the second time a pilot has been detained and handcuffed for flying N50545!In January 2009, Jim Pitman, a friend of mine who was a Cessna employee at the time, posted an account on Facebook of his run in with police. While he was handcuffed, he was detained in a far less threatening manner than the Kings were. Here’s information from his posting: “So I got to spend some time handcuffed in the back of a police car on the ramp in Wichita today.
“Here's the story... I pick up my new Skyhawk (N50545) at the factory in Independence Kansas and head for Wichita for some company meetings. As soon as I land the cops are there to greet me, saying they need to ask me some questions. I first think some of my friends are playing a practical joke, but they assure me they are serious and proceed to handcuff me. By this time I knew it was not a joke, and of course, was completely cooperative.
“Apparently N50545 is a tail number that used to be assigned to another airplane that was reported stolen several years ago. The officers were very friendly and it only took about 20 minutes to clear everything up. I was smiling the entire time knowing what a great story this was going to be :-)”
The incident over the weekend with the Kings was far less cordial and is getting far more attention. AOPA President Craig Fuller was understandably outraged. “Simply put, this incident is as outrageous as it is inexplicable and raises serious questions about the coordination of information among federal and local authorities. A $2 app for an iPad and 30 seconds would have discovered sufficient information to raise serious doubt that John and Martha King, who filed an instrument flight plan in a Cessna 172, were instead flying an older stolen Cessna 150 whose N number had long ago been retired and reissued by the FAA.”
I followed up with Jim a few minutes ago by phone, broke the news to him about this second incident, and asked for his thoughts. He said that “it was shocking that this could have happened again years later. My flight was the plane’s very first flight away from the factory in Independence and I then flew it for several months around the West, including into Santa Barbara, without incident.” Asked about the difference in the way he was treated versus the Kings he said “The police in Wichita were totally cool with me and there were no guns drawn.”
So pilots beware. In the post 9/11 era, small planes continue to be regarded by the public and sometimes law enforcement as objects of terror. If confronted by law enforcement, remember to use the words “Yes sir” frequently until things get sorted out. Hopefully there won’t be a third incident in which pilots are detained for flying N50545. You can hear Martha describing the incident in a 15 minute podcast at avweb.com.
We live in an age where general aviation is under attack. Anyone who believes that the attacks on 9/11/2001 are over and have not had the desired effect have been living on another planet.
The convenience and use of aircraft for transportation has gone from great to awful, and getting worse by the day!
