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.
Sure. :)
Is it possible he had falsified papers?
The Lazamataz Pilot-Training Law: "No person with a name that could reasonably be considered Arabic shall be trained on any aircraft, nor may said person purchase flight simulator games. Violation of this act is a Class C Felony."
Why is this flight school still open?
You chose to throw darts at someone for mocking a system which most certainly is not working. You claimed that the system was "doing what it's supposed to be doing." Please explain how the system was "doing what it's supposed to be doing." when an illegal alien was recieving flight instruction. If you can do that, without dragging your bathroom references into the discussion, then I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts.
I suppose he could have a fake passport, and a fake student visa, but those papers are suppossed to be filed with, and checked immediately by Customs, in addition to the copies I keep.
I just walk to the office, since Customs is about 50 feet away.
Most of these larger operations are located at international airports, international meaning that there is a customs office on the airport.
If he had fake papers I would feel better than knowing that he had none.
Well, off to work.
So much for the billions and billions of dollars spent on security to make the sheeple feel safe.
Bill,
I'd also like a ping, please, if you come up with some additional data on this guy. Coop may believe otherwise, but I'm with the majority here - the system did NOT work . . . . . at least not in the way that I believe that it was intended.
By the same token, I see on Drudge that the TSA is dismantling - long overdue. IMO, it should never have "mantled" except that Bush caved to a stupid challenge issued by Daschle. Hopefully, we will soon see the last of this pointless and bloated agency.
Can the Christopher be for real?
Maybe they'll give us a token orange alert for a couple of days.
Or maybe they'll use it as an excuse to clamp down on general aviation.
That's right, I did and will continue to do so. You act as if there's something surprising here, that our country has work to do regarding illegal immigrants. Well, duh! But instead of saying "Thank God they finally put out an alert!" it took about five seconds for someone to start mocking the DHS and its "trillion" dollar budget.
They're making improvements to a faulty system. They're doing more to protect our country than you are by mocking their efforts.
Ping
Could you please expand on that a little or give a link?
Thanks.
An illegal alien should not have been receiving flight training here. Apparently, if he had wrapped up his training in a timely manner, or had kept his temper in check, he would never have been flagged.
If you aren't familiar with how things are supposed to work, you might want to start with https://www.flightschoolcandidates.gov/. Please note that the page claims:
"The mission of the Alien Flight Student Program is to ensure that Non-U.S. Citizen candidates seeking training at flight schools regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) do not pose a threat to aviation or national security."
The mission is not to ensure that an alert is issued out of sheer luck. The mission is to work pro-actively to prevent threats to and from our nation's aviation system. Judging from the information in the article posted here, the mission was failed.
I would suggest that those who point out that the system failed are doing far more service to their country than you are, by making excuses for incompetence and accepting mediocrity.
I'm not accepting mediocrity or incompetence. (Hence my quick reaction to your post!) I just know this system has been overwhelmed for years, long before the DHS ever existed, so I'm not going to be casting stones at those government personnel trying to improve things.
See how damn easy it is to sneak in and out of this country? It's just a matter of time before the next 911 happens (I hope I am wrong), and Bushs' legacy will be forever tanished as the man who refused to protect our borders.
Have you read the regulations concerning non-citizens receiving flight training? Do you know the procedures to be followed? Have you been throught flight training yourself?
Yes. Please tell me how FAA FARs have anything to do with the Department of Homeland Security.
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