Student pilot emergency lands on CA highway, then tries to hide drugs, feds say

Miami Herald

23-05-2025

A student pilot whose plane made an emergency landing on a highway in California, leading to the discovery of a package of cocaine, is heading to prison, prosecutors said.
Troy Othneil Smith, 36, from Oceanside, was sentenced to 2.5 years behind bars after pleading guilty to two counts of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California said in a May 21 news release.
One count was connected to the emergency landing incident and the other stemmed from a separate 2023 incident in which Smith sent cocaine through the mail, prosecutors said.
Smith's attorney, Ashby C. Sorensen, declined to comment in a May 22 email to McClatchy News.
Smith was flying from Arizona to California on Sept. 26, 2024, when the plane was forced to land, according to prosecutors.
The single-engine Piper PA-28 touched down a little before 2 a.m. on State Route 76 in Oceanside, McClatchy News previously reported.
Smith had a brick of cocaine in his backpack and tried to hide it from responding officers in the brush, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.
Prosecutors added that evidence later showed Smith 'had his sights set next on piloting his own plane for drug distribution cross country.'
The flight instructor during the 2024 emergency landing 'was not knowingly involved in transporting drugs,' The San Diego Union-Tribune reported, citing prosecutors.
Sorensen wrote in a sentencing memo that Smith – a disabled Marine Corps veteran with three children – is remorseful and takes responsibility for his actions.
'Financial pressures and unresolved emotional trauma' were factors, the court filing said.
Oceanside is about a 85-mile drive southeast from downtown Los Angeles.