soaring with Osama

Here's a quote from Slate Magazine (http://www.slate.com/id/2147499/):

Syria had hundreds of files on al-Qaida, including dossiers on those
who had participated-or wanted to participate-in the 9/11 attacks.
Syrian spies had penetrated al-Qaida cells throughout the Middle East,
and Syrian President Bashar Assad was passing on loads of data to the
CIA and the FBI. Some of these tips apparently foiled al-Qaida plots,
including a plan to fly an explosives-laden glider into the U.S. Navy's
5th Fleet headquarters.


Anyone know anything about this?

Johan Larson

wrote:
Here's a quote from Slate Magazine (http://www.slate.com/id/2147499/):

Syria had hundreds of files on al-Qaida, including dossiers on those
who had participated-or wanted to participate-in the 9/11 attacks.
Syrian spies had penetrated al-Qaida cells throughout the Middle East,
and Syrian President Bashar Assad was passing on loads of data to the
CIA and the FBI. Some of these tips apparently foiled al-Qaida plots,
including a plan to fly an explosives-laden glider into the U.S. Navy's
5th Fleet headquarters.


Anyone know anything about this?

Johan Larson
Don't know about that, but the entry here is interesting
http://www.skylaunch.de/album/i.html

Frank Whiteley

wrote:
Here's a quote from Slate Magazine (http://www.slate.com/id/2147499/):

Syria had hundreds of files on al-Qaida, including dossiers on those
who had participated-or wanted to participate-in the 9/11 attacks.
Syrian spies had penetrated al-Qaida cells throughout the Middle East,
and Syrian President Bashar Assad was passing on loads of data to the
CIA and the FBI. Some of these tips apparently foiled al-Qaida plots,
including a plan to fly an explosives-laden glider into the U.S. Navy's
5th Fleet headquarters.


Anyone know anything about this?



Sounds like a great movie plot -- we are about due for another film
with a glider in it. But, it's an old story now and numerous
references available on the Web have been made to Hersh's assertion,
referenced below.

-----------------

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/conten.../030728fa_fact

THE SYRIAN BET
Did the Bush Administration burn a useful source on Al Qaeda?
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Issue of 2003-07-28
Posted 2003-07-18

[....]

Syria also provided the United States with intelligence about future
Al Qaeda plans. In one instance, the Syrians learned that Al Qaeda
had penetrated the security services of Bahrain and had arranged for
a glider loaded with explosives to be flown into a building at the
U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters there. Flynt Leverett, a former
C.I.A. analyst who served until early this year on the National
Security Council and is now a fellow at the Saban Center at the
Brookings Institution, told me that Syria’s help “let us thwart an
operation that, if carried out, would have killed a lot of Americans.”

[....]

----------------

Are you asking if a glider could do the job, or are you hoping to
confirm the plot by finding Flynt Leverett's telephone number here
on USENET? The Saban Center at the Brookings Institution might be a
better place to start.

http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/sabancenter_hp.htm

Flynt Leverett , Foreign Policy Studies, 202/797-4389


The Internet can be a wonderful thing, if we learn how to use it.

You will have to make the call yourself.



Jack

Earlier, Frank Whiteley wrote:

Don't know about that, but the entry here is interesting
http://www.skylaunch.de/album/i.html

Ah, those oughta go well with the couple dozen or so AVA101 Nasim
gliders that Paravar Pars claims to have turned out. It looks like a
copy of the ASK-21, but I couldn't say for su

http://www.aii-co.com/en/ava101.asp

The Paravar Pars web site has typically been here, but it's currently
hosed:

http://www.paravar-pars.com/

Speaking of copies, does anyone else think tha the AVA202 looks exactly
like an RV-6?

http://www.aii-co.com/en/ava202.asp

Thanks, Bob K.

Could somebody please translate the performance comparison table found
about halfway down this page?

http://www.aii-co.com/en/marketing.asp

(direct link to the table http://www.aii-co.com/en/images/AVA.101.jpg)

Ole

Bob Kuykendall wrote:
Earlier, Frank Whiteley wrote:

Don't know about that, but the entry here is interesting
http://www.skylaunch.de/album/i.html

Ah, those oughta go well with the couple dozen or so AVA101 Nasim
gliders that Paravar Pars claims to have turned out. It looks like a
copy of the ASK-21, but I couldn't say for su

http://www.aii-co.com/en/ava101.asp

The Paravar Pars web site has typically been here, but it's currently
hosed:

http://www.paravar-pars.com/

Speaking of copies, does anyone else think tha the AVA202 looks exactly
like an RV-6?

http://www.aii-co.com/en/ava202.asp

Thanks, Bob K.
Clearly inspired by, but not a complete knock-off of the K-21. Nose
skid, main gear forward, horizontal has mass balance tips, and some
other finish details.

The 202 looks a whole lot like the RV6.

Frank Whiteley

I think that the chances of a glider being used for terrorist activity
are very remote. Far more remote than a light aircraft.
It probably would take most people 3-5 years to be capable of flying any
reasonnable distance cross-country etc etc.

However the Aviation Industries of Iran information looks interesting,
as it suggests active two seater gliding in Iran.
This might be a possible area for opportunities for cross-cultural
gliding exchanges. If those going to Iran had the blessing and
protection
of the Iranian authorities then it would be a wonderful opportunity to
fly in probably a superb gliding area.

Maybe Competition Enterprise ??

Rory

------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroup: rec.aviation.soaring
Subject: soaring with Osama
Author:
Date/Time: 01:40 11 August 2006
------------------------------------------------------------
Could somebody please translate the performance comparison table found
about halfway down this page?

http://www.aii-co.com/en/marketing.asp

(direct link to the table http://www.aii-co.com/en/images/AVA.101.jpg)

Ole


------------------------------------------------------------

See
http://www.aii-co.com/en/ava101.asp

------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroup: rec.aviation.soaring
Subject: soaring with Osama
Author:
Date/Time: 01:40 11 August 2006
------------------------------------------------------------
Could somebody please translate the performance comparison table found
about halfway down this page?

http://www.aii-co.com/en/marketing.asp

Ole

Let's see if Sean Hannity would be interested in a ride. Maybe we could
talk him into taking a sky dive too..........fill his chute with
hanging chads and take bets on if his divinity will allow him to touch
down un-scaythed.

Brad


Rory O'Conor wrote:
I think that the chances of a glider being used for terrorist activity
are very remote. Far more remote than a light aircraft.
It probably would take most people 3-5 years to be capable of flying any
reasonnable distance cross-country etc etc.

However the Aviation Industries of Iran information looks interesting,
as it suggests active two seater gliding in Iran.
This might be a possible area for opportunities for cross-cultural
gliding exchanges. If those going to Iran had the blessing and
protection
of the Iranian authorities then it would be a wonderful opportunity to
fly in probably a superb gliding area.

Maybe Competition Enterprise ??

Rory

------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroup: rec.aviation.soaring
Subject: soaring with Osama
Author:
Date/Time: 01:40 11 August 2006
------------------------------------------------------------
Could somebody please translate the performance comparison table found
about halfway down this page?

http://www.aii-co.com/en/marketing.asp

(direct link to the table http://www.aii-co.com/en/images/AVA.101.jpg)

Ole


------------------------------------------------------------

Earlier, Rory O'Conor wrote:
See http://www.aii-co.com/en/ava101.asp

The table on that page does show the specs for the AVA101. But the
table that Ole is asking about is this one that compares the AVA101
with a couple of LAK products and the PW6:

http://www.aii-co.com/en/images/AVA.101.jpg

The column and row headers are in english, as are the units, but all
the numbers are in some other characters; perhaps some sort of Arabic?
(Yes, I know that Iranians consider themselves ethnically and
culturally separate from the Arab cultures in the area).

Bob K.