Detained Pilots

Uuh, yeah! One flew deadhead and went throughVenezuelan Immigration as a crew member..then he went to a rural airport to fly a plane to the DR..You think he did not check the entire aircraft. You do know that pilots have to insure proper weight balance in order to fly, right...
They got caught trying to earn a Christmas bonus...Uncle Hugo will take good care of them..

HB

The original Facebook page link works fine and gives more details.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_123735524356201&ap=1

They are Americans and the American Embassy appear to be supporting their claims of innocence. I read nothing about Venezuela in their flight plan. As far as I read, the plane came from San Juan and the cocaine was loaded in the DR whilst it was on the ground.

12 people have already been arrested at the airport.

We are confusing two drug flights.
There are the two American who flew in with some heave weight on an aircreaft from Puerto Rico. Don't know all the details, I was in DR1 News I think.

There is a Lt Colonel from the Dominican Air Force in jail/detained in Venezuela on charges of attempting to fly a plane that had been confiscated by the Venezuelan authorities (and happened to have some heavy weight of coke in it, too)...a Falcon jet, I belive the story said..

Anyway these are just two more incidents inthe Neverending Tale.

HB

Hillbilly said:

We are confusing two drug flights.
There are the two American who flew in with some heave weight on an aircreaft from Puerto Rico. Don't know all the details, I was in DR1 News I think.

There is a Lt Colonel from the Dominican Air Force in jail/detained in Venezuela on charges of attempting to fly a plane that had been confiscated by the Venezuelan authorities (and happened to have some heavy weight of coke in it, too)...a Falcon jet, I belive the story said..

Anyway these are just two more incidents inthe Neverending Tale.

HB

Click to expand...

When we were at the main Adaunas office in Santo Domingo while battling to bring the MotoCaribe shipment in, we were in the ante room waiting to speak to the Asst. Big Cheese when 10 fully armed PN and DCND guys came in with two clean-cut types in handcuffs and marched them right into the big board room. 4 guards stood at the door.

We eventually asked the ABC what was going on. Seems the son of a huge mucky-much (I recall a judge) flew on his dad's Lear (a judge with a Lear???) from (I think) PR with like US$480,000 in cash...which he couldn't account for.

Right.

No doubt it wasn't his fault and he was an innocent victim.

You wonder how many get through.

I guess this is the case meant in the OP
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2010/12/16/37999/US-pilots-to-stay-in-Dominican-Republic-jail

IMHO they should stay in the DR Jail til the how ever long lasting Investigations are over, to be according to the Investigation's outcome Charged and sentenced here in the DR and do their Time Here appropriate to the Dominican Law.
the Pilots and the involved corrupt Aduanas and DNCD and M2 Officials been under Investigation since a while and finally they could be taken down all together in one Sweep.
the Plane been investigated since a while, a regular Cargo Flight between here and Puerto Rico, but due their connection with corrupt officials it took a while to get them all together.
one Aduanas Official been paid 200.000.- Pesos for His Blind Eyes and in the Car of a Marine Official US$70.000.- cash been sized.
the total of involved officials taken in custody that day is 18, plus the 2 Pilots, a whole Ring of Traffickers.
who would believe that the Pilots did not know what they fly around here?
I hope all involved, Local and Foreigners including the Pilots, get the max Sentences in Jail, IMHO they all deserve that.

Mike

the other case, the One Luis mentioned above, about the Venzuelan Incident, is shown here in the Papers
DCND desmiente coronel intentara traer droga - Hoy Digital

the Article states clear that the prior Press releases about any Drug Connection been false,
tyhe Incident in Venzuela been a Flight Violation and in no way related to any Narcotraffic case/occurance.
the Dominican Airforce Lieutenant Colonel been legally flying in Venezuela during His Off Times.

Mike

This pure conjecture on my part, but I would think if you are running a big time smuggling operation you wouldn't leave anything to chance including the choice of pilots.

xamaicano said:

This pure conjecture on my part, but I would think if you are running a big time smuggling operation you wouldn't leave anything to chance including the choice of pilots.

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that's One Point,
and in addition, WORLDWIDE, in the Air and on the Water,
the CAPTAIN is responsible for everything running with His Vessel, He personally has to be in charge to inspect Loads/make sure what is on Board is what is on the Borading List.
the Captain is the ultimate Power.
and come on,
you don't oversee some Backpacks with 145 Kilos of Cocaine standing around somewhere in your Plane.

on that amount it is considered a Large Quantity, meant for Sales/Distribution, together with the Ring considered a Criminal Operation/Mafia/by our Law named Organized Crime, if seen culpable they Face up to 30 Years each.

Happy Sunny Travels

Mike

PLYMOUTH, MA, 17 December 2010: Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association is currently reviewing its members? willingness to continue offering air freight service to the Dominican Republic, in view of the nearly two-week-long imprisonment of two pilots employed by an member airline.

Dominican officials have stated that the pilots are innocent regarding drugs that were found hidden under the floor of a cargo airplane the crew was preparing to fly out of the Dominican Republic on a contract flight for a major U.S. air freight forwarder. However, little progress has been made with Dominican authorities, notwithstanding efforts of their employer, the U.S. State Department, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, and U.S. Congressman Tom Petri ? and the two pilots are still in a Dominican prison, having been refused bail pending a hearing that has already been rescheduled several times.

?In view of these developments, our member airlines are concerned about the safety of their employees on flights to the Dominican Republic,? said RACCA President Stan Bernstein. ?Dominican officials responsible for the drug bust have stated that the pilots are innocent, but two weeks later they?re still in jail. The question for RACCA?s member airlines now becomes, does the benefit of providing air cargo service to the Dominican Republic justify the risk of another event like this??

The two pilots, Kevin Kuranz of Wisconsin and Christopher Schmidt of Tennessee, are employees of Air Cargo Carriers and were flying a Shorts SD-3-30 ? Kuranz on his first trip to the Dominican Republic ? when the airplane was seized and the crew detained. It is reported that 18 Dominican military and government officials have been arrested in the course of the associated investigation.

. o O o .


For further details contact Stan Bernstein at the telephone number or Email address below.


60 Clifford Road, Plymouth, MA 02360 ? 508 747 1430 ? RACCAemail@aol.com

Embajador de EE.UU. visita DNCD
Embajador de EE.UU. visita DNCD - DiarioLibre.com

I will venture to guess that the case was discussed in this meeting.

I would guess it was God's Hand that placed the Drugs in the Cargo plane,
because the Pilots are ""Innocent"" and of course if asked I would guess the Airline and any of it's Emplyees are of course ""Innocent"",
must be some magic Hands of God placing those Drugs on Cargo Planes and delivering them to the Sellers in Puerto Rico.

Where is official Report Printed that states that the 2 Pilots are officially innocent,
because as far as the whole Investigation is concerned the Case is still under Investigation/not finished.

that Cargo Association should make sure that their member Airlines do not bring Drugs to Puerto Rico and the US instead of big mouthing about not flying any more Cargo Services to the DR and involving for the Media some Senator and Congressman. a Judge who listens to a foreign Senator in his decision about a Prisoner to be released or not I would name Corrupt/bought by the other side.

let the Investigations be finished and then can be decided who goes Free and who will be charged, as it should be.
some Invests specially Drug Related can last up to several Months, depending how big the Case, do they expect a Blizz Judging because Foreigners are involved?

Mike

and I am having ahard time getting my toaster over here!!!!!lol

It is impossible for a pilot to inspect every nook and cranny of a larger cargo aircraft.

He does not stand guard 24/7/365.

Ground Crew with knowledge and a screwdriver can stash all sorts of things on that aircraft and the PIC would never find it. Numerous airplane guys on this forum know this is true.

I am NOT claiming the pilots innocence. I AM claiming there most likely is a lot more to the story than "the pilot was in charge so he knew and was in on it."

cobraboy said:

It is impossible for a pilot to inspect every nook and cranny of a larger cargo aircraft.

He does not stand guard 24/7/365.

Ground Crew with knowledge and a screwdriver can stash all sorts of things on that aircraft and the PIC would never find it. Numerous airplane guys on this forum know this is true.

I am NOT claiming the pilots innocence. I AM claiming there most likely is a lot more to the story than "the pilot was in charge so he knew and was in on it."

Click to expand...

I'm not a pilot but what you say makes good sense. Even if the pilot did make an inspection, stuff could be hidden between then and takeoff by the ground crew.

This is a problem for the pilots as they are going to be the first ones grabbed just because they are in charge. Maybe even guilty until proven innocent, which is very hard to do, especially when you are in jail in some distant land. I certainly would not want to be in that situation.

I recall someone I know really well (mirror) Hiding wine, sheep skins,cameras...etc in the bowels of an aircraft that couldn't be detected by anything other than an x-ray. Pilots didn't know about it.