...it probably wasn't a no-smoking flight I take it...
Just one of the dangers of getting high off your own supply.
Previous threads:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1305711/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1306445/posts
Authorities found about 327 pounds of cocaine packaged in blocks wrapped in Christmas paper, black duct tape and other forms in the wreckage on Sunday. A subsequent search of the front nose compartment on Monday turned up another 193 pounds of cocaine, Johnston said.
A local resident told authorities he had picked up a man near the airport's front entrance. The man asked the resident to give him a ride to a local motel after telling him about the plane crash. The man, who had a cut on his forehead, had a large roll of $100 bills, according to a criminal complaint filed by Robert L. Manchas, a special agent with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
Cobbs was named as a suspect after a photograph on a Pennsylvania driver's license bearing the alias "Marquis T. Monroe" matched a California driver's license listing the alias "Eric Wiggins" reportedly using Cobbs' Los Angeles residential address, according to an affidavit filed by Special Agent Robert L. Manchas of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Wheeling post.
A local resident driving on Girtys Point and Short Creek Road picked up Cobbs as a hitchhiker at the entrance to the airport sometime after the crash, Manchas said.
The actual crash is now thought to have occurred at around 10 p.m. Saturday. Cobbs told the driver his plane had crashed, brandished a "large roll" of currency in $100 bills and asked the driver to take him to the nearest motel.
The driver reportedly drove Cobbs to the Holiday Inn Express on Three Springs Drive in Weirton, where his Pennsylvania driver's license was photocopied and Cobbs paid in cash for a two-night stay. While lodging, Cobbs reportedly made telephone calls to numbers "now identified as being related" to the suspect, officials said.
Law enforcement reportedly obtained a copy of the driver's license from the Weirton hotel's records.
Manchas' affidavit further states investigators have knowledge that Cobbs had piloted the plane previously.
"A preliminary report on Saturday's plane crash at the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport indicates an airplane loaded with 520 pounds of cocaine may have overshot the runway while attempting to land."
Flyin' that plane, high on cocaine,
Casey jones is ready, watch your speed.
Trouble ahead, trouble behind,
And you know that notion just crossed my mind
Well at least the drug smugglers were honest enough to buy the plane instead of stealing it.
Update . . . .
http://www.news-register.net/news/story/1229202004_new03.asp
Trouble Before Landing Possible
By JUSTIN D. ANDERSON
Wheeling-Ohio County Airport Manager Thomas Tominack said Tuesday that after examining the physical aspects of the airport, he believes the pilot of an aircraft that crashed near the facility Dec. 18 may have found himself in an emergency situation and tried to land.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have been searching for Eugene Nicholas Cobbs, 34, of Los Angeles, whom they say was the pilot, after about 520 pounds of packaged cocaine was seized from the abandoned 1977 Piper Aerostar during investigations of the scene on Dec. 19 and 20.
Information from a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report indicates Cobbs attempted to land at the airport, likely overshot or missed the runway, regained altitude and ended up in a wooded ravine about 350 yards northeast of the airport in Brooke County.
"He impacted this airport," Tominack said of the pilot's attempted landing. "He was probably not in control of the aircraft ... I don't believe this was a planned, traditional procedure."
The FAA will likely determine the official cause of the crash, and Tominack stressed that his comments are merely his estimations from what he's seen at the airport.
The only property damage at the airport was to a navigational strobe light, Tominack said, noting that the light belongs to the FAA. There is "no damage obviously seen" to the tarmac area of the airport, Tominack said. From all indications, Cobbs could have found himself in a "distress situation" and tried to put the plane down at the airport, Tominack believes.
Physical marks at the airport seem to indicate Cobbs was not in alignment with a runway, Tominack said.
Airport officials are waiting on information from the FAA that will help them fully understand what happened to cause the crash, Tominack said.
Tominack added that the wreckage will soon be moved to an undisclosed location, where the investigation by the involved agencies will continue. Tominack could not say exactly when the process to remove the aircraft from the woods and haul it away will occur.
An update from today's edition of "The Intelligencer & Wheeling News Register."
BTW, there is still no information about this crash on the NTSB site.
_________________________________
Accused Drug Plane Pilot Indicted
By JUSTIN D. ANDERSON
A federal grand jury in Wheeling on Tuesday returned a three-count indictment against Eugene Nicholas Cobbs, the pilot of an aircraft found crashed, abandoned and loaded with more than a quarter-ton of cocaine in December on Wheeling-Ohio County Airport property.
The indictment includes information regarding the alleged origin of the flight - Compton, Calif. - as well as information that Cobbs conspired with "known" and "unknown" individuals to distribute the cocaine.
U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Johnston on Wednesday would not comment as to any developments in the search for Cobbs, who has been a fugitive since he was last seen in the Weirton area on Dec. 19, a day after the crash.
Count one charges Cobbs with conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine; count two alleges that Cobbs traveled in interstate commerce with the intent to facilitate the conspiracy; and count three alleges that Cobbs possessed more than five kilograms of cocaine with the intent to distribute the drugs to points unspecified in the eastern United States.
Cobbs, 34, of 3765 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, could face two 10-year prison terms and $8 million in fines if convicted on the charges contained in counts one and three and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for a conviction on count two.
However, it is not known whether Cobbs will be found to face his accusers.
"It is not at all uncommon for us to indict someone who is a fugitive," Johnston said Wednesday.
Johnston would not say if his office plans to charge any other individuals in connection with the plane crash and subsequent drug seizure.
Compton-Woodley Airport Manager Tim O'Donnell said no records are kept regarding arrivals and departures there, since the California airstrip is considered "uncontrolled."
"That basically means we don't have a control tower," O'Donnell said Wednesday. "All aircraft operations are monitored by the (Federal Aviation Administration) ... but no records are kept unless there is an incident."
O'Donnell said he would check Cobbs' aircraft registration number to see if there were any incidents on file.
No information from O'Donnell was available late Wednesday.
According to count one of the indictment, the alleged conspiracy to distribute the cocaine began "one or about a date uncertain but at least March 4, 2004."
Cobbs also will be required to forfeit "interest in any property constituting or derived from proceeds obtained directly or indirectly" regarding counts one and three - including $23 million constituting the estimated street value of the cocaine; and the 1977 Aerostar aircraft that Cobbs was flying at the time of the crash.
"Although this airplane was wrecked in the crash ... initiating forfeiture proceedings against (the plane) allows the government the option to seize of other assets of the defendant, whether or not those assets are drug related, in place of the airplane," information from Johnston's office states.
Cobbs may be using one of two aliases, according to authorities: "Eric Wiggins" or "Marquis T. Munroe."
N number?