FBI subpoenas records from JWA flight schools

Deepa Bharath

JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- Investigators have asked most, if not all,

flight schools that operate out of John Wayne Airport to hand over flight

instruction records from the last five years.

The schools were subpoenaed over the weekend by FBI officials who are

conducting a harrowing investigation, sifting through thousands of leads

following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and

the Pentagon. Flight schools from across the country were subpoenaed as

part of the work.

According to officials, some of the suspected terrorists who

reportedly hijacked the United and American Airlines flights and went on

the rampage took courses at flight training schools in Florida.

There have been no arrests involving anyone from the JWA schools.

Operators of local schools said Thursday that only a small percentage

of their students are foreign nationals.

“Maybe 0.001% out of several hundred students are from other

countries,” said Gary Sequeira, owner of Orange County Flight Center.

But, Sequeira added, he intends to be more vigilant while admitting

foreign nationals into his school.

“We will definitely scrutinize more on [the students’] background in

the future,” he said.

Even if the government does not require background checks, Sequeira

said he might start checking out prospective students for the benefit of

the school.

But representatives from other schools said they will not discriminate

against foreign nationals simply because of last week’s terrorist

attacks.

“I don’t discriminate in the way we provide services,” said Michael

Church, manager and president of Sunrise Aviation.

“These were criminals with a criminal intent,” he said of the

suspected terrorists. “It happened not because they learned to fly but

because they outsmarted airport security measures.”

Church said he does not plan on running background checks unless the

government requires them in the future.

“What is a background check anyway?” Church asked. “Generally

companies check with the DMV and do a criminal check. In these cases

those kinds of checks wouldn’t help anyway.”

Most foreign students who take flight training at Lenair Aviation have

an M1 visa, which is a student visa authorized by the Immigration and

Naturalization Service for vocational training, said manager Nicholas

Valera.

“If our government thinks it’s OK for these people to get visas, what

more checks can we do?” he said. “What checks are we going to do that the

government could not do?”

Valera said out of 100 students currently enrolled in his school, only

three are foreign nationals.

Many of these schools have been running losses because their planes

were grounded after the attacks. However, most of the restrictions were

lifted Thursday, Sequeira said.

“We’re gradually getting back to normal,” he said. “We have been hurt

over the last week and a half. But I’m optimistic about the future.”

However, not everything will be the same again. Some restrictions

still remain in terms of where, when and how students can train, Sequeira

said. Earlier they could go to any random location and train, but now

they are required to train along specified routes.