Replies

5 O'CLOCK UPDATE.............(check the noon update also)

The only real tidbit of news at 5 is that the Stinson plane was forced down by a Homeland Security JET! Which again raises my question. How and why was Homeland Security so in the middle of this from the very beginning??

Some reports are saying the plane left from Eagle Pass while others are saying the plane crossed our borders. I'd be satisfied with that for now and I'd be really interested if anyone knows if you can check out flight plans from Eagle Pass, TX. for that night.

Well that's all for now.

Well, I have some information.

The boyfriend of the daughter of a friend of mine has been hired by Homeland Security. His college major was in Aeronautics, he is a trained pilot and a former member of the National Guard.

It sounded to me like he would be flying. I didn't know that Homeland Security had pilots. It appears that they do, given this article.

Do we have a Homeland Air Force that none of us knew about?

Some reports are saying the plane left from Eagle Pass while others are saying the plane crossed our borders. I'd be satisfied with that for now and I'd be really interested if anyone knows if you can check out flight plans from Eagle Pass, TX. for that night.

I don't know how to look up filed or flown flight plans for flights occurring in the past, but if the pilot were up to no good I doubt he'd file a flight plan. He's not required to, either, if he's VFR and not crossing the border.

If he did leave from a Texas airport rather than fly over the border, it begs the question why Homeland Security was interested in that flight out of probably dozens of flights in that area at that time. Nothing wrong with taking off from a Texas airport and flying VFR to another Texas airport without talking to anybody; five people in the airplane probably had it over max. gross but that's a regulatory violation that has no criminal penalties and that Homeland Security wouldn't care about.

In addition to their role in directly combating terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security also took over the INS, Customs and other border agencies. So it wouldn't be unusual for the border patrol to track planes flying across the border, or from a border-area airport shortly after a known illegal border crossing. And if the plane were flying across the border without a flight plan, it would likely raise even more red flags.

Even if we give Hameed the benefit of the doubt -- he very well may be just a flight school owner and instructor duped by someone who rented his plane --- this story raises legitimate concerns about the security of our borders. Thankfully, this smuggler was caught. But the maximum sentence is 5 years? And the people being smuggled aren't being charged with anything (or quickly deported back to China?) What type of deterrent is that to other air pirates? I'm sure the Department of Homeland Security can't be everywhere and catch every smuggler, even if they devoted all of their resources to combat illegal immigration by air. A harsher penalty would be appropriate.