the united states have to provide some health backgrounds all the way back to grandparents. so, you know if there s any indication of physical ailments and even mental ail ailments that has to be provided. we have peter with us former ntsb managing director. peter, i think there are a lot of people who are listening to this conversation a bit surprised that these investigative or background checks especially in the wake of 9/11 do not go as far as speaking with relatives, people who are close to these people who are applying to be pilots with airlines. well i think les pointed it out, that the background checks particularly since 9/11 are focused on criminal or terrorist contacts. potential criminal acts. they re very rudimentary when it comes to psychological issues and i think the aviation industry is resistant to policy
abend, a former commercial pilot and peter gols up with us. hopefully we can get peter in on this conversation as well. butles i want to start with you. we talked two hours ago about the initial psychological test the examinations before a pilot joins an airline. what about the background checks in the context of the reporting from this german magazine that an ex-girlfriend said that he said he was going to do something so heinous people would remember his name. relatives, people close to the pilots, these applicants are they interviewed at any point. it s a great yes and a small correction i m still actually flying so i m aware of some of these things that are done backgroundwise. when he came into this country and apparently, you know some of these records are a little sketchy, but when he came into the country and apparently went to phoenix, he would have got a