The pilot wasn’t even aware! It was amongst a passenger’s groceries…
In April 2012, Jouppi was preparing to fly a passenger from Fairbanks to a remote village, Beaver, where alcohol was banned. The passenger had packed beer with other groceries in her luggage. State Police troopers searched Jouppi’s plane before it departed and spotted a six-pack of Budweiser in a shopping bag. This article could go in many communities but I figured this one suits.
“Alcohol abuse is a serious problem in rural Alaska, and airplanes are sometimes the only realistic means to commit the crime of alcohol importation,” they wrote.
Fermenting alcohol is in fact very, very easy
What a fucking mess. Great way to shut off all air traffic to that island!
It wouldn’t be just that island. A significant part of Alaska has a ban on alcohol.
Oh man!! So this could threaten air travel for a huge region.
Such bad news. America and the Byzantine bullshit rules about alcohol sales is bizarre.
Most of the bans are in Native Alaskan communities who don’t have the resources to deal with alcohol, so they ban it instead. The ability to ban is codified in state law, so the state assists with enforcing the ban. It is the reason why an Alaskan State Police officer conducted the search.
So this could threaten air travel for a huge region.
Also known as just “travel” because we’re talking about places with literally no way in or out except by plane. (Okay, and maybe hiking, dogsled in winter, or something like that. Point is, no roads.) That’s why somebody was apparently going grocery shopping by plane in the first place.
What’s especially stupid about this to me is that I think the effort of keeping alcohol out of the dry community should be on that community rather than the pilot. Why should the pilot become the village’s law enforcement?
If this were hard drugs that are already illegal at the federal level, fine; but that’s a totally different discussion.
Airplanes aren’t the only way to transport illegal goods. Is my Uber driver supposed to frisk me to check if I’m smuggling coke around town? They gonna shut down Amtrak if I try to bring a joint across state lines?
Right, my thinking is along those lines. I just really don’t think it’s the pilot’s responsibility at all. Have you ever seen a pilot rifling through each and every passenger’s luggage while boarding commercial aircraft?
I mean, TSA does, but they’re searching through thousands of people a day at each major airport. And even though this small island in the middle of nowhere clearly doesn’t have their own TSA checkpoints, I agree with you that it still shouldn’t be the pilot’s responsibility. Ignoring the legality for a minute, let’s say he did choose to check and upon finding (Jesus Christ) a six pack of beer, he decided to refuse service to the passenger. Now they’re both kinda screwed/stranded if the guy doesn’t decide to just throw them away or start chugging
the the the
lmao whoops tytyty
I fixed it, never realized! Best community to err in!
Im glad you found it as amusing/mildly infuriating as i did haha
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Hey, thanks!
I had 0 idea that the link wasn’t in the post. I’ve edited… cheersdeleted by creator
Heard a podcast about this one. Maybe Snap Judgement? Didn’t he consciously “look the other way” and was caught allowing beer on his plane before?
Not that I agree with seizing the guy’s plane, and therefore his livelihood, but let’s let all of the facts speak for themselves.
That’s why the Supreme Court case is about excessive fines and not the legality of the stop.
"The land of the free "
