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Happy -- A commercial license means one can fly for hire. And it means a minimum of 250 hours of flight time, iirc. A private pilot license requires 40 hours minimum, 35 minimum if done at an "FAA approved" school. It typically takes new students about 10 hours of flying time with an instructor before they're "signed off" to fly solo (without an instructor). Airline captains are also required to have an "air transport pilot" license. 1500 hours minimum is required for that, iirc.
It took me 9-10 hours for solo endorsement, 45 hours for private pilot certification, and I got my commercial license (an afterthought) at around 600-700 hours, iirc. That was quickly followed up with instrument and multi-engine ratings (another 25-30 hours for both combined).
I flew single-engine planes part-time for a fixed base operator as a charter pilot and as a pipeline inspector. No major airline would have hired me, but a commuter airline might have once I had 700-1000 hours. Flying as a career was never my goal. I used it for transportation in my business and for fun -- mostly just for fun.
It's inconceivable that anyone with a commercial license (or private or just a solo endorsement) wouldn't know how to land.
Navigation radios are in all but the tiniest of puddle jumpers -- maybe an old Piper Cub, although most of those 75-year-old planes would have them now. My old single-engine Comanche had three different types of nav radios, two of one kind and two others with different types PLUS a portable in my flight bag. Redundancy. New pilots would have a working understanding of them by their 10-hour mark or so. Finding NYC would not be a problem for almost any private or commercial pilot. (I have to say "almost any" because I do know one commercial pilot who had some learning difficulties when it came to nav radios!)
IMPORTANT NOTE: I never learned the first thing about flying a "heavy" (transport), and most pilots don't. That's initially done with flight simulators, and these yahoos had enough simulator time to do what they did. That's probably also what they didn't want to learn how to land, if that story is true.
Al Qaeda was anticipating the US would respond to the attack on the World Trade Center towers by invading Afghanistan in partnership with the Northern Alliance. I recall at the time intelligence analysts thought a major incident was imminent when he was assassinated just days before 9/11.
I don't know what that means. Does it mean airlines would hire them to fly commercial planes? How does it jive with the widely reported news that they didn't want to learn how to land a plane? Is that part of the FAA certification? How do you find your way back to Manhattan when you turn the plane around in Ohio? What do you have to know to be able to do that? And please do not confuse layman's questions with conspiracy theory.
I'll let WyoNewk's response stand for most of your question. But as to the bolded...
Both flights that hit the WTC never got anywhere near Ohio. I don't see why this is a question that has to be asked on the internet. It is easy enough to find out (I'm a layman, too) and I knew if off the top of my head (though I confirmed it before replying) and I'm no expert on 9/11. But it is precisely the sort of false assumptions that lend credence to conspiracy theories. AA flight 11 was hijacked over western Massachusetts. From there, it should be rather easy to follow the Hudson River Valley to NYC. Or, knowing one's approximate location, just pull out a hand-held compass and bear south. NYC is a huge target on a clear day, Manhattan is clearly demarked by the Hudson and the East River, and the WTC is conveniently located on the southern end of the island - and being one of the tallest buildings on Earth, it stuck conveniently out into the sky. UA 175 was not far from NYC when it was hijacked, just west of Poughkeepsie. The urban sprawl was undoubtedly visible out the left side of the cockpit at the time. It made a wide turn over northern New Jersey and went into the WTC.
As to AA 7, which did hit the Pentagon, it barely made it as far as extreme southern Ohio. But its flight path out of DC (where the light originated) took it due west, something the hijackers undoubtedly realized during their extensive planning for the attacks (the specific flights were meticulously chosen for a variety of reasons). Navigating back to DC entailed nothing more complex than turning around heading due east. A $5 compass would suffice. Again, on a clear day from 35,000', finding a metro area of 6+ million people occupying several hundred square miles of land isn't exactly threading a needle.
I don't know what that means. Does it mean airlines would hire them to fly commercial planes? How does it jive with the widely reported news that they didn't want to learn how to land a plane? Is that part of the FAA certification? How do you find your way back to Manhattan when you turn the plane around in Ohio? What do you have to know to be able to do that? And please do not confuse layman's questions with conspiracy theory.
Lots of navigation aids in a commercial airplane. With GPS and a compass, it's not that hard to figure out how to get to your desired destination.
Dear MightyQueen801: John O'Neill who died in the south tower on 9/11 on his first day on the job there, had been mocked and run out of the FBI for his warnings about Osama Bin Laden who he had been investigating ever since the first bombing at the towers in 1993...... he was great friends with my dad as you couldn't be Irish in New Joisey without knowing John or my dad, LOL. As for Baraka, i knew him when he was still Leroi Jones way back in the day..... so I thought that whole accusation was so darn beneath him as the man i had once known.... he got more and more militant as he aged and I was happy NJ revoked his state poet laureate title..... and I THINK because of that poem, NJ has never named another poet laureate as it was violently just out of control..... he refused to apologize.... and when he read the poem yet AGAIN at the Dodge Poetry Festival in 2012, I stood up after he read the first line, I shouted "SHAME. SHAME. SHAME." and walked out of the Prudential Convention Center. I wrote a scathing letter to the Dodge Foundation and haven't been back since. You can read that poem on my poetry page under the books section titled The Great Virtue Sitting Parlor and Poetry Cafe. It is post #61 Since we are both "Joisey Tamada's " LOL, you might like post # 67 where I included poems from Gerald Stern, the first NJ poet laureate.
All four pilots held FAA commercial pilot's certificates. But, hey, if your goofball friend says so, then I guess the FAA just hands those out like candy! Or else your friend's an idiot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyRider
I don't know what that means. Does it mean airlines would hire them to fly commercial planes? How does it jive with the widely reported news that they didn't want to learn how to land a plane? Is that part of the FAA certification? How do you find your way back to Manhattan when you turn the plane around in Ohio? What do you have to know to be able to do that? And please do not confuse layman's questions with conspiracy theory.
It means they passed a minimum of two checkrides (one for a private pilot rating and one for a commercial rating), both of which would require that they demonstrate the ability to navigate and to land an airplane (among other tasks). It simply isn't possible that FAA certified pilots would not know how to land an plane, or not know how to perform simple navigation or basic control of an airplane.
None of the planes turned back as far inland as Ohio. But even if they had, finding Manhattan would not be hard. The coastline is pretty easy to find. Finding DC would be a little harder, but still possible.
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