(Flying Magazine) Flying has obtained information from a law enforcement source about the federal program that detains pilots upon their arrival at their destination airports and searches their airplanes. Training for the program was conducted via an “aviation drug interdiction” class sponsored by HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area), a government organization that is a conglomerate of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to fight, as the name implies, drug traffic.
In an email and in further telephone conversations, our source, who is knowledgeable about aviation matters, detailed the training he had received in 2009 in preparation for him to participate in the HIDTA program. He has asked to remain anonymous but has identified himself to Flying.
