Flight instructors charged with kidnapping student
Police officers in California on Friday arrested a flight instructor and his assistant, accusing them of attempting to send a Chinese trainee back to his home country.
According to police, Jonathan McConkey, a flight instructor, and Kelsi Hoser, director of administration and reportedly McConkey’s assistant, attempted to kidnap Tianshu Shi, 21, a pilot in training.
The pair, both employees of IASCO Flight Training in Redding, California, got Shi as far as the local airport on Friday morning before police intercepted them.
Sergeant Danny Smetak of the Redding Police Department said officers responded to a call from Shi’s brother in Shanghai claiming that two flight instructors had arrived at Shi’s home in Redding and told him he needed to return to China.
When Shi refused, McConkey, 48, and Hoser, 50, forced Shi into a vehicle and drove him to the Redding Municipal Airport, Smetak said.
“We ended up locating the victim at the Redding airport, where he was found to have some minor injuries,” Smetak said.
Smetak said the police arrested McConkey and Hoser at the scene and booked them on charges of conspiracy and kidnapping.
According to its website, IFT is contracted by the Aviation Authority of China to train 180 student pilots, a program Shi is part of.
IFT is currently owned by the Chinese company Jiutian International Flight Academy and provides airline-sponsored and self-sponsored training programs.
Shi, 21, told local media Record Searchlight that he had been in the US for seven months on an M-1 visa and that he enrolled in the program through Civil Aviation Flight University of China.
According to police, Hoser and McConkey visited Shi late on Thursday night and demanded that he return to China because his English wasn’t good enough to communicate with air traffic control, which Shi disputes.
After contacting his brother in Shanghai for help, Shi recorded an exchange between himself and the two instructors when they came back to his house the next morning.
In the recording obtained by Record Searchlight, two voices, assumed to be Hoser and McConkey, can be heard threatening Shi in Mandarin and English.
“Your (expletive) is getting on the plane right now, or I’ll break your (expletive) arm. You better believe that I’m (expletive) threatening you, and the United States government needs you out of this country right now, you understand?” the male voice can be heard saying.
According to Record Searchlight, a second victim came forward on Saturday and said the program manager also threatened to send him home.
China Daily contacted IFT for comment but messages left with the school were unanswered as of 4 pm Pacific time on Monday.
McConkey and Hoser both posted bail and were released from custody, said Smetak.
Liu Yinmeng contributed to this story.