[billyboy]

>> -Subject: Mohammad Atta Was In My Cockpit Jump Seat
>>
>>
>> This is the response from a retired Delta pilot to
>> questions about
>> whether he was going to see UAL 93. It is spooky!
>>
>>
>> I haven't seen the movie, yet, but I intend to when
>> I get the chance.
>> Retirement has made me busier than ever, and I
>> haven't had the chance to
>> see many movies lately.
>> As a Delta B-767 captain myself at the time of the
>> attacks on 9/11 I
>> was in crew rest in Orlando that morning. I had just
>> turned on the TV in
>> my hotel room only to see the WTC tower on fire,
>> then saw the
>> second airplane hit the other tower. My immediate
>> reaction was
>> "Terrorists...we're at war", followed by the
>> realization that we airline
>> crewmembers had all dodged a bullet; it could have
>> been any one of us
>> flying those planes. As soon as the news stations
>> flashed the first
>> pictures of the terrorists I knew just how close and
>> personal the bullet
>> I dodged was.
>>
>> There, on the screen for all to see, was a man who
>> had sat in my
>> jumpseat the previous July.
>> His name was Mohammad Atta, the leader of the
>> terrorist hijackers.
>> Atta had boarded my flight from Baltimore to Atlanta
>> on July 26, 2001
>> wearing an American Airlines first officer uniform.
>> He had the
>> corresponding AA company ID identifying him as a
>> pilot, not to mention
>> the required FAA pilot license and medical
>> certificate that he was
>> required to show me as proof of his aircrew status
>> for access to my
>> jumpseat. An airline pilot riding a cockpit jumpseat
>> is a long
>> established protocol among the airlines of the
>> world, a courtesy
>> extended by the management and captains of one
>> airline to pilots and
>> flight attendants of other air- lines in recognition
>> of their aircrew
>> status. My admission of Mohammad Atta to my cockpit
>> jumpseat that day was
>> merely a routine exercise of this protocol.
>> Something seemed a bit different about this jumpseat
>> rider, though,
>> because in my usual course of conversation with him
>> as we reached cruise
>> altitude he avoided all my questions about his
>> personal life and focused
>> very intently upon the cockpit instruments and our
>> operation of the aircraft. I asked him what he flew
>> at American and he
>> said, "These", but he asked incessant questions
>> about how we did this or
>> why we did that.
>> I said, "This is a 767. They all operate the same
>> way." But he said,
>> "No, we operate them differently at American." That
>> seemed very
>> strange, because I knew better. I asked him about
>> his background, and he
>> admitted he was from Saudi Arabia. I asked him when
>> he came over to this
>> country and he said "A couple of years ago.", to
>> which I
>> asked, "Are you a US citizen?" He said no. I also
>> found that very
>> strange because I know that in order to have an
>> Airline Transport
>> Pilot rating, the rating required to be an airline
>> captain, one has to
>> be a US citizen, and knowing the US air- lines and
>> their hiring processes
>> as I do, I found it hard to believe that American
>> Airliens would hire a
>> non-US citizen who couldn't upgrade to captain when
>> the
>> time came. He said, "The rules have changed.", which
>> I also knew to be
>> untrue. Besides, he was just, shall I say, "Creepy"?
>>
>>
>> My copilot and I were both glad to get rid of this
>> guy when we got to
>> Atlanta.
>>
>> There was nothing to indicate, though, that he was
>> anything other
>> than who or what he said he was, because he had the
>> documentation to
>> prove who he was. In retrospect, we now know his
>> uniform was stolen
>> and his documents were forged. Information later
>> came to light as to how
>> this was done.
>>
>> It seems that Mohammad Atta and his cronies had
>> possibly stolen
>> pilot uniforms and credentials from hotel rooms
>> during the previous
>> year. We had many security alerts at the airline to
>> watch out for our
>> personal items in hotel rooms becuase these were
>> mysteriously
>> disappearing, but nobody knew why. Atta and his men
>> used these to
>> make dry runs prior to their actual hijackings on
>> 9/11. How do I
>> know? I called the FBI as soon as I saw his face on
>> the TV that day,
>> and the agent on the other end of the line took my
>> information and
>> told me I'd hear back from them when all the dust
>> settled. A few
>> weeks later I got a letter from the Bureau saying
>> that my call was one
>> of at least half a dozen calls that day from other
>> pilots who had had
>> the same experience. Flights were being selected at
>> random to make test
>> runs for accessing the cockpit. It seems we had all
>> dodged bullets.
>> Over the years my attitude towards the War Against
>> Terrorism and the
>> wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been known to be
>> on the red neck,
>> warmongering, rah-rah-shoot-em-up side of things.
>> I've been known to
>> lose my patience with those who say the war in Iraq
>> or anywhere else
>> in the Muslim world is wrong, or who say we
>> shouldn't become involved in
>> that area of the world for political correctness
>> reasons. Maybe
>> it's because I dodged the bullet so closely back in
>> 2001 that I feel this
>> way.
>>
>> I have very little patience for political rhetoric
>> or debate against this
>> war because for a couple of hours back in July 2001,
>> when I was engaged
>> in conversation with a major perpetrator in this
>> war, I came so close to
>> being one of its victims that I can think in no
>> other terms.
>>
>> I don't mind admitting that one of the reasons I
>> retired early from
>> Delta last May, other than to protect my
>> disappearing company
>> retirement, was because it became harder and harder
>> for me to go to
>> work every day knowing that the war wasn't being
>> taken seriously by
>> the general public.
>>
>> The worst offenders were the Liberal detractors to
>> the present adminis-
>> tration, and right or wrong, this administration is
>> at least taking
>> the bull by the horns and fighting our enemies,
>> which is something
>> concrete that I can appreciate. Nobody was taking
>> this war seriously, and
>> it seems everyone found fault with the US government
>> rather than with
>> those who attacked us.
>>
>> I found that incomprehensible.
>> I also found myself being scrutinized by TSA
>> screeners more and more
>> every day when I went to work, and suffered the
>> humiliating indignity
>> of being identified about half the time for body
>> searches in front of
>> the general flying public who looked at the entire
>> process as being
>> ludi- crous. "They don't even trust their own
>> pilots!" accompanied by
>> an unbelieving snicker was the usual response. Here
>> I was, a retired USAF
>> officer who had been entrusted to fly nuclear
>> weapons around the world,
>> who had been granted a Top Secret clearance and had
>> been on missions over
>> the course of 21 years in the military that I still
>> can't can't talk
>> about without fear of prosecution by the DoD, who
>> was being scanned by a
>> flunkie TSA screener looking for any sign of a pen
>> knife or nail file on
>> my person.
>>
>> It wasn't until six months after my retirement when
>> my wife and I
>> flew to Key West, FL last November that I was
>> finally able to rid
>> myself of the visage of Mohammad Atta sitting behind
>> me on my
>> jumpseat, watching my every action in the cockpit
>> and willing to slit
>> my throat at the slightest provocation. I missed
>> being a headline by a
>> mere 47 days, and could very well have been among
>> the aircrew casualties
>> on 9/11 had one of my flights on my monthly schedule
>> been a
>> transcontinental flight from Boston or New York to
>> the west coast on the
>> 11th of September.
>>
>> Very few people know that, while only four airliners
>> crashed that day,
>> four more were targeted, and two of them were Delta
>> flights. The only
>> reason these four weren't involved is because they
>> either had minor
>> maintenance problems which delayed them at the gate
>> or they were
>> scheduled to depart after the FAA decided to ground
>> all flights.
>> Theirs are the pilots and flight attendants who
>> REALLY dodged the
>> bullet that day, and my faith in a higher power is
>> restored as a result.
>>
>> I will see United 93 when I get the chance, and I
>> will probably
>> enjoy the movie for its realness and historical
>> significance, but
>> forgive me if I do not embrace the Muslim world for
>> the rest of my
>> life. The Islamic world is no friend of the West,
>> and although we may
>> be able to get along with their governments in the
>> future, the stated
>> goal of Islam is world conquest through Jihad and it
>> is the extremist
>> Jihadists, backed and funded by "friendly" Moslem
>> governments, whom we
>> have to fear the most.
>>
>> We must have a presence in the Middle East, and we
>> must have friends in
>> the Middle East, even if we have to fight wars to
>> get them.
>>
>> Only someone who has dodged a bullet can fully
>> appreciate that fact.
>>
>>
>> Best to all,
>> Pat Gilmore
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