An Inspector Calls

[stiknruda]

So there I on my tractor this morning when I noticed a car coming up the drive, wasn't expecting anyone, didn't recognise the car, wait a minute it has blue lights on top, it's the old bill.

I walked over to meet a uniformed officer wearing a bullet proof vest.


"Hello, how can I help you?", said I. I've behaved well now for so long that I felt no nervousness.

"I'm looking for Mr Stiknruda"

"I am he, am I in trouble?"

"Not at all Sir! Understand that there is an airstrip on the farm and because of September 11th, each region now has an Airfield Liaison Officer and that's me. We are interested in any illegal flight training and the other normal things that Special Branch deal with, smuggling, illegal border crossings, etc."

Anyway, Alisdair (for by now we are on first name terms) and I had a chat over a cup of tea and I don't think we'll be bothering each other too much. I explained that a narrow, short farm strip with difficult approaches and undercart collapsing ditches at either end wouldn't be the best place to start flying training. Aah but the terrorists don't need to know how to land or take off, was the cunning answer! I then showed Plod-u-like my single seat aeroplane and suggested that flying training might be a tad difficult!

It is almost 11 months since 9/11 and he's been doing this job for 2 weeks! Poor chap, I really did feel for him.

Good to know that my tax is being wasted on something so ill-thought through! Crime in Norfolk is up 20% over last year.


Stik - bemused by the whole episode

[formationfoto]

Perhaps they were checking it out for that shiny new helicopter they use to play... sorry catch criminals with!

[tacpot]

Sorry, but I have to ask. Did he really ask for you as Mr. Stiknruda?

If so, the plod could be surfing as we speak:eek:

[411A]

Inspectors ('da Feds) can turn up at very odd places.

Friend of mine (retired airline Captain) was bored with retirement so decided to go back to crop dusting. He landed on a dirt road in his AgCat and had a slight brake problem...just went off the road by a few feet, no damage of any kind. While he was looking at the brake, an old Chevy pickup came racing up in a cloud of dust and out steped an FAA inspector, form 110 (id) in hand.
Can I see your license and medical, he asks. On looking at the license and noting the ten type ratings on same, he asks..."did you really fly all of these?" Yep, the pilot says, for Eastern Air Lines, amoung others.
Do you have a current bienniel flight review?... asks the inspector.
"How's about an instrument proficiency check in an L1011" says our hero.
The FAA inspector, looking slightly dazed, climbs back in his 'ole Chevy and drives away...shaking his head.

True story.

[LowNSlow]

Knock on door (bell was broken) around 8:30 on an April evening 2002, LNS lurches to door and opens it to reveal a good looking lady. Unfortunately she's brought Lurch with her.

"Good Evening" says young(ish) lady my name is Detective Inspector LowNSlow (but without the 's' on the end of my real name!) can I talk to you about your flying please? I thought I'd start the evening with my namesake. Lady enters, Lurch returns to car.

Turns out to be a charming lass who gently probes (oh err sir) me about my flying habits. Once I realised that she wasn't about to club me with large fines re: various lowflying accusations etc I quite enjoyed the chat. It was basically Herts. plod force "getting familiar" with all who hold a PPL and upwards to find out what their "habits" are.

Once she had realised that most of my flying is "fannying around North of Luton" and not flying drugs in from Istanbul or arms to Eire she was fine until I said that I'd be flying to Ireland this summer (hopefully) and Mrs LNS comes downstairs after putting the wee redhaired demon to bed and asks (in her dulcet S. Irish lilt) "who the **** is she" (she was more polite really). Renewed questioning for a further 10 mins (with Mrs. LNS offering tea, cakes, 3 course dinners etc.) before Mrs. DI departs. Quite convivial really, she left me a new SB leaflet to replace the fading one in the tea room at Rush Green International (now where did I put that) and wafted away into the night with the words "anytime you want a blow j...... Ooops "Anytime you see anything suspicious give me a call" drifting gently through the night air. :D





Apparently Special Branch (sounds like a posh tree doesn't it) do this annually or thereabouts in sunny Herts.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Down here in Hampshire, our club strip gets a visitation from uniformed customs and excise officers every few months. They've never thankfully asked any of us what we're up to, more worried about any strange aeroplanes we didn't recognise.

Conversely, a while ago a friend who runs an airfield in ***** which is not to long a hop from the Netherlands, rang me up worried about a very suspicious pilot who had tried to sell drugs to somebody on the airfield, and threatened anybody who asked searching questions with violence. As a favour I had a word with CAA enforcement branch, who promised to talk to the relevant bit of the police. According to my friend, they seem to have done absolutely )(*(*!!! all.

It's all about being seen to be doing something isn't it, rather than actually doing something.

G

[Keef]

That last bit's dead right, Genghis.

A few years ago, I was in Florence (Firenze) with a Church group. Two of us were walking slighty behind the rest of the group, watching out for pickpockets (we had been warned!)

Over the street was a policemen, preening himself in his flashy uniform (image a bit spoiled because he was even more overweight than me). Very much the "local police presence".

At that moment, John and I observed a scruffy teenager dip a hand into the shoulder-bag of one of the party: we pounced on said teenager, and caught her "in flagrante delicto" as it were.

We looked over the road to the policeman, and shouted "Policia!". He looked across, saw we had "apprehended" this youth, and scurried off down a sidestreet as fast as his fat little legs would carry him. Clearly didn't want to be involved in anything as messy as an arrest.

A nearby shopkeeper said to us "Don't involve the police - it will take you days of form-filling and interviewing, and they may even prosecute you for injuring the little rogue. Just break her arm and let her go."

Makes you think, doesn't it!

[Ludwig]

Isn't it time Plod et al got real about people doing bad things? Do they really think that anyone in their right mind is going to do anything naughty from their own airstrip with their own little puddle jumper:D

I recently had cause to fly my little puddle jumper to Ireland and due to some inclement wx was forced into one of the more godforsaken bits of wales, not as per my earlier intructions to the local Special Branch. As it happened, said godforsaken place had a resident special branch man in situ, so was able to redo the business. He gave me a form to fill in which among other things needed a passport number - sorry said I it's in the a/c - oh don't worry about it hen said he.

I asked what they did with the forms and the info and was told they just file it. Isn't that a waste of your time and mine then, yes he said, but its the rules! Makes you wonder doesn't it!

Do they really think anyone with something to hide is going to phone special branch etc before lob off to drug/gun/bomb collection?

[QDMQDMQDM]

Isn't it time Plod et al got real about people doing bad things? Do they really think that anyone in their right mind is going to do anything naughty from their own airstrip with their own little puddle jumper

Give PC Plod a break. People do fly stuff into the country regularly -- mainly drugs and fags -- and they're not wrong to try and keep an eye on what happens. The fact that they may be dimwitted about it is a separate issue.

QDM

[Grim Reaper 14]

I find it very hard to believe some of these threads, I really do. There is PC Plod, closely followed by Her Majestys Customary Excuse, doing their best (with extremely limited funding and staff levels) to at least be seen to be doing their job. Mr. Stiknruda, am I now to assume that if you did have any information to spare, you would be in possession of a current number with which to report it? Isn't that a positive advantage?

The fact that visits are being made to individuals and private strips suggets (at least to me) that perhaps the conclusion that these people are clueless is at best a little harsh. Do you visit other strips? Do you know other a/c owners? ARE YOU STILL IN A BETTER POSITION THAN THEM TO NOTICE WHEN SOMEONE/THING STRANGE TAKES PLACE? The answer to all of the above has to be yes.

Genghis, really. Details of someone selling gear at an airfield? Why of course! Report it to the CAA... My car has a flat tyre, so I'll go to WH Smith to see if they can pass on the details of my problem to the RAC in the hopes that they'll fix it.

Have many people on this site ever realised that the reason so few GA smugglers are apprehended is because the GA community are either:-
- Not bothered;
- Scared to pass on info;
- Misinformed as to the correct people to contact;
- Unlikely to 'rat' on a fellow 'rogue' aviator;
- Completely apathetic, overly critical and too worried about 'looking stupid' or wasting the old bills time.

Perhaps it's about time that a site like this made people realise what an absolute wealth of information we have at our disposal, that poor old law enforcement can only dream of. At least they're trying to make a difference. We are we doing?

[stiknruda]

Grim Reaper 14

Yes - I do have a telephone number as a result of Sat's visit. I don't need a personal visit from a constable to remind me of my civic duty!

But prior to Sat's visit I also had a number, in fact several, the local cop-shop, farm-watch and good old 999. The South Norfolk telephone book has literally thousands of numbers in it and some no doubt would be useful if I was to come across someone performing illegal training on the farm strip.

The point being that it would be in my interest to report it.

My primary bemusement stemmed from the fact that this was a direct fall out after 9/11. It has taken 11 months for this to happen.

Horse, stable-door, bolt all spring to mind. It is the knee-jerk reaction that sticks in my craw!

GR14 - I doubt that you and I will see eye to eye over this issue but we can discuss it at Sywell if you wish!

Stik


Stik

[Genghis the Engineer]

GR14. Applying a little reality, if you are the owner of an airfield, with somebody causing a serious problem, who had incidentally already beaten up somebody on the airfield badly for questioning what he was doing, you would find it a little difficult to be whiter than white.

So, he called me, being well away from the airfield. CAA enforcement branch (they who do the prosecuting) are mostly ex Met-coppers, with contacts in all the right places to arrange for appropriate investigations and visits, without it being at-all apparent that somebody local (who doesn't particularly want his house burning down) was involved. I've dealt with enforcement branch before, and on one occasion been an expert witness for a CAA prosecution. They do work closely with the police, and as a known quantity to them, I could talk in confidence.

Yes, the ideal in such situations is to go and talk to the local police or customs. But, such things can become a little messy; hardened criminals (and they don't just exist in TV dramas) will beat people up, put burning newspapers through the letterbox, set light to aeroplanes in hangars. To the chap running his airfield, the current problem is a nuisance, some alternatives could ruin him.

For all I know of-course, the local police are monitoring said crook, and simply waiting for him to do something bad enough that they can lock him up for a nice safe 10 years or so. They're hardly going to come back and give me a report are they, maybe it only appears that they're doing nothing. How would I know?

G

[Grim Reaper 14]

Chaps,

The point I was trying to make in my long winded rant was two fold. The first being that a visit from your local law enforcement doesn't do any harm, moreover it might, just might, make a difference to those members of the aviation community who don't automatically think about doing their 'civic duty', and prompt them to report any potentially suspicious information that they might have. It might be hard to believe, but some people won't report anything at all. Having a face to talk to, or a name to ask for makes all the difference to some people I'm told. I also don't for a second believe that all that was required were details of illegal training (granted I didn't witness your conversation), but if that's really all they were after, then I would have to respectfully agree with you and say yes, they were not making the most of their time spent with you.

The second point was that current information can be more important than historical. We all know what an extreme amount of time the CAA take to do things, and I feel that to report a criminal activity to a civil authority doesn't make the most sense, albeit at least a report to someone. We are all aware of phone numbers that do not require any identification to be given (Customs Confidential, Crimestoppers) and could use these if concerned about 'local' knowledge revealing the identity of the supplier of the 'tip off'.

Lastly, Mr. Stiknruda, your invitation to discuss it at Sywell, while welcomed, sounded a little bit like 'step outside'.....so I'm not sure if I actually want to go to Sywell now!!;)