• 17
  • February
    2012

One errant pilot made a pretty big mistake yesterday, as Dan Weikel and Ari Bloomekatz report for the Los Angeles Times, when he got too close to Marine One, President Obama's helicopter (Obama was on a trip to California).

In response, F-16 fighter jets forced him to land. Authorities then found a "large amount" of marijuana onboard the Cessna aircraft. It is not yet clear the nature of the drug charges the pilot will likely face.

As Weikel and Bloomekatz report, law enforcement authorities could confiscate the aircraft because drugs were discovered onboard.

It seems as though the pilot either wanted to get caught, or was simply unlucky, as he temporarily violated airspace that had been restricted only during Obama's visit. It's likely that the pilot's mistake was inadvertent; however, FAA traffic controllers tried to contact the pilot a number of times and there was no response.

In Texas, the discovery of a large amount of marijuana by law enforcement would likely lead to felony charges, like distribution.

Source: Pilot detained after straying into Obama's airspace