Alaska Pilot’s $95,000 Cessna on the Line for Passenger’s Beer

Aviator asks U.S. Supreme Court to decide if forfeiting his airplane is an excessive fine.

Ryan Ewing

Tuesday, September 02, 2025 at 11:30 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

A Cessna 206 floatplane takes off at Priest Lake, Idaho, with Chimney Rock and the Selkirk Mountains in the background. [Shutterstock/FlyIdaho]

Key Takeaways:

Alaska bush pilot Ken Jouppi's $95,000 Cessna was seized by the state after his passenger carried beer into a "dry village," despite Jouppi receiving a misdemeanor conviction and minimal fine.
Alaska law mandates the forfeiture of any aircraft used to transport alcohol into dry communities, a ruling upheld by state courts, which determined even small amounts justify seizure.
Jouppi is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing the aircraft's forfeiture violates the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause and seeks clarification on proportionality assessment.
The case aims to reinforce the Excessive Fines Clause as a check against government overreach and the disproportionate use of asset forfeiture by state agencies.

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For more than a decade, longtime Alaska bush pilot Ken Jouppi has been locked in a legal battle with the state of Alaska over his 1969 Cessna U206D. At issue: whether the state can permanently take his $95,000 airplane after troopers discovered his passenger carrying beer into a dry village.

On April 3, 2012, Jouppi was preparing to fly a passenger from Fairbanks to Beaver, an Alaska community that voted to ban alcohol in 2004. Hidden in her luggage were three cases of Budweiser and Bud Light. State troopers intercepted the flight before takeoff, charging Jouppi with knowingly transporting alcohol into a dry village. He was convicted of a misdemeanor and fined $1,500—the statutory minimum—while serving three days in jail.