Since Malloy and Reed are assigned to Central Division, which covers downtown LA, they would not be found patrolling out in places that have hills, wide open country, and unincorporated areas.
While a small plane are not, under ordinary circumstances, required to file a flight plan, they are when crossing international borders.
Car tires do not screech on dirt like Adam-12 did accelerating after the small plane.
At the airport restaurant, Reed orders goulash and Malloy a hamburger, but the waitress brings them both hamburgers. Malloy asks Reed how the goulash is and Reed says it's "pretty good."
After working part of their shift and having lunch (it's been daylight), Malloy and Reed set it up with detectives to meet the plane arriving from Mexico in ten to twelve hours. When the plane lands about ten hours later, it is still broad daylight.
When they are behind the blue pickup truck, the footage is sped up to make it appear that the truck is speeding.
After working part of their shift and having lunch, Malloy and Reed set it up with detectives to meet the plane arriving from Mexico in ten to twelve hours. Ten to twelve hours would be well beyond the end of their shift.
The dispatcher gives Reed the address of the muffler shop as 307 E. 22nd. When they arrive, the address on the building is 4340.
Reed and Malloy go "Code 7" at Victory and Sherman Way. Victory and Sherman Way are both East-west streets across the San Fernando valley and do not intersect.
When Malloy asks the pilot after they stop him on the dirt road if he filed a flight plan, the pilot responds, "It's the law!" As a certificated airman, the pilot would know that this is an incorrect statement. The flight is operating under FAR Part 91 regulations in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) which does not require a flight plan. A small aircraft like this is only required to file a flight plan during certain types of operations, such as when flying under Instrument flight rules (IFR), which was not the case here.
When Malloy asks the pilot for ID, he accepts the pilot's airman certificate as an ID. California began putting the operator's picture on their driver's licenses in 1958. A pilot's license has never had a photo, even to this day. Handing an unfamiliar form of ID to an officer without a photo would be of little investigative value when compared with a state-issued ID, and Malloy would have known this.