Flight Schools

Since 9/11 the Transportation Security Administration has of course eliminated all possibility of terrorists going to flight schools in the U.S. Oh really? Are you sure?

By de Andréa

“Thousands of Aliens' in the U.S. are Illegally Going to American Flight Schools” Right Now!!!
A former FAA Inspector: says “Enforcement of Post-9/11 laws are basically nonexistent”

Feeling safe are you?

Thousands of foreign student pilots have been able to enroll and obtain pilot licenses from U.S. flight schools, despite tough laws passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, according to internal government documents obtained by ABC News.

"The very same conditions that allowed the 9-11 tragedy to happen in the first place are still very much in existence today," wrote one regional security official to his boss at the TSA, the (Transportation Security Administration).

"Thousands of aliens legal and illegal, some of whom may very well pose a threat to this country, are taking flight lessons, being granted FAA certifications and are flying planes," wrote the TSA official, Richard A. Horn, in 2005, complaining that the students did not have the proper visas.
Under the new laws, American flight schools are only supposed to provide pilot training to foreign students who have been given background checks by the TSA and have a specific type of visa. The immigration system is a leaky sieve, check it out.

But in thousands of cases that has not happened, according to the documents as well as current and former government officials involved in the program.

"TSA's enforcement is basically nonexistent," said former FAA inspector Bill McNease, in an interview for ABC News' "World News with Charles Gibson.” McNease, who retired last year, says in one year alone, 2005, he found some 8,000 foreign students in the FAA database who received their pilot licenses without ever being approved by the TSA. "And a flight school wants the money to teach 'em. And they are gonna teach 'em how to fly and get their ratings, and then they just slip through the cracks," McNease said.

In another internal e-mail obtained by ABC News, Monty Thompson, an official in the TSA Flight School Inspections section, complained in 2005 to his bosses in Washington, "I fear we are 'dangerously close' to losing sight of the mission and the intent of the 'Flight School Security' provisions."

The new laws were passed after it was learned that all of the 9/11 hijackers, including ringleader Mohammed Atta, who were involved in flight operations had trained at U.S. flight schools with improper visas.

Still feeling safe?

THE BOTTOM LINE: This ABC News story is a disturbing example of why concerned Americans cannot just sit back and “hope” that our government is doing or will do everything it should to protect our safety and security. It is revelations like these that remind me that an informed and organized citizen action network is an essential element of the long-range safety and security of our nation. When it comes to government bureaucracy, the old adage “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” is right on target.

Imagine the pressure we could put on Congress, and the pressure Congress would then put on the Transportation Safety Administration, when there a Million people who deluge Congress with calls and emails demanding that what is described in this article must be stopped!

Every time one of my readers forwards one of my email alerts, makes a contribution, signs up to start a chapter, or tells a friend about ACT! For America, we are one step closer to our ultimate goal of ridding this country of the threat of terrorism.

Remember 9/11

God bless America…

de Andréa