All that has changed, particularly after a Saudi pilot was the first to down two Iraqi jets in a single sortie.

The company is known for hiring in 2004 Captain Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi, the first Saudi female commercial pilot, who trained at the Mideast Aviation Academy in Jordan.

A half hour later the entire four-man crew the two Saudi pilots, the Algerian flight engineer, and the Russian were assembled at the hangar where their 737 had been sequestered since the 29th of October.

"It's hard to kill someone, but if he becomes an enemy, he deserves it," the 30-year-old Saudi pilot said.

Saudi pilots who have studied the Iraqi airforce speak with greater prudence.

Another plane was held on the tarmac at Dulles on Friday after a Saudi pilot asked to sit in the jump seat, a privilege customarily extended to other pilots before Sept. 11.

I'll have to take our Saudi pilot, Mohammed.

Two Saudi Arabian pilots landed an air force training plane in upper Egypt and were granted political asylum, the second such defection in two days.

A Saudi pilot shot down two Iraqis yesterday so the count was placed at 19.

One Saudi pilot who began flight lessons in Arizona in 1996 went on to hijack American Airlines Flight 77 and fly it into the Pentagon on September 11.