NOW FEDS DO GUNPOINT SEARCHES OF PRIVATE PLANES

07-01-2014 • WND EXCLUSIVE

A U.S. senator is joining a fight against federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security who have been harassing small-time aviators who fly from one U.S. city to another – without ever venturing near an international border. Documented abuses that have been reported include tracking pilots with military jets, detaining them at small airports for hours and searching their planes without a warrant. The searches typically are conducted by armed agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol but the TSA and even local police SWAT teams working under the orders of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also have been involved. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., author of the original Pilot's Bill of Rights in 2012, posted a draft of a proposed bill to his website on June 30 that would update that law with new protections against overzealous law-enforcement agencies. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has documented more than 50 cases of abuse – often involving heavi