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View Full Version : Who let missing pilot fly?



NewsWhore
01-07-2009, 06:00 PM
Speaking on his CDN radio talk show yesterday, journalist Huchi Lora concluded that, "drug trafficking wears a Dominican military uniform". He made the statement while examining allegations of links between missing pilot Adriano Jimenez and the murder of former Dominican Civil Aviation Institute aero-navigability director, Angel Christopher. Yesterday, Christopher's son Eric was interviewed on the talk show and revealed that a file involving Jimenez was found among the papers in his father's briefcase. His father had cancelled the IDAC license for a plane operated by Jimenez, after it was proved that the pilot had forged the plane's flight inspection record. Shortly after, he reported that Jimenez showed up at the IDAC with two Air Force colonels to pressurize Christopher to reinstate the license. Later, one of the colonels was given an office at the IDAC, which he used until recently, he said. Three weeks after the colonels' visit, his father was murdered. Details of the visit, nevertheless, did not surface until now, as links emerge between Jimenez, the Christopher murder, and Quirino Paulino Castillo drug trafficking case.
Eric Christopher said that despite publicly denouncing the colonels, there has been no official investigation into the leads provided.
Christopher said that Ivan Vasquez, in charge of regulations and aircraft at the IDAC had the information on Adriano Jimenez after his father submitted a report on the pilot in 2006. The news commentators questioned how Jimenez could have continued his flight operations without any opposition from the authorities. Records show that despite the cancellation of his Dominican flying license, the authorities looked the other way and he was able to make 64 flights before being reported missing.
Christopher said that Jimenez was apparently a figure in a mafia-type structure that according to him permeates Dominican aviation. "With Jimenez missing, they will find another pilot," he observed.
The last contact with Jimenez was when he reported problems with his plane off the Turks & Caicos Islands in December. He had filed upon leaving Santiago that he was en route to the Bahamas. On board were 11 Dominicans, thought to be illegal immigrants en route to the US.
Eric Christopher said on the program that Jimenez may still be alive because he had been warned that he was about to be investigated for Christopher's death and so could have chosen to disappear.
Pedro Dominguez, president of the Dominican Pilots Association also questioned the inefficiency of the Dominican aviation authorities in adhering to flight regulations. "How could a pilot with that background be allowed to fly?" he said on the talk show, adding that it was obvious that Jimenez was being protected by the authorities.
As reported in Diario Libre, Dominguez also said that Civil Aviation Board members and IDAC advisors are owners of private planes that make irregular commercial flights. He stressed that "a mafia structure operates in Dominican aviation with the authorities looking the other way".
Christopher said he has reports that the US Federal Aviation Agency has sent inspectors to the country in connection with the Jimenez case. Jimenez was flying a US-registered plane using a US student license, but nevertheless Christopher warned that the situation could result in the revocation of authorization for Dominican planes to fly to the US, that affected local aviation for 14 years.

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