If I am not mistaken, Laarry Harris wrote a book about biological weapons. He said Middle Eastern terrorists could use crop dusters to spread anthax.
Does anyone know if it was Larry that said this?
R.
----- Original Message -----
From: aipl51@hotmail.com
To: aipl_na@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 2:01 PM
Subject: [aipl_na] FBI Wants Crop-Dusting Plane Operators on Alert
Will they be pulling copies of _The Cobra Effect_ off the bookstore
shelves next in order to prevent 'terrorists ' from getting ideas?
RJL
FBI Wants Crop-Dusting Plane Operators on Alert
By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - Acting on concerns that future attackers
could turn to chemical warfare, the FBI (news - web sites) is asking
all U.S. agricultural-use airplane operators to be on high alert for
any suspicious behavior as they take to the skies to chemically treat
the nation's crops.
``The FBI has contacted us and asked us to sensitize our members to
any potential threats,'' National Agricultural Aviation Association
Executive Director James Callan told Reuters on Tuesday.
An alert posted on the association's Web site reads: ''Members should
be vigilant to any suspicious activity relative to the use, training
in or acquisition of dangerous chemicals or airborne application of
same, including threats, unusual purchases, suspicious behavior by
employees or customers, and unusual contacts with the public. Members
should report any suspicious circumstances or information to local FBI
offices.''
Callan said the FBI had not told him of any specific threat and he
believed the chances of an agricultural aviation plane being used in a
plot were remote.
Special licenses, distinct from a general aviation license, are
required to pilot the planes, which carry large hoppers that can hold
a variety of pesticides and fungicides used in treating everything
from potatoes to cotton, he said.
There are about 3,000 such agricultural-use planes, once known as
``crop-dusters,'' in use in the United States. Now is prime time for
the industry to blanket the skies, as crops from the West Coast to the
East are due for chemical treatments.
All privately owned and operated aircraft, including agricultural-use
planes, have been grounded since the Sept. 11 attacks in which
hijacked commercial airliners plowed into New York's World Trade
Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Washington leaving
thousands missing or dead.
The hijackers piloting the planes had been trained in U.S. aviation
schools, authorities have said.
Some private planes, which number more than 200,000 in the United
States, were allowed to resume operations on Monday night with tight
restrictions.
One of the major limitations is that pilots wanting to fly under
visual flight rules are still banned, according to the Aircraft Owners
& Pilots Association. Visual flight rules do not require planes to be
under constant tracking by ground control.
The majority of the 132,000 takeoffs and landings of private planes
each day are conducted under visual flight rules, said the
association's spokesman, Warren Morningstar.
The association, which along with Callan's group is working to restore
full flight to the industry, said in a news release that federal
authorities were telling the association that there ``threats to our
national security'' may still exist.
Over the weekend, there were instances across the country in which
pilots of private aircraft attempted to resume flying and were
intercepted by F-16 fighter jets and forced to land, the association
said.
