CSI: Miami

Season 2 - Episode 21 - Not Landing

Story by Jonathan Glasser
Teleplay by Shane Brennan & Marc Dube
Directed by Joe Chappelle

Sunbathers on Miami Beach are shocked when a single engine airplane crash lands in the sand. The CSIs arrive but they are unable to get to the pilot’s body until an NTSB investigator arrives. In the meantime, they examine the outside of the plane and discover that the pilot had purposefully covered his registration numbers on the tail section. Horatio finds a hose sticking out of the bottom of the plane, which shows evidence of being damaged before the crash.

Later, while the NTSB is examining the plane, Alexx removes the body. Horatio tells her he wants a cause of death as soon as possible. Horatio’s suspicion of smuggling is confirmed when they discover the back seats have been removed and replaced with giant fuel bladders. The larger of the bladders is now empty, drained through the busted hose Horatio found on the bottom of the plane. Calleigh gets a sample of the purple liquid from the hose before NTSB takes the plane away.

Speedle processes the liquid and discovers that it is a chemical used for purifying cocaine. Recent U.S. laws have made the chemical illegal to export out of the US and therefore very valuable to drug dealers. Yelina finds the plane was registered to Adam Decker, and that Decker and his business partner, Wes Gallagher, own a chemical company. Decker is confirmed to be the dead pilot and Horatio and Speedle go to interview Wes Gallagher.

Both Gallagher and Decker have homes in Rockwater Airpark, an upscale community built around a private airport. At first, Gallagher denies any knowledge of smuggling or Decker’s accident, but a quick test shows explosive residue on his hands. He confesses that he rigged a small bomb to blow off the cap and drain the chemical from the plane’s bladder because he didn’t approve of Decker’s smuggling sideline. Gallagher claims that Decker was only trying to raise money to build an experimental aircraft that the two scientists were working on. As Gallagher is taken into custody, Horatio gets a call from Alexx: Decker died of carbon monoxide poisoning before the explosive went off.

Speedle and Delko take another look at the plane at NTSB headquarters. They notice damage to the wing that looks like it was done by a key. Decker’s widow Wendy


confirms that a neighbor had a grudge against her husband. Horatio interviews the neighbor Jeff Latham. Latham admits to keying the plane but is obviously surprised to learn that Decker is dead.

Back at NTSB headquarters, Calleigh looks over the plane again and discovers freshly drilled holes in the exhaust pipe and firewall. The NTSB inspectors don’t want the CSIs to take any evidence, but Calleigh is able to sweet talk them into giving up a section of the firewall. The inspectors also tell Calleigh that while there was no distress call from Decker, they did receive a phone call from another Airpark neighbor about Decker’s flight.

Calleigh and Delko interview Tony Macken about the call he made to the NTSB. He claims he heard Decker on the radio sounding sleepy, announcing that he was making an unscheduled stop at Miami Airport. Calleigh finds the story suspicious, so she recreates a time trial of the plane filling up with carbon monoxide and proves that Decker would already be dead by the time Tony Macken claimed to have heard his message.

When confronted, Macken admits he lied but says that it was because he was having an affair with Wendy Decker. Macken tells Horatio he did hear Decker on the radio, but Wendy asked Macken to turn it off. Wendy admits to asking Macken to turn off the radio, but she claims it was because hearing her husband’s voice made her feel guilty. She also tells Horatio that she was only sleeping with Macken to get revenge because she knew her husband was cheating on her.

As proof of the affair, Wendy gives Horatio a pillowcase that is covered in a barely discernable woman’s handwriting. Before leaving, Horatio notices an abnormality with one of the speakers in the Decker’s stereo system. A pinhole camera has been recording the goings on in the Decker’s bedroom.

Horatio and the CSIs find cameras in several other houses in the Airpark. They trace the transmitters back to Tony Macken and discover he has been selling amateur porn videos of the couples in the park. Macken is taken into custody but the murderer is still on the loose.

A missing drill bit points the CSIs back towards Jeff Latham, but the events on the secret videotapes tell a different story.