A veteran of the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

,Benjamin, Daniel & Steven Simon. "The Age of Sacred Terror", 2002 Essam al-Ridi was an American who was tasked to purchase a light aircraft by

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

in 1993; but fled after accidentally crashing the plane into a

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

Life

Born in Egypt, al-Ridi moved to the United States and settled down in Texas where he took flight lessons.

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

Avoiding Armageddon: Essam Alridi
/ref> Eventually he became a flight instructor himself, teaching at the Ed Boardman Aviation School. In 1982, he went to repel the

, becoming close colleagues with

. He participated in the

Battle of Jaji The Battle of Jaji was fought during the Soviet–Afghan War between Soviet Army units, and their allies of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against Afghan mujahideen groups in Paktia Province. This battle occurred in April 1987, during ...

, but claimed that Arab claims of victory disillusioned him, and later returned to the United States.

Sabrejet incident

When

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

was moving into the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in 1993, bin Laden asked al-Ridi, then living in Texas, to buy a light aircraft to ferry

FIM-92 Stinger The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters as the Air-to- ...

missiles and other materiel the group had acquired in Afghanistan. With $250,000, al-Ridi purchased a 1960s Sabre-40 jet from the

309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309th AMARG),Offici ...

in Arizona. Since the plane had a range of only 1,500 miles, al-Ridi was forced to make a seven-leg journey to deliver the plane, flying to Sault Sainte Marie, then to

Frobisher Bay Frobisher Bay is an inlet of the Davis Strait in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the southeastern corner of Baffin Island. Its length is about and its width varies from about at its outlet into the Labrador Sea ...

where -65 weather cracked a windshield and burst the

hydraulics Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

, causing him to lose a week repairing the aircraft. Finally he embarked to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, through Europe and finally arriving in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, before embarking on the final leg of his trip. A year and a half after delivering the plane, al-Ridi was called back to

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

, where he met with Ihab Ali Nawawi, and was informed that improper maintenance made the plane inoperable. Wadi el-Hage requested that the pair fix the aircraft, and then take it back to Cairo to re-sell it. The pair of them tried to repair the plane, its tires had melted to the

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

and its engines were filled with sand. The brakes failed after a test flight with both men flying, and the plane crashed into a

. The event attracted public attention, since the plane was unique in being a private aircraft at

Khartoum International Airport Khartoum International Airport (Arabic:مطار الخرطوم الدولي) is the principal airport in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The current airport will be replaced by the New Khartoum International Airport in Omdourman 40 kilom ...

and known to belong to

. Worried that the Egyptian

Mukhabarat ( ar, مخابرات, also transliterated '' / ''), is the Arabic term for intelligence, as used by an intelligence agency. In most of the Middle East, the term is colloquially used in reference to secret police agents who spy on civilians. Organi ...

would learn of his whereabouts, al-Ridi fled the Sudan.United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
January 14, 2001

Later life

In 1998, he was called to testify against Wadi el-Hage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridi, Essam Living people Year of birth missing (living people)