Air Luxor Crew arrested in CCS

[Mach.099]

Air Luxor private flight to SVMI, Citation X, CS-DCT was impounded by Venezuelan Authorities on the 24th October 04 in Caracas. The flight was chartered by a local broker
TAC( Transportes Aereos Comunitários) to MasterJet, one of the subsidiaries of the Portuguese Group Air Luxor, owned by the Mirpuri family.
Six persons were arrested, 3 Crew and 3 pax, all Portuguese nationals for investigation. Twelve suspicious baggages were loaded on board, later found out to be as little as 400kgs of Cocaine.
Pax on board, all females on the sixties, seam to be the brain of powerful organization in Europe.
Because, passengers did not have load out of LPPT and strange packs were loaded in SVMI, media reported that Air Luxor Cpt gave the alert to the Twr.
Some contradictions like the A/C registration, route, origin and destination of the flight, lead to a major investigation that is currently under way.
Any supplemental information will be much appreciated.

[foxile]

Have you got an update on this?

I have followed it on the news but as my Portuguese is not fluent I don't get everything. Are all the crew still detained?

[Captain Efis]

Hello,


- The incident was reported by the Captain

- 2 out of the 3 crew have been released ( co-pilot still in jail, if you call it a jail ).

- The a/c has been flown to another airport without the consent of the tribunal ( i think they want the citation for themselves for free ) :mad:

- The reg if im not mistaken is CS-DCT.

[foxile]

Captain Efis

Thanks for that.

I do wonder how long it will be before the company gets its aeroplane back....

[Mach.099]

Co-Pilot still in Jail waiting trial...meanwhile the plane sits on the ground; Cpt and Flight Attendant were released. I think they want the plane for themselves, because if they release the co-pilot they do not have any suspicion to retain the Aircraft.

This is incredible… unbelievable, How can justice be so wrong???

[foxile]

Unfortunately, only catching the end of it, I saw the TV news here in PT reporting that the co-pilot is still under house arrest awaiting trial. Portuguese govt. claiming it can do nothing to help.

Anybody got any more details, how long has this guy got to sit there to wait for his trial?

As an aside, is the aircraft still impounded?

Foxile

[ClearedForTakeOff]

Still no news, the courts keep delaying the case and guess what? Yesterday once again its been delayed, this time until 06 Oct!!! :*

:mad:

[AirbusPilot]

And again i hear it has been delayed for the...... 20th time :yuk: :yuk: :yuk:

How is this possible, 20 times????????????? :yuk:

[lancaster52]

The problem with this simplistic view of the world is that Responsibility has to go hand in hand with Authority. So many times these days El Capitain is held responsible whilst his real authority has been usurped or overridden by his employer.

[foxile]

Except the captain is back in Portugal, it is the co pilot who is awaiting his fate....

[LHmain]

If Cplane is anywhere near the truth, time for me to find a new occupation. Never heard such a crock of s***t in my life. I have to do what I am told to do, try 46 hrs with no sleep, don't write in the tech log, etc, etc. I will accept this scenario when I am able to search all the pax, contact interpol for previous, strip the a/c for peace of mind and obey all the regulations with no fear of getting the push. Meanwhile, dream on. CAPTAIN?????????

[nouseforaname]

The problem is you call yourself a captain but to them your just another employee

[foxile]

Anybody know any more on this saga? I may have missed it but I've not seen anything on this on the news in Portugal for a while. Surely it has gone to trial by now...
Foxile

[tophe]

According to Portugese friend, the F/O is back... Don't know more.

[foxile]

tophe,

Good news, thanks.

Foxile

[pakalolo]

I know ,the citation x now is operate by venezuelan air force, they have ready the crew, i saw them in flight safety dallas doing initial course.

[Copperfield]

The latest on the Venezuelan seizure of a Citation X.

After a lay-over SVMI, and while preparing for departure in Oct 2004, the Captain of the C-750 found un-familiar luggage on board the aircraft. This luggage was not there when he left for the hotel the previous day. After asking his crew about the unknown cargo, the copilot became rather nervous. As a result, the Captain contacted the authorities ( namely the " Guardia Nacional", wich is the military branch in charge of ports and airports of entry/exit within the country ).

The entire crew and paxs where detained for questioning, and after finding out that the paxs had nothing to do with this, they released the paxs while the crew remained under interrogation. It became clear to the authorities that the copilot was in on it. Later they found out that he had been in contact with a mechanic working for Santa Barbara Airlines, had given him the key to access and load the bags while he was away from the airport.

A few days went by and the Captain and F/A were released. The copilot was set to stand trial for drug traffic, and I have not heard about his release. But it may very well be that his family or "friends" gathered sufficient funds to bribe his way out, since in Venezuela everything works that way, as it does pretty much in every country south of the border.

As per the A/C, it is flying. To the best of my understanding it has been seized illegaly, since the aircraft was in a charter operation, in which case, the operator would be responsible for fines only, but the A/C should not be affected further than an extensive inspection simply to determine that drugs are no longer on board.

A good friend of mine, knowing all this, tryed to contact the operator to assist in the recovery of the aircraft. Their response was that a law firm had already been hired for that purpose. My friend's good relations with the judge in charge of the case was the upper hand in the recovering of the A/C, but the company did not think that would be necessary.

Last year, the Venezuelan Air Force started sending crews to train at CAE-Simuflite in Dallas. So far, as many as 16 pilots have trained in the C-750 simulator. Only some 10-12 days ago, a hard landing incident ocurred at SVFM, the former civil-military airport where the aircraft was relocated to at the time of its seizure at SVMI. Its been operating from the downtown airport ever since.

The usual flight itinerary of this aircraft is top secret, since it i dedicated to flying the country's Vice president, Jose Vicente Rangel, who had been a usual passenger in other C-750 owned by Mr. Miguel Albornoz, another Venezuelan national. Ever since that time, the Vice president "fell in love" with the Citation X, and he had no doubts whatsoever in seizing this aircraft to "plenish his need for speed". I can only guess that the regular flight routes include Havana Cuba, since Mr Castro and Mr Chavez have so many businesses and things in common. Another destination must include La Paz Bolivia, sin the president of that country, Evo Morales, is the third party in that strange triangle.

Other possible destination would have to be Santiago Chile, since the Venezuelan Vice president owns some impressive states there and is of Chilean descedance. So far no one has been able to tell me what the tail number of this A/C is, but as soon as I find out, I will make sure to let you all know so you can track its movements.

I will stay in touch through this post....

[unimuts]

Copperfield

Thanks for the detailed update. Indeed I cant wait to see what the reg turns out out be...... :)

well done copperfield

:D

[karroo]

Hi there!!

Well at this stage of events it shouldn't be any more new versions, and the one above is premiere for me. I am portuguese I followed the case with some interest and I never heard this version of the co pilot provide the keys to load the baggage.
Since the copilot is already in Portugal FREE and it toke almost 2 years for the family, friends and the portuguese pilots association to help him, I think that the guy was not guilty.
Here are few facts that I know from our TV and by the co pilot himself.

* The police in portugal knew about this drug scam and they were preparing to catch the PASSENGERS here in Portugal, the crew was not involved according to portuguese police.
* The crew and if I remeber the co pilot call the attention of the suitcases, because it wasn't in the initial load planing and it could overweight the airplane. So if the copilot was the one to catch, then he should be really stupid trying to take off knowing that he couldn't. Believe me, if you want, the guy is a good professional.
* One person was arrested in Portugal and I think that the passengers still in prison in Venezuela.

So the only reason to keep the copilot is to keep the airplane the longest time, and if they had to arrest someonein the crew it should have been the Captain... IMO.
Just for curiosity, the flight attendent was not scheduled for that flight she did it because the other was ill, it was her first flight...:bored: the crew spent the 2 first nights in the prison's open yard under the rain...

Regards

PS: I know there is alot of people with good knowledge about this case, I hope they could step in and add more stuff.

[Indyaa23]

I am actually a very good friend of the flight attendant and co pilot and Dude, next time read newspapers , google info and do not assume that copilot was involved. How do U know? Just for the record, the pax were being investigated months before this happened and the crew were never ever caused of anything, the Portuguese Government did send statement to Venezuela at the time, saying that the crew were innocent and that there was a ongoing massive investigation on the pax, which later were blamed of several other crimes!!!

Just do not speak about what U do not know at all!!!

Safe flights:)))