You do understand that is the exact nature of my Constitutional objection, don't you? That stopping him for a brake light could lead to more serious charges. That is the exact opposite of requiring probable cause before a citizen may be searched. To stop a citizen and search him because you may then find probable cause for an additional search means there is no Fourth Amendment security in a citizen's person and effects.Well you should believe it because stopping vehicles for minor offenses, whether traffic or equipment related. is just good police work. It's called being proactive. Stops like that frequently lead to police officers getting people who need to be off the street, off the street. Oftentimes it's because of warrants and sometimes because, thru good police work, a stop for a minor violation like that leads to other things...like the discovery of drugs in cars. I could tell you story after story of minor stops or simple contacts for other minor infractions led to me arrest people on murder warrants, having kidnap victims in cars, drugs...all sorts of stuff.
I'm willing to bet any officer that's worked the street for more than a year or two will tell you it's not uncommon to turn a minor traffic offense into some other sort of felony arrest.
You should be thankful officers do that sort of thing. I bet you'd really find it eye-opening to learn how often this is done and how often it leads to something huge.
You'd probably also be just a little offended if people on this forum, with no flying experience, started bashing pilots and telling them how to do their jobs and how they could do it better. That's an everyday thing for cops. Everybody's a f**kin' expert on law enforcement except for those who actually do it every single day.
See?