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To: april15Bendovr
Maybe the Democratic Undereground and Moveon.org wants it debunked?

No. The story is bull. Let me deconstruct it for you:

First, the "email" has the "retired Delta pilot" saying the following:

I asked him about his background, and he admitted he was from Saudi Arabia.

Mohammed Atta was Egyptian.

Second, according to the "retired Delta pilot" Atta exhibited several suspicious behaviors:

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 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.

Besides, he was just, shall I say, "Creepy"?

So a supposed professional airline pilot old enough to retire -- meaning highly experienced -- is confronted with a "creepy" man in his cockpit claiming to be a fellow airline pilot. But "creepy": (1) doesn't appear to know what type of aircraft he's flying in, (2) asks a lot of questions about the plane's operation, and (3) claims that the 767 is operated differently at American Airlines from the way it is operated at Delta.

Any one of those three things would tip a REAL pilot off to the fact that the guy in the jump seat is lying. All three together would have raised big red flags. But what does the "retired Delta pilot" Nothing.

By the way, this claim is preposterous: "He avoided all my questions about his personal life."

Yeah -- all questions, that is, except a couple that serve to enhance the drama of this phony story. "Creepy" supposedly did answer personal questions about his country of origin and U.S. citizenship. The answers, of course, were also "very strange" to "retired Delta pilot," who goes on to explain the reasons why.

So, to sum up, "retired Delta pilot" is confonted with a "creepy" guy who doesn't know about the aircraft or its operation, and who lies about his credentials, but the Delta guy does nothing. Nada. Zip. Squat. Puhleeeese.

The only thing more pathetic than yarns like this is that it demonstrates once again how easily people are manipulated and conned.

94 posted on 06/05/2006 11:09:57 AM PDT by Wolfstar (So tired of the straight line, and everywhere you turn, There's vultures and thieves at your back...)
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To: Wolfstar
I asked him about his background, and he admitted he was from Saudi Arabia. Mohammed Atta was Egyptian.

and so, of course, Atta would have been truthful about where he was from - but this pilot is lying, I tell ya, LYING

100 posted on 06/05/2006 11:27:16 AM PDT by maine-iac7 (Lincoln: "...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.")
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To: Wolfstar

Thank you. Atta was Egyptian, and none of this sounds right. If it were real, Mr. Gilmore would not just have been casually contacted by Delta security, he would have been whisked off to DC for a month to tell Homeland Security everything he knew. In fact, there is a 100% chance he would have radioed ahead and had the police waiting at the gate to pick up "Atta" once it became clear he was an impostor.


106 posted on 06/05/2006 11:46:22 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("When the government is invasive, the people are wanting." -- Tao Te Ching)
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