SourceWatchPilotFinder.pl

Air CIA Part of a series on the CIA's covert airline

The planes: Alleged rendition aircraft Other CIA-linked aircraft The companies: Alleged CIA front companies Other CIA aviation contractors The crews: Pilots Other aircrew

This is the Perl program used to identify Harry Kirk Elarbee (alias Kirk James Bird).

How to run it

• Download the "Database in Combined Fixed-Length Format" database (FX072007.zip) from the FAA's website at http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/releasable_airmen_download/
• Unzip FX072007.zip
• Place the RELDOM file from FX072007.zip in the same directory as this program.
• At a command prompt, type perl SourceWatchPilotFinder.pl
• If you're running Linux, you're likely to have perl already. If you're running Windows, you'll need to install a version from somewhere.
• On an up-to-date desktop PC, it'll take less than a minute to search all 850,000 records in the database.

The code

#!/usr/bin/perl

###############################################################################
# SourceWatchPilotFinder.pl
#
# Copyright (C) 2007, Neoconned, SourceWatch
#
#    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
#    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
#    (at your option) any later version.

#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
#    GNU General Public License for more details.

#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
#    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
###############################################################################

$TRUE  = (1 == 1);
$FALSE = (0 == 1);
$LINE_SEP = "***";

$file = './RELDOM';
open(INFO, $file);

$pilotID = 'will not possibly match';
$recordsChecked = 0;
$matchingRecordCount = 0;

while (!eof(INFO))
{
	$line = <INFO>;

	#Every line in the FAA database begins with the pilot ID:
	#an 'A' followed by exactly 7 digits.
	#The two digits after that are the certificate number.
	
	$nextPilotID = substr($line,0,8);

	if ($nextPilotID ne $pilotID)
	{
		#It's a new pilot record.

		#Print a progress report every so often.
		$recordsChecked = $recordsChecked + 1;
		$remainder = $recordsChecked % 50000;
		if ($remainder==0)
		{
			print("Checked " . $recordsChecked . " records \n");			
			###print("Current pilot record = " . $pilotRecord . "\n");
		}
		
		#Check the existing pilot record to see if it matches Captain Kirk.
		doesItMatchCaptainKirk();
		
		#Then create a new record.
		$pilotRecord = "";
		@pilotLines = ();
		$pilotID = $nextPilotID;
	}

	#Add line to the pilot record.
	
	$line =~ s/^\s+//;
	$line =~ s/\s+$//;
	$pilotRecord = $pilotRecord . $line . $LINE_SEP;
	push(@pilotLines,$line);
}

close(INFO);
print("Checked " . $recordsChecked . " records \n");
print("Found " . $matchingRecordsCount . " matching records \n");
print("Finished");

sub doesItMatchCaptainKirk
{
	# Pick which set of tests you want to run, and comment out the other set(s).

	####if (calledKirkAndLivesInNorthCarolina()==$FALSE)
	###{
	###	return($FALSE);
	###}

	if (calledKirkAndMatchesBirdsCerts()==$FALSE)
	{
		return($FALSE);
	}

	$matchingRecordsCount += 1;
   
	print "==============================================\n";
	print $matchingRecordsCount . ") " . $pilotID . "\n";
   
	foreach $lineToPrint(@pilotLines)
	{
		print $lineToPrint . "\n";
	}   
   
	print "Line count = " . scalar(@pilotLines) . "\n";
	print "==============================================\n";

	return($TRUE);
}

sub calledKirkAndMatchesBirdsCerts
{
	if (givenNamesIncludeKirk()==$FALSE) {return($FALSE);}
	
	#If this test is disabled, search results will include pilots whose
	#certificates are a superset of Kirk's.
	####if (hasExactlyThreeCertificates()==$FALSE) {return($FALSE);}

	#Airline Transport Pilot certificate:
	#	Airline Transport Pilot, Airplane Multi Engine Land
	#	Commercial privileges, Airplane Single Engine Land
	if (index($pilotRecord,"PA        A/AMEL   C/ASEL" . $LINE_SEP)==-1)
	{
		return($FALSE);
	}
   
	#Ground Instructor certificate: Advanced, Instrument
	if (index($pilotRecord,"G         G/ADV    G/INST" . $LINE_SEP)==-1)
	{
		return($FALSE);
	}

	#Flight Instructor certificate: Airplane Single Engine
	if (index($pilotRecord,"F/ASE" . $LINE_SEP)==-1)
	{
		return($FALSE);
	}
	
	return($TRUE);
}

sub calledKirkAndLivesInNorthCarolina
{
	if (livesInNorthCarolina()==$FALSE) {return($FALSE);}
	if (givenNamesIncludeKirk()==$FALSE) {return($FALSE);}
	
	return($TRUE);
}

sub calledKirkLivesInNorthCarolinaAndNotStudentPilot
{
	if (livesInNorthCarolina()==$FALSE) {return($FALSE);}
	if (givenNamesIncludeKirk()==$FALSE) {return($FALSE);}
	if (isStudentPilotOnly()) {return($FALSE);}
	
	return($TRUE);
}

#Record includes ' NC' (North Carolina).
sub livesInNorthCarolina
{
	return (index($pilotLines[0]," NC")!=-1);
}

#Given names include "KIRK".
sub givenNamesIncludeKirk
{
	$givenNames =  substr($pilotLines[0],10,30);
	return (index($givenNames,"KIRK ")!=-1);
}

sub isStudentPilotOnly
{
	if (scalar(@pilotLines) != 2) {return($FALSE);}

	$studentPilotCert = $pilotID."01PS";
	return (index($pilotLines[1],$studentPilotCert) != -1);
}

sub isMechanicOnly
{
	if (scalar(@pilotLines) != 2) {return($FALSE);}

	$mechanicCert = $pilotID."01M";
	return (index($pilotLines[1],$mechanicCert) != -1);
}

sub livesInClayton
{
	#Record includes 'CLAYTON'.
	return (index($pilotLines[0],"CLAYTON")!=-1);
}

sub hasExactlyThreeCertificates
{
	return (scalar(@pilotLines) == 4);
}

Related SourceWatch articles

• Central Intelligence Agency
• Extraordinary rendition
• Harry Kirk Elarbee (alias Kirk James Bird)