the U.S. Border from Mexico into Arizona early Sunday. Two NORAD F-16's were scrembled to intercept the ultralight, and shadowed it for about half an hour before it returned to Mexican airspace.

In a news release, NORAD said the F-16's launched form Davis Monthan AFB for the intercept early Sunday morning. "Upon intercepting the aircraft, the F-16s shadowed the aircraft for 30 minutes until it turned and flew back into Mexico," said NORAD Lt. Cmdr. Gary Ross. "The F-16s returned to base."

Television station KGUN reports that just the day before, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords told reporters in Tucson that she was co-sponsoring legislation that would focus specifically on ultralight aircraft, which she said are being used more frequently in the drug trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Should her bill become law, a smuggler using an ultralight to carry drugs would face a 20 year prison sentence and a quarter million dollar fine. "These smugglers use small, low-flying aircraft to deliver their illicit contraband into our country," she said. "But because of a legal loophole, they cannot be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. My legislation will fix this problem."

A local flight instructor says that not all of the planes being used to smuggle drugs are ultralights. Some, H.L. Cooper told the station, are actually LSAs or "unregistered experimental" aircraft. He said if it came to a court case, and the aircraft weighed in over 250 pounds, the case could be tossed out on a technicality.

FMI: http://giffords.house.gov, www.norad.mil