American Pilots ARRESTED in Guinea

Two American pilots say a routine fuel stop turned into an armed detention in Guinea, exposing how quickly U.S. citizens can get trapped when foreign regimes treat paperwork like a weapon.

Quick Take

U.S. pilots Fabio Espinal Nunez and Brad Schlenker were detained in Conakry, Guinea, on Dec. 30, 2025, after landing a Gulfstream IV for fuel on a trip from Suriname to Dubai.
Families say the pilots received air traffic control clearance to land, but Guinean authorities charged them with unauthorized landing/airspace entry anyway.
As of mid-February 2026, the pilots remained jailed while lawyers pursued a Supreme Court appeal and families pressed U.S. officials for stronger intervention.
Reporting indicates Guinea’s post-coup environment includes unpredictable enforcement and weak oversight, complicating any expectation of transparent legal process.

What Happened at Conakry Airport—and Why It Matters

Guinean authorities detained U.S. pilots Fabio Espinal Nunez of New Jersey and Brad Schlenker of Illinois on December 30, 2025, at Ahmed Sékou Touré International Airport in Conakry. The pilots were operating a Gulfstream IV carrying a Brazilian family from Suriname to Dubai, with a planned refueling stop in Guinea. Family accounts and aviation reporting say the crew requested and received clearance to land, then faced an armed response and detention after touchdown.

Guinean security personnel reportedly surrounded the aircraft with a large show of force, including armed officers and dogs used to search the plane. Schlenker described seeing “multiple machine guns” and dozens of armed individuals during the confrontation. The core dispute centers on whether verbal or recorded air traffic control clearance was sufficient, or whether a separate Guinea-specific landing permit was required and missing. Public reporting does not describe espionage allegations or any national security claims tied to the flight.

The Legal Dispute: Clearance vs. Permit in a High-Risk System

Business aviation relies on layered approvals that can include flight plans, overflight permissions, ground handling, and country-specific landing permits. Aviation reporting indicates the pilots filed flight plans and believed they were operating normally, but may not have understood Guinea’s permit expectations for landing. That gap matters because a sovereign government can treat missing paperwork as a violation even when a crew believes it received authorization from controllers. The available sources do not provide Guinea’s documentary evidence or official statements explaining the detention.

By early January 2026, families said they contacted the U.S. Embassy and members of Congress, while the pilots maintained daily calls home. Consular support can verify welfare and help secure attorneys, but it cannot override a foreign court process. Lawyers escalated the case on February 10, 2026, by appealing to Guinea’s Supreme Court. One report also described an appellate bail approval that was allegedly blocked by military interference, a claim that cannot be independently verified from public documents in the provided coverage.

Guinea’s Post-Coup Reality Raises Predictability Concerns

Guinea’s political backdrop is central to understanding why this case is dragging on. Reporting ties the current climate to the country’s 2021 military coup and to ongoing concerns about arbitrary detention and weak oversight of security forces. U.S. State Department travel warnings cited in coverage describe unrest and unpredictable enforcement, conditions that make routine expectations—like “clearance means you can land”—far less reliable. For Americans who value due process, the opaque nature of the proceedings is the practical problem, regardless of politics.

Families Push for U.S. Pressure While Facts Stay Limited

Families have argued the detention is unjustified because the pilots were “cleared,” and they have pleaded for higher-level U.S. engagement now that President Trump is back in office. That plea reflects a broader reality: when a foreign government holds Americans, the immediate leverage is often diplomatic, not legal. At the same time, the available reporting does not confirm direct White House involvement or any specific Trump-led action in this case so far. The facts that are consistent across outlets are the date, location, charges, and ongoing detention.

Two U.S. Pilots ILLEGALLY ARRESTED in West Africa During Routine Fuel Stop Beg President Trump for Immediate Help https://t.co/gwL5O8hAld #gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit

— m (@roger_mm1) February 19, 2026

For the aviation community, the case functions as a warning that “routine” stops in unstable environments can turn into long detentions with limited recourse. For everyday Americans watching at home, it is also a reminder that global travel comes with hard edges when legal systems lack transparency. The most responsible conclusion from the current record is narrow: the clearance-versus-permit dispute remains unresolved in public, the pilots remain jailed, and their release likely depends on a combination of Guinea’s courts and U.S. diplomatic persistence.