Aviation is still buzzing over the N-number mix-up that led to a profound law enforcement blunder. It’s pretty clear that none of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) police who responded to a stolen aircraft alert last Saturday are pilots. Who among us would not have recognized John and Martha King as they deplaned from a 2009 Cessna 172? To say nothing of mistaking the 21st century Skyhawk for a 1968 Cessna 150.
While the episode is grist for one more humorous backdrop to a King Schools instructional video, it wasn’t funny at the time. The police detained the Kings at gunpoint and handcuffed them in the back seats of two patrol cars for half an hour while the confusion was resolved. As John King pointed out; the potential for a tragic outcome was far too real. The police were responding to a call from the El Paso Intel Center (EPIC), an element of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. EPIC notified the Santa Barbara PD that an alleged stolen aircraft, Cessna N50545 was on an IFR flight plan to Santa Barbara Airport. A 1968 Cessna 150 bearing that tail number was reported stolen in 2002 by the McKinney, Tex., police, and the registration number subsequently removed from FAA circulation in 2005. It was reassigned to the 172 that the Kings had leased from Cessna.
