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CNN Live Today

Teen Pilot in Tampa Not Connected to Terrorism

Aired January 07, 2002 - 14:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're learning more about the teenager who apparently reenacted the attacks on the World Trade Center. In Tampa, 15-year-old Charles Bishop died when his stolen Cessna plane crashed into a Tampa, Florida skyscraper Saturday.

CNN's Mark Potter is in Tampa. He's got more on this story for us now -- Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, officials are still trying to figure out why 15-year-old Charles Bishop stole an airplane from this flight line here at a flight school in Clearwater, Florida, crashed it into a Tampa building and carried with him a suicide not, in which he expressed sympathy for Osama bin Laden and for the attacks of September 11. While they described Bishop as a troubled young man and a loner, they say they have no evidence at all that he was linked in any way to terrorism or involved with terrorism.

Now, we are learning more about his flight from Clearwater to Tampa in that stolen plane, which we are told by the NTSB took anywhere from nine to 12 minutes. Along the way, he crossed the airspace of Tampa International Airport. And today, a spokesman for Southwest Airlines said one of its 737 jets was taking off at that time for New Orleans. We are told the plane was ordered to slow down because of the approaching Cessna with the boy aboard and that the Cessna actually went over the jet about 1,000 feet away. The spokesman said this did not represent a safety threat, but of course, the potential and the concerns are obvious.

Now en route to Tampa, the boy also crossed the airspace of MacDill Air Force Base. In fact, he went across the runway at the southern tip of the base only about 100 feet off the ground. Two fighter jets were scrambled from Homestead, Florida, south of Miami, because there were no fighters here actually at MacDill, and they got here after the plane had already crashed into a bank building in downtown Tampa.

At the Pentagon briefing today, officials were asked whether the military could have done more to intercept the plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN STUFFLEBEEM, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: There was previously no indication that there was trouble with this individual or trouble from this airfield. Therefore, I'm -- let me back up just to say that we need to allow the time for the FAA and NORAD and the commander of the Air Force base at MacDill to go back and ascertain the facts in a postmortem of this to know exactly what happened and then what would need to be different, if anything at all. But from what I know of it so far, the alert process, there was not a perceived threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now meanwhile, people who knew Charles Bishop are still trying to figure out how he could have gotten involved in something like this. Today, a neighbor described him as nice, quiet and polite, and said he was shocked by the news. Here at the flight school, where he took lessons and also took the plane, the owner said that there was no indication at all that Charles Bishop could have been involved in anything like this -- Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Mark. Still lots of questions about all that. We're going to try to tackle some of those.

You know, since September 11, there has been so much concern about airline and airplane safety. And there are many questions now about how this sort of thing could happen at this training school. We are joined now by someone who can hopefully give us answers to all this. Phil Boyer is president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which is, as I understand it, Mr. Boyer, is the largest such group in the country, correct?

PHIL BOYER, AIRCRAFT OWNERS & PILOTS ASSOCIATION: Yes, Leon. We have about 380,000 of the nation's 620,000 pilots.

HARRIS: Let me ask you this: How unusual is it, or is it in your mind, that a 15-year-old boy is actually getting flight training in the first place? It occurs to me that you need to be 16 to learn how to drive a car. How is it that we are seeing 15-year-olds being trained to fly planes?

BOYER: Well, the No. 2 of our Washington office said that he got his license before he could drive a car. Let's not forget, the flight training industry is responsible for turning out our airline pilots for the future, is responsible for turning out many of the military pilots that we have today. And so, therefore, some kids know what they want to be early in life and they start after it.

It's impossible to solo a plane under the regulations until you are 16. But, there is a fairly vibrant industry of people who are 13, 14 and 15, who are taking instruction with a qualified instructor on board.

HARRIS: Yes, as a matter of fact, as I recall, we did a piece on a child who was I think flying across the country with a pilot just a couple of years ago. But let me ask you this: If you are not authorized to fly solo, how is it then that he was given the keys? Did that part of the story at all trouble you to the idea that he was given the keys before his instructor showed up?

BOYER: Leon, I have been racking my brains since Saturday evening trying to figure out what would we do different, what could be done different. And, of course, hindsight is terrific. And yet, once you are known to a flight school -- as Mark said, this student was at the flight school, very eager to learn, not new to the flight school, a familiar face. It's a very common procedure to say to the student after a few lessons, you go out by yourself and do a full walkaround on that airplane. We don't just jump in an airplane like you jump in a car. You take about 20 minutes to check everything over. And in order to do that, you need the key to the airplane to do it. And that's obviously what this student was asked to do.

HARRIS: All right. So when you heard that, that didn't strike you as anything unusual or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at all?

BOYER: No, not at all, except in the light of here was a troubled individual and shades of some of the other kinds of accidents that we have seen and tragedies with other -- either cars or guns or things other than airplanes.

HARRIS: You know, I have been to some of these smaller airports that actually handle the traffic for some of these small private planes, and I don't recall seeing very much security there. Can you give us an idea of the kind of changes that actually have been, if there have been any changes instituted since September 11?

BOYER: Well, there are about 5,300 public-use airports in the United States. And your typical viewer is familiar with about 600 of those that are served by the airlines, of which slightly over 400 have the security regulations in place from the FAA. The balance of these 46, 4,700 airports are all varying sizes, some with full fences, lots of security, others open grass fields, et cetera. And one size doesn't fit all.

But I will say, Leon, that about four weeks ago, the industry got together, AOPA was one of the lead organizations, spent some time with the former head of security for the FAA and developed a series of about a dozen recommendations which we have submitted to the new transportation security agency that we think could be applied to all airports. But I will also be very frank with you and say that they wouldn't have prevented what happened on Saturday.

HARRIS: Yes, it's tough to see how anything could have, considering what you're saying of the lay of the land beforehand. And we must keep in mind the fact that this is a really unique case. This has never happened before. So it's kind of -- we have to be careful before we characterize every single young person who's out there on the plane -- on the tarmac, rather, a potential suspect. But can you give us an idea of some of the changes that you have actually suggested?

BOYER: Well, we have asked for greater awareness of pilots at airports to anything untoward, anything unfamiliar. You know, the aviation community is a very closed, small community. And most of us know the people around our airports. So is there a stranger, is there something different going on? We have asked for greater security in handing out keys to an airplane, see some kind of photo ID or know, identify the individual. In this case, that would have been still done because the person had been there before.

One thing I do want to say, Leon, is that, you know, age is not really the factor. In the last decade, there have been two air transport category planes, airliners, that have gone down and the causes seem to have been a berserk pilot who had a suicide wish. If you'll remember, EgyptAir is our most recent one. That was an adult pilot who underwent psychological testing even at his airline.

HARRIS: Yes, and we understand the Egyptian government is still protesting the findings of that investigation as well. Lots of questions here still. Phil Boyer, we thank you very much for your time and coming out here at the last minute, last notice. We appreciate it. Take care.

BOYER: Thanks, Leon.

HARRIS: All right. For more on this story, including some additional video that we've gotten of the damage to the building, check out our Web site, cnn.com. AOL keyword there of course is CNN.

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