As far as jobs go, it’s pretty niche. The life of a Mexican narco pilot is one that bears no comparison whatsoever to anyone who predominantly spends theirs in ‘the real world,’ a high stakes game of airborne cat-and-mouse that is as lucrative as it is nerve-shreddingly dangerous. For decades, these smugglers have been flying light aircraft across the border into the U.S. laden with expensive, addictive cargo—cocaine, heroin, crystal meth—while trying to stay out of the way of government security forces and rival cartel members, and praying their fellow pilots haven’t grassed them up.
In this new VICE film, we meet some of these daredevils, many of whom have graduated from special cartel training schools into a career where they routinely risk life and limb in return for a cash prize of up to $12,000 per flight. “You know you’re going, but you don’t know if you’re coming back,” says one, at a confidential narco pilot barbecue we gatecrashed in Sinaloa, in a rare moment of solemnity. “My goal in this business is to make cash, so that I never run out of money, I never run out of drugs, and I never run out of whores,” reflects another.
As one of VICE’s cherished members, you can watch the full film now, before anyone else, in the player below.
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