In Part 1 of "How Are You Still Alive?" you met pilot Billy Dekle of Florida, a flyer who cheated death more than once as he brought in tons of Colombian marijuana, not in large cargo planes, but in smaller singles and twins. In Part 2, his story continues with a tragic accident that cost a man his life, and with a flight that ended with a long gli…

There are pilots who made millions smuggling and then walked away from the danger and the risk. Some invested their wealth in legitimate businesses and real estate; others blew it on expensive toys and partying. We will never know how many got away with it...because most of those pilots have kept their stories to themselves. But there are some who …

Most drug smuggling pilots were eventually caught. Many went to prison, and when they did, they often lost everything they had. But then again, most didn't start with the wealth and connections of a Palm Beach pilot-the rich kid who made a fortune flying drugs into the United states, and then got away. When pilot George Williams followed his wealth…

From the body of a parachutist found in a driveway in Tennessee, to the body of a black bear found in the woods of Georgia, the long strange tale of a narcotics cop turned narcotics smuggling pilot lives on nearly thirty eight years since his death. In this episode, Fly By Night returns to the story we told in our first four episodes to provide add…

In the 1960's, 70's and 80's, a group of Southern Californians turned to smuggling to finance and build a counter culture community. But they hadn't started out as enlightened hippies. Before one long strange night of transformation, they had been petty criminals, more interested in stealing than in peace and love. After their 180 degree change, th…

For a time, pilot Jim Thurman lived a double life: corporate and charter pilot by day, and sometimes at night, a drug smuggler. After quickly working his way through the certificates and ratings he needed as a young pilot in the Atlanta area, Thurman began to fly larger, cargo sized aircraft hauling legitimate loads like auto parts. On the charter …

Flying an airplane loaded with drugs into the United States in the seventies and eighties often meant running a gauntlet of radar and surveillance aircraft. As the years went by, and as smuggling pilots and those who hired them became more creative in evading capture, drug interdiction agents in the air and on the ground became better at catching t…

On the hot summer night of August 3rd, 1975, just hours after an incredibly short and rough strip had been carved out of a tree covered hillside, and with that strip outlined by strings of Christmas tree lights, a pilot somehow landed a DC-4 loaded with marijuana on the side of Treat Mountain, Georgia. The pilot, pot and plane survived. But with th…

This is the final episode in the story of the life and death of Drew Thornton, and the fallout from his ill-fated parachute jump on the night of September 10, 1985. When his body was identified, the news quickly traveled back to Lexington, and from that day, the myth of Drew Thornton as a corrupt cop turned drug smuggling ninja pilot began to grow.…

Episode Three of Fly By Night focuses on several deaths and disappearances surrounding pilot Drew Thornton and his fellow smugglers. There is the the still-unsolved disappearance of Melanie Flynn, a young woman who may have become too close to “The Company”. With little evidence to go on, and with possibilities that never panned out, the investigat…

In this second of four episodes covering the story of Drew Thornton, we focus on how Thornton and his military school classmate Bradley Bryant built a major marijuana and cocaine smuggling operation known as “The Company” based in Lexington, Kentucky. And how they did so while hiding that business in plain sight with help from corrupt officials, in…

Fly By Night begins with the story of Andrew Carter Thornton III: a Kentucky pilot and skydiver who was a privileged son of the Bluegrass state. Thornton's long strange trip went from growing up as a child of a hard working and successful family to becoming a soldier, and then a detective in the newly created narcotics squad in Lexington, Kentucky.…

Introducing “Fly By Night”, with stories of pilots who used their skills to smuggle drugs in the 70’s and 80’s, and the people who chased them. The series begins with the story of a pilot who had been a corrupt cop and helped build one of the largest aerial smuggling rings in the country. On the night of September 10th, 1985, Drew Thornton strapped…