confiscated Mooney at Harlingen

[mooneyflyfast]

When I left HRL yesterday there was a nice looking Mooney N231___ (dont recall the suffix letter) on the ramp with big red stickers sealing the cabin door and baggage doors.  I could read "caution" but not the smaller print. It wasn't there when I flew in on Sun.  I checked Flightaware for arrivals and didn't find where it flew in.  I'm assuming this is a Customs deal. Does anyone know anything about this?

[RLCarter]

If it's the one I think it is, it was seized in Weslaco and later flown to Harlingen for secure storage, It was involved in smuggling illegals and the pilot was 80 or 81 years old....Who's ramp was it on, Gulf or Sun Valley's?

[joegoersch]

Not a bad job for an 81 year old...

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[joegoersch]

Do you need a valid medical to be hired as a smuggler ?

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[Yetti]

beats a reverse mortgage

[rbridges]

must have a better useful load than my plane.  You'd have a hard time smuggling circus midgets in mine.

[RLCarter]

18 minutes ago, joegoersch said:

Do you need a valid medical to be hired as a smuggler ?

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Most are freelance, but my guess is an employer isn't really interested. Back in the 70's they busted a guy for bringing in drugs from Mexico, not only did they charge him for smuggling drugs they fined him for not having a commercial ticket

[MooneyMitch]

Clint’s at it again (The Mule!)

[mooneyflyfast]

He probably wasnt overly concerned with the legalities of exceeding max gross

[mooneyflyfast]

45 minutes ago, RLCarter said:

If it's the one I think it is, it was seized in Weslaco and later flown to Harlingen for secure storage, It was involved in smuggling illegals and the pilot was 80 or 81 years old....Who's ramp was it on, Gulf or Sun Valley's?

Gulf

 

[Shadrach]

9 minutes ago, rbridges said:

must have a better useful load than my plane.  You'd have a hard time smuggling circus midgets in mine.

Because smugglers care about W&B limitations...

[RLCarter]

3 minutes ago, mooneyflyfast said:

Gulf

 

Same one then , it was their guys I saw around it and then it flew off towards HRL and for some reason he never raised the gear at least for as far as I could see

[RLCarter]

21 minutes ago, rbridges said:

must have a better useful load than my plane.  You'd have a hard time smuggling circus midgets in mine.

Not sure what circus midgets bring, but it's a couple grand each for normal fair, not too bad for just getting past the check points which are 60 miles north of the border

Edited August 1, 2019 by RLCarter

[HXG]

A funny anecdote. A few months back a non aviation guy visiting my local FBO saw my Mooney Bravo landing and commented  “What kind of plane is that? That looks like one of them drug smuggling airplanes”. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by HXG

[PT20J]

18 minutes ago, RLCarter said:

Same one then , it was their guys I saw around it and then it flew off towards HRL and for some reason he never raised the gear at least for as far as I could see

Probably afraid to mess with it after an over gross landing. 

[tigers2007]

It’s a lot easier if you do it in the Northern border as CBP is usually late and really don’t care as they’re in a rush to get back to the border station and browse eBay on the computers. Hell there is not even radar coverage below 3500ft where I use to live. Yeah, you’re supposed to keep all passengers near the plane upon arrival (not necessarily INSIDE the plane) but no one is watching.

The Canadian Coast Guard will call in advisories all the time about obvious smuggling activity near Drummond Island. They will not interact unless it is a life-safety related emergency. I don’t blame them.

Border Patrol tries to patrol but its nearly impossible due to the vast area. The local American Indians just giggle as they can tell you exactly where every single Border Patrol agent is (thanks to cellphones).

I can tell you stories about mysterious low flying aircraft at night but I stopped caring about it years ago when my supervisors didn’t care about it.

Too bad CBP won’t auction that Mooney off as they generally will not release a conveyance used for smuggling back into public hands.


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[rbridges]

28 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

Because smugglers care about W&B limitations...

being a smuggler doesn't necessarily make you a bad pilot.   

[Shadrach]

18 minutes ago, rbridges said:

being a smuggler doesn't necessarily make you a bad pilot.   

neither does flying over gross...

[Yetti]

There was a cessna 172 at Brenham for about 2 years that got caught moving wacky weed.   Finally got sold and someone flew it off.   There was an overloaded something that went down in a field by Houston Executive  https://abc13.com/archive/8440409/

 

Oh and the skydive operation out by Sealy that carried more than meat missiles.

[RLCarter]

8 minutes ago, tigers2007 said:

Too bad CBP won’t auction that Mooney off as they generally will not release a conveyance used for smuggling back into public hands.
 

They auction them off down here, I've bid on a few, the drug runners will put wood blocks in the suspension of cars/trucks so they can load the crap out of them and not squat the suspension. There is a CBP station with 2000+ agents that buts up to back gate at Weslaco Airport and an ATC Radar in HRL than can zoom in close enough for traffic on the expressway to show up on the screen along tethered  surveillance ballons which will ruin your day if you don't check your NOTAMS

[Jerry 5TJ]

So what is the usual auction sale price for a 231 with unknown history and no logs?  

[RLCarter]

33 minutes ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

So what is the usual auction sale price for a 231 with unknown history and no logs?  

The last plane was a 206, went for 80k+, that was 2 yrs ago. There are several online auction houses they use, several different gov. agencies seizing stuff around here

[Yetti]

Also to the winner goes the spoil due to seizure laws   Many of the small police departments will have some tricked out cars since they get them for free along the drug route.  Hwy 59 to Houston

[RLCarter]

yep, Harlingen has a vette

 

[steingar]

Yeah, LEOs love to confiscate things, even from law-abiding citizens.