Due to the ease with which the 9/11 hijackers gained entry on to American civil flight schools government screening of foreign students has been stepped up meaning that, ten years after the 9/11 attacks, foreign students find it hard to gain access to these same flight institutions.
Schools and trainers need to be especially alert regarding the weeding out of would-be terrorists because the most rigorous checks don't apply to all students and instructors.
I have the phone number of the local Federal Burea of Investigation tacked to my wall. I wouldn't have done that 10 years ago, but after the events of 9/11/2001, everything changed. Says Patrick Murphy, who currently holds the position as the director of training at
Sunrise Aviation Flight School in Ormond Beach, Florida
Hundreds of United States flight schools try to compete to attract students. In Florida, many flight training institutions pitch the excellent weather to encourage students to fly an increased number of hours in order to complete their programs. The 9/11 hijackers were seeking this out.
3 of the 9/11 hijackers were in Florida flight training institutions located in Florida are right in being cautious. Three of the hijackers on September 11 were simulating flights within 6 months of getting to Venice, Florida. The hijacking perpetrators were Mohamed Atta, Marwan al Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah who all took pilot training in Florida flight training institutions.
Notwithstanding their distasteful conduct, the terrorists managed to get licenses and certificates.
The U.S. investigators found that Atta and Shehhi took solo flights and passed their pilot tests. Later on, the two went to a different school; a teacher said they were aggressive and not polite, sometimes fighting about taking controls on training fights. An instruments rating exam could not be cleared. They went back to Huffman, undiscouraged. In the meantime, Jarrah received his certificate for piloting a private single engine aircraft.
In just three months, Hani Hanjour was awarded a private pilot license from his Arizona instruction. The Federal Aviation Administration granted them a pilot's licence after a few more months of training. He began training on a simulator for the Boeing 737 by the beginning of 2001. An advisor noticed that his performance was not up to par and suggested that he should resign,but he stayed on and completed the training just 22 weeks before the assaults,the committee said.
Entering these days would not be easy for the men in a United States flight training institutions.
There are much stricter visa processes for foreign students now. They are unable to start without the approval of the TSA. Those who travel by air have their names checked to see if they are on the watch list for terrorists and they may also have their fingerprint scanned. Inspectors working for the TSA go to check up on FAA flight schools at a minimum of one time per year to determine if all students have the correct identification that is of their true identity.
Additionally, intelligence-sharing between agencies and other security measures are in place to assure that those who may receive flight training are prevented from doing harm.
The new admissions measures for flight school are not consistent and fool-proof. If they are only training a few flight instructors who still have simulators and planes available to them, will be free from yearly TSA agent visits and only get random visits from time to time.
The FAA keeps a database of the names of student pilots and this is accessible by the TSA.
