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Flight training suspended for Saudi students: U.S. Navy

December 11, 2019 08:09 am | Updated 08:10 am IST - Washington

The flight restriction affects 140 students at Pensacola Naval Air Station, where the deadly shooting by a Saudi Air Force officer occurred.

Saudi Arabia Defense Attache Major General Fawaz Al Fawaz and his Embassy staff and other officials arrive to meet with the Saudi students who remain restricted to the Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola base by their Saudi commanding officer, in Pensacola, Florida, U.S. December 9, 2019.

Flight training has been suspended for more than 300 Saudi Arabian students at three bases in Florida in the wake of the deadly shooting by a Saudi Air Force officer on Friday, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.

Navy Commander Clay Doss said classroom training is going to start again this week, and flight training for other students will resume.

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But the Navy on Monday evening ordered that Saudi students at three bases in northern Florida be restricted from flying for an undetermined period of time.

The flight restriction affects 140 students at Pensacola Naval Air Station, where the shooting occurred, and 35 at nearby Whiting Field.

Another 128 students at Naval Air Station Mayport, on the Atlantic seaboard, are also restricted.

Doss said the stand-down is an effort to ensure the safety of the students, as they recover from the trauma of the shooting, which killed three US military members and injured eight other people. Police shot and killed the Saudi shooter.

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