N214FW Challenger 601 shot down Venezuela Jan 30 2014

[bizjets101]

Not much to say, other than a 1983 Challenger 601 N214FW - registered to a Delaware Corp. - based in Mexico - reportedly entered Venezuelan airspace without radio contact - aircraft was shot down 25 miles off the coast of Aruba - in the Gulf - press reports 3 fatal on board, and packets of cocaine recovered.

press report

[AuxBatOn]

Fox 2

[Gilles Hudicourt]

Latin America’s Dangerous Shift to Aerial Shootdown Policies in War on Drugs

http://www.wola.org/commentary/latin_am ... r_on_drugs

Shooting down "A supected drug aircraft" always has a risk of killing innocent people.

US laws do not allow US aircraft to shoot down suspected drug aircraft but this does not prevent the same US from providing technical help to countries that do allow the shooting down of suspected drug runners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHDZqUa0m1s

Of course this can backfire, like this time in Peru when a similar US aircraft provided the same kind of help to Peruvian Air Force aircraft which ended up shooting down US missionaries, killing the missionary's US wife and their daughter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgOU6MtTblA

[Heliian]

Yup, run drugs or f#ck around and get shot. Gilles article mentions one case of possible collateral damage in the last 30 years. A "missionary" plane with a family aboard can still run drugs.

[TG]

From Gilles link:

While uncontrolled aerial trafficking is a real concern in the Americas, the spread of shootdown policies should also concern us, as a case from Peru more than a decade ago highlights. In April 2001, the Peruvian air force shot down a plane over the Amazon River that intelligence indicated might be carrying illegal drugs destined for the United States. Peru had already brought down about 30 such suspicious planes during the 1990s in a program launched with the help of the United States. In this case, however, the passengers were in fact a family of American missionaries from Michigan, including two children. Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter perished when their plane plummeted into the Amazon.

The United States subsequently withdrew its support from the program. A similar program has continued in Colombia, but it must follow a set of strict safeguards that, in nearly all cases, prohibit firing on civilian aircraft.

This one was a big cock-up and miscommunication.
Has said, it had the American Drug enforcement agency packing their gear and leaving Peru afterwards.

I (and other in this forum) flew low level survey in this area and elsewhere in South America.
No matter all the steps you take to make everybody aware of your intentions, every time there is some survey lines lurking perpendicularly to a country boundary I cannot help thinking if some happy trigger military guy will shoot me/us down.
Columbia has a very good set up to prevent that, Peru sort off and I have no idea about Venezuela.

[Dh8Classic]

Yup, run drugs or f#ck around and get shot. Gilles article mentions one case of possible collateral damage in the last 30 years.

Or maybe you will get a job flying widebody jets at Air Transat...if you have the correct first language. All those pax would have been way better off with a temporary European pilot.