Posted on 04/08/2005 3:33:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Authorities have issued an alert for a 35-year-old British man who was taking flight lessons at Gwinnett County Airport-Briscoe Field and allegedly tried to have his pilot rating upgraded despite not being qualified.
In a special alert bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies and aviation facilities this week, the Atlanta Joint Terrorism Task Force said the man, Zayead Christopher Hajaig, became "aggressive" and also tried to have the flight school speed up his training schedule, which began in 2002 and continued off and on for more than two and a half years.
The flight school notified the task force.
The bulletin does not name the flight school or specify what rating Hajaig sought to have upgraded. The special agents handling the investigation could not be reached Thursday night.
An upgrade in rating could mean several things for pilots: it could mean that a pilot is qualified to fly larger and more complex aircrafts, or that a pilot is trained to fly in poor conditions.
Two of the hijackers who crashed airliners into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, trained at Briscoe Field for a time. Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi rented a single-engine airplane at the Lawrenceville airport about eight months before the attacks and flew with flight instructors of Advanced Aviation.
The task force bulletin said Hajaig, a British national born in Nigeria, had been in the United States illegally. He had no known means of income and used calling cards to communicate with associates, the bulletin said.
Authorities believe Hajaig may have left the country once he found out he had been reported to the task force. The task force alerted the Federal Aviation Administration, had Hajaig placed on the "no fly" list, and notified authorities in the United Kingdom, where Hajaig is believed to have fled.
The bulletin was sent to airports and flights schools statewide so that Hajaig is not able to rent aircrafts, fly from or take lessons anywhere, the bulletin said.
Anyone who comes in contact with Hajaig — who also uses the names Christopher Haijag, David Haijag and Alex Haiaig — is asked to call the Atlanta taskforce at 404-679-9000.
I am impressed that it only took 2.5 years, 2002-2004, before the Homeland Security kicked into action. Please tell me why we needed another trillion $$$ Agency....was this a jobs program? The AJC reporting is also very weak!
"...Zayead Christopher Hajaig..."
You know, who WOULDN'T feel comfortable flying with someone who has a nice Irish name like that...
Shocking. It took only one post for someone to mock a system doing what it's supposed to be doing.
Um... yeah, what did you expect?
what year did this muslim add a Christian name to his..British huh
Do I denote a sense of humor in this perp? Maybe he just liked the "I'm in charge here" quote. :-)
The system is supposed to allow an illegal alien with no known means of income to take flight lessons in the United States for more than two and a half years?
And how do we know all that?
From the article.
I propose that Congress pass a new law - no one whose first name is Zayead is allowed to take flight training in the United States.
Correct. And the author of said article knows all this because...
the system worked and the flight school reported the guy.
No, it's not, and I'm calling around today to find out exactly what happened here.
Being familar with the FAA, it will take a long time for answers.
Coop: It is in the article cited.
If an illegal alien was allowed to be receiving flight instruction in this country, then the system most certainly did not work. Unless you and I are referring to two entirely separate systems.
And the system did NOT work.
By law, he should have never been permitted to enroll!
Many good students get their ticket in less than 2 1/2 years.
This guy was dumb, and we lucked out in some fashion.
See, you apparently just want to throw darts at anything and everything, while I'm glad to see some improvement. Kind of a glass half full kind of philosophy, while you're more of a pee in the glass person.
"AN UPGRADE" !!!! Why would that case an alert? He needs a job.
If you find anything out, I'd appreciate a ping. Thanks.
I certainly don't want to throw darts, Coop, but if an illegal can take flight lessons for *only* 2 1/2 years before being reported, then you had best keep out of tall buildings.
Any illegal who wanted flight lessons from me would be talking to Customs in about 15 seconds, and I'm not kidding.
If you had the bucks for simulator time, and the smarts, you would be able to handle a triple 7 in way less time than that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.