British pilot arrested over people smuggling Calais
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, but a twin would have cut into the profit......
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Ok, let's work it out.
Shortest distance from Mainland France to the closest point on Mainland Britain is 19.5 Nautical Miles. For my crossing I have selected FL65 as my altitude. For arguments sake, my glide ratio is 10:1; that means from FL65 to MSL I can glide 10.7 nm.
At no point am I far enough away from land to not have to ditch. As an alternative scenario, let's assume I'm flying through the alps with fog in the valleys below but because I've taken off in VMC and my destination is VMC, no one complains.
Both scenarios are legal but which one concerns you most? I would be more worried about the second one because if your engine fails there, you don't have a clue what's beneath you....
Shortest distance from Mainland France to the closest point on Mainland Britain is 19.5 Nautical Miles. For my crossing I have selected FL65 as my altitude. For arguments sake, my glide ratio is 10:1; that means from FL65 to MSL I can glide 10.7 nm.
At no point am I far enough away from land to not have to ditch. As an alternative scenario, let's assume I'm flying through the alps with fog in the valleys below but because I've taken off in VMC and my destination is VMC, no one complains.
Both scenarios are legal but which one concerns you most? I would be more worried about the second one because if your engine fails there, you don't have a clue what's beneath you....
It's not because the second scenario is more foolish that the first is wise. I was taught to always have an acceptable plan B - but we all have the freedom to define our own "acceptable".
BTW what will wind do to your plan B if the engine quits in mid-channel?
BTW what will wind do to your plan B if the engine quits in mid-channel?
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If its behind me, continue, or if headwind, turn downwind (carefully) (if not exactly downwind make heading to make reciprocal track of shortest distance) and get blown to shore more quickly.....
Steve6443 even if the engine quits half way across you will still reach the beach based on a glide range of 10.7nm as 10.7nm is more than half of 19.5nm! The landing might not be pretty but you'll reach land.
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The days of turning up for a flight with just a ticket are long gone.
I take it the aircraft in the latest episode is privately owned?
Including this incident two out of the three aircraft involved in recent Albanian people smuggling incidents have been US registered.
This is the 172 caught at Seething,Norfolk.
Story http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/752...e-Stephen-Holt
The Breighton drug smuggling Cessna was also N reg.
I take it the aircraft in the latest episode is privately owned?
Including this incident two out of the three aircraft involved in recent Albanian people smuggling incidents have been US registered.
This is the 172 caught at Seething,Norfolk.
A JUDGE has warned that Britain's small airfield are "defenceless" against people smugglers as he jailed a pilot for attempting to bring an illegal immigrant family into the UK.
The Breighton drug smuggling Cessna was also N reg.
Last edited by Mike Flynn; 21st Jul 2017 at 18:19.
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OK: So back on post 15 I surmised that the "day trip" to Le Touquet was going to get more bureaucratic.
Today, 6x helicopters (all single engine - gasp! horror!) and 16 people Redhill - Le Touquet. French Border post manned and checking passports (first time I have seen this, first trip 7 years ago). Return to Redhill, and met by UK Border Agency to check all passports. Never seen that before.
Seems like the political heat is driving activity.
Anyway, job finished and one of the Border Control chaps took an interest in the machines. Someone gave him a tour of the G2 cockpit, and perhaps we might have another budding aviator! So- not wasted then!
Today, 6x helicopters (all single engine - gasp! horror!) and 16 people Redhill - Le Touquet. French Border post manned and checking passports (first time I have seen this, first trip 7 years ago). Return to Redhill, and met by UK Border Agency to check all passports. Never seen that before.
Seems like the political heat is driving activity.
Anyway, job finished and one of the Border Control chaps took an interest in the machines. Someone gave him a tour of the G2 cockpit, and perhaps we might have another budding aviator! So- not wasted then!
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This story now in the Telegraph.
Nice bit of fast track justice that would have taken a year in the UK.
£10,000 per passenger....that 172 has earned its keep.
Anyone know the pilot?
A British architect and a carpenter have been jailed in France for attempting to smuggle migrants from Calais into the UK on board a four-seater Cessna plane.
David Green, 53, an architect from Essex, and carpenter Edward Buckley, 45, from Hertford, were both jailed for 30 months by a court in Boulogne-sur-Mer, court officials told the Telegraph.
The pair were part of a smuggling network and had on five occasions since April flown between two and four migrants to the UK from airfields near Calais and Le Touquet, with each passenger paying £10,000 for the trip, the court heard.
“They were attracted by the lure of profit,” a prosecutor told the court. “It is inadmissible to benefit from people’s misery by demanding such high sums.”
But Buckley’s lawyer responded that his client had not exploited anyone’s misery, as “the Albanians who opt for flying (to sneak into the UK) have money.”
When the two Britons have served the prison term they will be banned from entering French territory for five years, said prosecutor Philippe Sabatier, adding that the plane and a car used in the botched smuggling attempt had been confiscated.
Green, who was to pilot the single-engine Cessna 172 Skyhawk, and Buckley were arrested on Monday along with Buckley’s British wife - who was later released without charge - as the plane was preparing to take off from Marck airfield near Calais with four Albanian migrants on board.
The arrests came after French police were tipped off by British authorities, the court heard.
“This is the first time that we have come across attempted people-smuggling by plane” in the Calais region, prosecutor Sabatier said earlier this week.
David Green, 53, an architect from Essex, and carpenter Edward Buckley, 45, from Hertford, were both jailed for 30 months by a court in Boulogne-sur-Mer, court officials told the Telegraph.
The pair were part of a smuggling network and had on five occasions since April flown between two and four migrants to the UK from airfields near Calais and Le Touquet, with each passenger paying £10,000 for the trip, the court heard.
“They were attracted by the lure of profit,” a prosecutor told the court. “It is inadmissible to benefit from people’s misery by demanding such high sums.”
But Buckley’s lawyer responded that his client had not exploited anyone’s misery, as “the Albanians who opt for flying (to sneak into the UK) have money.”
When the two Britons have served the prison term they will be banned from entering French territory for five years, said prosecutor Philippe Sabatier, adding that the plane and a car used in the botched smuggling attempt had been confiscated.
Green, who was to pilot the single-engine Cessna 172 Skyhawk, and Buckley were arrested on Monday along with Buckley’s British wife - who was later released without charge - as the plane was preparing to take off from Marck airfield near Calais with four Albanian migrants on board.
The arrests came after French police were tipped off by British authorities, the court heard.
“This is the first time that we have come across attempted people-smuggling by plane” in the Calais region, prosecutor Sabatier said earlier this week.
£10,000 per passenger....that 172 has earned its keep.
Anyone know the pilot?
Last edited by Mike Flynn; 21st Jul 2017 at 20:29.
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"Anyone know the pilot"
Yes, now that it is in the public domain, David Green is very well known to you all.
He is the infamous Jetblu who posts here....
A long and chequered history in aviation circles.
Yes, now that it is in the public domain, David Green is very well known to you all.
He is the infamous Jetblu who posts here....
A long and chequered history in aviation circles.
Last edited by 3wheels; 21st Jul 2017 at 22:50.
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Edit to add: 4 Albanians PLUS the pilot in a 172? That's some crazy stuff right there.
4 Albanians PLUS the pilot in a 172? That's some crazy stuff right there.
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which was exactly my point to Shaggy Sheep Driver when he was pointing out that SEP over water =
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Fortunately the pilot and his accomplice have had a taste of French justice and are now being detained for the next 30 months. At the same time, a Cessna 172N might be put up for auction soon
PS: how come the French can ban criminals from entering France for a period of (in this instance) 5 years, but in UK the foreign criminals seem to use RuinAir and SleazyJet as a personal shuttle service, in and out of the country??? No 'freedom of Movement' demands from Brussels, I note......
So your acceptable plan B is not cross open waters with an SEP in case the engine fails, even if you can easily glide clear?
And no, I am not totally risk averse (or I'd go fishing instead of flying) but I've plenty of potential destinations on my wish list, making sea crossings a very low priority.
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