An instructor pilot and a student passenger were arrested on drug smuggling charges after a small plane made an emergency landing on a Southern California highway, police said.
Pilot Gabriel Leon Bright, 21, called authorities around 1:45 a.m. Thursday to say his Piper Cherokee Pathfinder had engine trouble and was scheduled to land on State Route 76 in Oceanside. reported. NBC San Diego reported.
Bright and his passenger, Troy O'Neal Smith, 36, were uninjured and the plane landed safely. But when police arrived, they saw one of the men hiding a backpack in the bushes on the side of the road, Oceanside Police Deputy Chief Taurino said at a news conference, Valdovinos said.
Flight instructor Mr. Bright and his student Mr. Smith were detained.
Police found a small amount of cocaine on Smith. Another kilogram of cocaine was found in the backpack. Both were charged with drug trafficking.
“I'm not surprised by that. I think drugs come into our country in many different ways, but I think what's surprising is the emergency landing and how they come across drugs,” Valdovinos told reporters. He told the group.
Investigators said the plane departed from Oceanside on Wednesday afternoon and briefly stopped in the Phoenix area. Later that night, on the way back to Oceanside, I crash-landed on the road.
The plane's owner told NBC San Diego that he rents the plane through a flying club called Plus One Flyers. The club requires a private pilot's license and high performance aircraft approval to charter a plane.
PlusOne confirmed that Mr Bright and Mr Smith had rented the plane as flight instructors and student pilots respectively.
The owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said he received a call about the emergency landing around 6:30 a.m. and then learned about the drug arrest on the news.
“I can't write this,'' said the owner. “I can't believe it. I can't believe that this is what humans do.”
Bright's grandfather, Victor Keisman, told the outlet “It's natural that he's going to get into some kind of trouble.”
“He was putting in the hours and working because it was for the FAA. [pilots] “He said he needed at least 1,500 hours to become a commercial jet pilot and he intended to get them by the end of this year,” the grandfather added.
Keisman said he has flown with his grandson several times.
“It doesn't fit his personality because he's very professional. I don't know what happened. I don't know.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration said it was working with Oceanside police and confirmed it had executed a search warrant Thursday morning.
The plane was on the road for nearly half a day investigating, and the North County Narcotics Task Force took over.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the circumstances of the emergency landing.
Mr Bright and Mr Smith were released on bail on Thursday night.
