Venezuela’s Armed Forces (FANB) reports locating the aircraft that had gone missing from the radar of Dominican Republic air controllers. The Cessna 402, registration number N17JE, had landed at the shores of the Maracaibo Lake in Congo Mirador. The airplane had been reported missing after presenting a flight plan from Puerto Plata to Barahona.
The government of Venezuela tweeted: “Attention. A US registry drug trafficking aircraft has been disabled in Zulia. Our FANB and the ONA have located the aircraft that landed in the shores of Lake Macaraibo in the Congo Mirador sector, on 1 August.”
The country’s Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Nestor Reveror, said Dominicans Carlos Castillo and Rolando Pineda were arrested. Venezuelan Oswardo Blisick Weeden, captain of the aircraft, was also arrested.
The aircraft had been missing since Saturday when it reportedly returned from Barahona to Puerto Plata after being told the airport was closed. The pilot is said to be a Venezuelan national and his flight plan said the flight was for “a maintenance transfer”. The plane took off at 5:18pm from Puerto Plata to the south. According to the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC), the pilot was informed that Barahona airport was closed, so he began his return and disappeared from the radar.
IDAC reported the airplane missing after last hearing from the pilot at 5:54pm on Saturday afternoon, when the pilot said he was 15 miles from the Puerto Plata’s Gregorio Luperón airport, so he was transferred to the Puerto Plata control tower frequency.
Air traffic controllers reported at 6:26pm that the aircraft had not landed and that the pilot had had no further contact with the control tower.
Reports are that the flight plan presented by the pilot for takeoff had many irregularities, including it was not dated. Furthermore, the Venezuelan pilot did not have authorization to fly the US registry aircraft.
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3 August 2020