AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2014 - 68

Then they demand to search your aircraft and luggage.
They don't have a warrant and they can't seem to tell you
why they want to look, so you say "no" to the search. The
officers are clearly unhappy with your answer. If you don't
consent to the search, they'll detain you for 48 hours, they
warn. Still unwilling? They threaten to call a "buddy" at
the FAA and have your pilot certificate revoked.
You can't believe this is happening. Can they do that?
What should you do? You relent and consent to the search.
You're shaken, angry, and frustrated. And then, more
than an hour after it started, it's over. They've found nothing illegal. They let you go, still offering no explanation.

ZERO-SUSPICION SEIZURES

In answer to the simple question, "Why was I stopped?"
pilots have received a variety of vague and sometimes
bizarre responses. They've been told they were stopped
for flying too slowly, for taking an erratic flight path, for
landing in a state where the sale of marijuana is legal,
and for filing a flight plan in the air-among others. Some
pilots have been told simply that the stop was routine
or random.
An internal CBP memo obtained by AOPA refers to
the stops of GA aircraft as "zero-suspicion seizures." And
that's where the problem lies.
"We don't object to law enforcement officers stopIT ACTUALLY HAPPENS
ping and searching general aviation aircraft when they
This sounds like a scene out of a Cold War-era spy novel. have a legitimate reason to do so-in other words, probaBut the truth is worse; an AOPA
ble cause or reasonable suspicion
member reported that this actuof illegal activity," said Mead. "But
ally happened to him. And while
it's our position that federal law
AOPA'S PURSUIT
this is the most egregious examenforcement officers have absoOF THIS ISSUE
lutely no authority to stop GA
ple, AOPA has received 42 reports
aircraft without meeting that
of unwarranted stops from pilots
SEEMS TO HAVE
legal standard. And all of these
nationwide, as well as many other
PUT CBP ON
stops beg the question of where
reports of law enforcement offiITS BEST
CBP is finding the resources to
cials visiting or calling airports and
BEHAVIOR-
make these kinds of stops when
FBOs to check up on the activities
AT LEAST
of both local and transient pilots.
budgets are so tight and they have
TEMPORARILY.
In each case, the pilot has
an entire border to protect."
reported being stopped by agents
AOPA has been investigating
of Customs and Border Protection
these reports and asking key ques(CBP), or local law enforcement
tions, starting with, "What gives
officers acting at CBP's request. More recently, reports have CBP-the agency charged with protecting our internacome to light regarding similar stops by Immigration and tional borders-the authority to monitor general aviation
Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations activity within the United States, and then to stop and
(ICE HSI). The Department of Homeland Security is the search domestic general aviation flights without probaparent agency of both CBP and ICE.
ble cause or reasonable suspicion of illegal activity?"
"This doesn't look like the work of a few misguided
The answer appears to be that the agency has no such
agents," said AOPA General Counsel Ken Mead. "It looks authority. When pressed, the best the agency has managed
a lot like a federal agency that is routinely exceeding its to come up with is citing the federal aviation regulations,
mandate and acting outside its authority. The sheer num- specifically 14 CFR 61.3(l) and 91.203. In case you're rusty
ber and geographic spread of incidents makes it appear on your regs, the first requires that a pilot present his or
there's a systemic problem within DHS, and it needs to be her airman certificate and medical certificate, along with
addressed immediately."
photo identification, to any federal, state, or local law
Although each report is different, dogs have sometimes enforcement officer who asks for it. The second requires
been used, and in some cases pilots have been confronted that the aircraft carry airworthiness and registration
by officers with their weapons drawn. In other instances, certificates.
aircraft access panels have been removed; and pilots and
But while the regulations require pilots to have and
passengers have been separated, questioned, and detained present appropriate documentation, they don't give law
for as long as three hours.
enforcement agencies the right to stop airplanes just to
Every one of these flights was conducted entirely check that documentation. Instead, the law enforcement
within U.S. borders. In no case did the stops reveal evi- officers must have a reason and the authority to stop the
dence of illegal activity, and none of the pilots was charged airplane in the first place. Only then can they ask for the
with any crime.
documents. And because these are FARs, the authority
68 | AOPA PILOT February 2014

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2014

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