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If you have a friend in the USA who owns a lot of land that is suitable for landing a plane, and you own a private jet with 2 pilots in Norway, can you take off in private property without notifying anybody on what you have on the plane and where you are going or anything like that and fly to the USA and land on the property of your friend? Is that legal to do?

Rodrigo de Azevedo
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LineGolem
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6 Answers6

39

No, you would need to arrange for customs as you are crossing an international border.

60levelchange
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    But would anybody notice that im transfering gold if the gold is hidden and i put the gold there long before the acctualy travel. And would i need to arrange customs to come to me? And how would i do that. This is just me wondering if this is acctualy possible – LineGolem Feb 21 '20 at 14:51
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    @LineGolem This is a really bad place to ask how to commit a crime. Smuggling is a felony in almost every country -- will result in confiscation of the jet and everything aboard, even if it never goes to trial. It's a very, very bad idea. – Zeiss Ikon Feb 21 '20 at 14:56
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    Hey! I was thinking that, im just verry curious of this because of everything i see on TV and in the News i understand smuggling is a felony and doing it is really a bad thing, im just wondering on about how these kind of things work! And i really dont know where i should or who i should ask if im wondering about things like this. I try to see things that would be hard to do and for sure probably almost stupid to try, and see if i would be able to find an solution, im sorry if this is the wrong place to ask around i will take it down right away if thats better, anyways thank you for respoindin – LineGolem Feb 21 '20 at 15:06
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    @LineGolem That won't work at all. You'll have to declare all the gold to Customs when you land. You can also expect a swift rap on the knuckles for not landing at an international airport to clear Customs then going on to your destination. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Feb 21 '20 at 23:21
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    @Zeiss Ikon: AFAIK (and per Google, but I am not a lawyer), there's no legal problem with bringing in as much gold as you want, as long as you declare it: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjX7-jlouTnAhUTnZ4KHdepBlkQFjABegQIDBAF&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.specialtymetals.com%2Fblog%2F2018%2F12%2F13%2Fcan-you-carry-gold-coins-and-bullion-into-the-us&usg=AOvVaw0HfWtiJbUTXJRKbkqFQn7G If it's an unreasonably large amount, you might have various law enforcement agencies snooping around to find out whether you acquired it legally, though. – jamesqf Feb 22 '20 at 04:02
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    @LineGolem It might be better to ask first about what the normal process is for crossing a border in a private plane. This may answer all your questions by itself. – Michael Hampton Feb 23 '20 at 01:17
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    @LineGolem : if you have so much gold, then you can afford to hire a good lawyer, who will provide a much better legal solution than random strangers on the Internet. – vsz Feb 23 '20 at 14:18
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    @everyone Could we stop assuming criminal intent and just focus on answering a perfectly valid and interesting question? – 60levelchange Feb 23 '20 at 19:08
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    @jamesqf AFAIK, in theory it's legal, but in practice it is a good way to get your gold confiscated (stolen) by the government. They will say that the gold is probably the proceeds of a crime, because non-criminals don't normally carry around large amounts of gold. To get it back, you will have to prove that it did not come from a crime (by proving where it did come from). Look up "civil asset forfeiture in the USA" – user253751 Feb 24 '20 at 11:07
  • @user253751: As I said, questions might be asked. As for confiscation, I've never had enough gold (nor the private jet) to make a practical experiment. I suppose I could try it by flying a couple of gold coins to Canada and back in the Piper... – jamesqf Feb 24 '20 at 20:01
39

Yes, it is possible to land an airplane in the US at a private airport when you have taken off from a foreign airport.

No, you may not do it legally.

Doing this is a federal crime. Since you are smuggling something, you may not care about the legality. When you are eventually caught, you will go to prison. Your assets will be confiscated by and forfeited to the government. And once you are released from prison, you will be deported and blacklisted from entering the US ever again. Your gold will not be returned to you.

It is not worth the risk. Especially when the gold is worthless unless you can convert it to money. You can’t do that legally either (more prison time). Even money gotten through illegal means is forfeited to the government.

No matter from where you takeoff, nor in what country your aircraft is registered, if you cross the US Air Defense Identification Zone, you have to land at an Airport of Entry before proceeding elsewhere. You have to declare any goods or monetary instruments (even gold) you are transporting to Customs and Border Protection located at the AOE. There are trade laws, aviation laws, customs laws, banking laws, tax laws, Anti-terrorist laws, etc. that you will be violating if you do not.

Dean F.
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    +1 for the phrase "the gold is worthless" alone. – Zeiss Ikon Feb 21 '20 at 18:38
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    I don't see anything about gold in the question? – StephenS Feb 22 '20 at 00:22
  • yeah but what if you can swap the gold for the money and refuel the plane and fly away again before the FBI come and arrest you?! – Aaron F Feb 22 '20 at 00:38
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    Ctrl+F "gold" Enter... oh look, comments by the OP! – Nij Feb 22 '20 at 02:42
  • What is it about ILLEGAL that you don’t understand? There is no legal way to convert the gold into money. Any attempt to do it will create a paper trail. You will then be arrested in any country that has an extradition treaty. Any illegal means of converting the gold will cost you a huge vig and possibly your life. Why would a criminal not kill you and take your gold and your plane. You would be playing Russian Roulette with your only reward for the risk factor being the tax savings that would be less than the vig. – Dean F. Feb 22 '20 at 03:40
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    Re "Since you are smuggling something..." the irony is that you can bring in as much gold as you want, perfectly legally, without paying taxes or customs duties. The illegality is not going through customs. – jamesqf Feb 22 '20 at 04:09
  • @jamesqf - You are partially right. Gold for personal possession would be fine up to some limits. CBP requires you to declare large dollar amounts of items you purchase outside of the US. They also require you to declare any items you are bringing in to the US to sell, create a business or trade, or for commerce. In most cases, they will not make you pay tax or tariffs on those goods. I assume the OP is talking about way more than that amount. I was once stopped both upon leaving the US and upon entering another country because of the amount of shoes I was carrying. Donations for an orphanage. – Dean F. Feb 22 '20 at 04:32
  • The only reason anyone would want to do something like what the OP is proposing is if the item, in this case gold, was itself illegal. For instance nazi gold, blood diamonds, Krugerrands, Chinese firearms, stolen artwork, illicit drugs. All items that people have tried to smuggle into the US. These people have ended up in federal prison. Nuff said? – Dean F. Feb 22 '20 at 04:41
  • that's it! the non extradition treaty country is the key! right then, now I can change step two of my plan from "????" to: 1. fly the gold to the US; 2. escape to a non extradition treaty country; 3. PROFIT! Thanks DeanF - that's a foolproof plan if ever I saw one! – Aaron F Feb 22 '20 at 13:35
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    Lol. Well, many fools have proven the system works. Our prisons are full of them. Maybe StackExchange can start a criminal endeavors site. All the usual suspects in one place. – Dean F. Feb 22 '20 at 13:46
  • Just for the record, it's extremely easy to convert gold to cash, in reasonable amounts, with no paper trail. – Fattie Feb 22 '20 at 16:15
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    Key word is reasonable. I don’t think reasonable would be the amount that would warrant the risk of smuggling on a transatlantic flight. You are right, though. – Dean F. Feb 22 '20 at 17:18
  • @Dean F.: Re "The only reason...", that's simply not part of the question. Maybe the person doing this simply does not know, as the OP apparently didn't, that it's perfectly legal to bring in as much gold as you want. WRT ending up in federal prison, you're only counting the ones who got caught. We have no way of knowing how many succeeded - except that quite obviously drugs are successfully smuggled in large quantities. – jamesqf Feb 22 '20 at 18:42
  • Ignorance of the law would not be a defense for the OP. Blatant disregard of the law by others is just that, a blatant disregard. As my previous answer has stated. It is extremely possible. It happens all the time amongst the criminal minded. As a reminder, it takes both skill and luck. There are many who ran out of one or both. The risk versus reward don’t add up in the case of legitimate reasons. That only leaves the criminal (blatant disregard is still criminal) and the ignorant. Both are still illegal. – Dean F. Feb 22 '20 at 18:59
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    @DeanF. Regarding the criminal endeavours site, Silk Road mastermind “Dread Pirate Roberts" might say it'd be a bad idea. – Andrew Morton Feb 23 '20 at 16:54
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    @AndrewMorton Of course, nobody knew that was him until they actually caught him. Then they could link him to that SO account. It probably helped slightly as evidence too ("see, this guy has a history of doing stuff with Tor, so there's a better chance we've got the right person") – user253751 Feb 24 '20 at 11:11
  • Does entry within the ADIZ require you to land at a US airport? I thought it just required identification. – Hugh Feb 24 '20 at 23:02
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In general*, any time people or cargo enter another country, they must do so at a designated Port of Entry, i.e. where customs and immigration officers are stationed. This is true regardless of whether traveling by land, sea or air. Trying to enter other than at a PoE is usually a serious crime, and in the case of flying without a proper flight plan, may even get you shot down.

In the US specifically, you can request (for a fee) that these officers meet your flight at an airport other than a designated PoE, which is a really convenient perk for GA pilots. As far as I know, they will only agree to do this at public airports, and if you ask about a private airport such as your friend's farm, they'll tell you to land at a public airport first to legally enter the country and then continue to the private one as a domestic flight.

(* Open border agreements like Schengen are an obvious exception.)

StephenS
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Think about how your question is fundamentally different from this one:

If you have friend in the USA that owns a lot of land that is suitable for landing a plane, and you own a private jet with 2 pilots in Colombia, can you takeoff in private property without notifying anybody on what you have on the plane and where you are going or anything like that and fly to USA and land on the property of your friend? Is that legal to do?

But would anybody notice that I'm transferring cocaine if the cocaine is hidden and I put the cocaine there long before the actual travel. And would I need to arrange customs to come to me? And how would I do that. This is just me wondering if this is actually possible.

I'll bet you can answer this question all by yourself without even consulting additional sources. If not, you can probably put on your Customs and Border Patrol hat and ask yourself: "What would I think of a covert flight of this nature crossing into my airspace? It's probably a totally cool, totally legal flight with no contraband on board. I'm gonna go ahead and do nothing."

Lawnmower Man
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    You forgot the part about filing an international flight plan not terminating at a port of entry. – Michael Hall Feb 22 '20 at 03:53
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    There's a large number of problems with this plan that are well-covered by the other answers. I was just trying to illustrate that the OP probably didn't need any expert advice at all to answer this question. – Lawnmower Man Feb 22 '20 at 03:56
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    I totally agree with you. My comment was in jest because the OP actually asked whether filing a flight plan might alleviate any problems! – Michael Hall Feb 22 '20 at 04:56
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    you've hit upon the solution! if OP wears their CBP hat, then the people at customs will think he works there, and then they won't even look for the gold! (this is the best question of any SE site of the decade so far!) – Aaron F Feb 22 '20 at 13:31
  • @MichaelHall: Why do you need to file a flight plan at all if you're VFR the whole way? – Joshua Feb 24 '20 at 20:50
  • @Joshua, you don't need to. You aren't "getting" my comment in the context I used it... It was not a recommendation to file, it was a comment about the ignorance of the OP in thinking that filing might help him achieve the goal, vs lead the authorities straight to him. – Michael Hall Feb 24 '20 at 20:55
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No, your plan could never succeed. You could not file a legal flight plan since your plan has no provision for landing at an appropriate port of entry for customs and immigration clearance. If you attempt to make the flight without filing a flight plan, you would necessarily need to transit the North American ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone).

The map below does not show the Alaska zone, but rest assured it also exists - there is no way to cross into the north american land mass without being detected.

Any aircraft flying in these zones without authorization may be identified as a threat and treated as an enemy aircraft, potentially leading to interception by fighter aircraft.

North American ADIZ Map

With no defensible justification for your presence in that airspace you would be treated as a hostile aircraft and dealt with as such.

Image Credit.

J...
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I'm certain there will be problems with this, because this is very much the way smugglers move goods across a border without letting customs authorities inspect it.

If you cross from international airspace to American, without a flight plan, at the very least you'll be directed to land at a recognized airport for customs, and if you don't respond to attempts at contact, it's possible warplanes might be dispatched to intercept you -- this could even go as far as a shoot-down, in the worst case.

Even if you "aren't smuggling," if you have anything of value on board, this kind of flight is smuggling. It will also run afoul of immigration laws, if anyone on board isn't an American citizen (and will be seen as suspicious in that regard even they are).

Zeiss Ikon
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