Mavic Air Head
Well-Known Member
I've worked on the border in AZ, dealt with the testosterone infused new recruits and have testified in Federal Hearings. Most important is to understand what you are up against. They have an unlimited budget and staff lawyers with nothing else to really do. The last thing you want to do is be perceived as belligerent in court. This isn't trying to be a low blow, do you have a clean record? No college days pot charges? No public nuisance charges? If so they will present you as a drug runner trying to skirt BP in spite of the facts. If you have a clean record they'll still destroy you. I know too many innocent people who have been put through the ringer by Feds solely because they can put anyone through the ringer. I would be lawyered up, have your flight logs showing everything as you described it, especially when you initiated the return to home and the adjustments you described, have an expert who can explain your flight logs to the court. Do you have video footage or photos cached on your controller/iphone/etc that backs you up? If it's on your Mavic you need to get access to that- remember it's evidence against you in their eyes. The fact that they ran this up the flag pole to the FAA scares me. They want to rip your head off no matter how decent you are or how law and order you are. With your lawyers, do everything you can to settle this out of court and get your bird back. Your first hearing is probably only going to be informing you of the charges against you, not a hearing of the facts. The judge will not tolerate you trying to present the facts, he'll only want to hear your plea, innocent or guilty. Find out for sure if this is just pretrial or a full hearing.
I got into a similar situation and could not have been more within my rights, innocent and compliant, so with chip on my shoulder I went into court believing in blind justice and got it handed to me. A judge is going to believe an officer of the court more than you. The officer was permitted to refer to his notes about the incident, I was forbidden to use my notes written immediately after the incident. If you go to court you could pay dearly. Too many courts love to rip the obedient because it's easy and release the thugs because of who knows what. Good luck and be very careful.
I got into a similar situation and could not have been more within my rights, innocent and compliant, so with chip on my shoulder I went into court believing in blind justice and got it handed to me. A judge is going to believe an officer of the court more than you. The officer was permitted to refer to his notes about the incident, I was forbidden to use my notes written immediately after the incident. If you go to court you could pay dearly. Too many courts love to rip the obedient because it's easy and release the thugs because of who knows what. Good luck and be very careful.