Comment on Chinese espionage raises ‘substantial safety concerns’ at California flight school
A photo posted to Facebook last week by the Shasta County Aviation School shows nine smiling students — all of whom appear to be Asian — standing next to a small plane.
It was intended to celebrate the students, who recently completed the training program at IASCO Flight Training Inc., on the grounds of the Redding Regional Airport.
But in the comments section, an official in a nearby city posted a modified photo, with red arrows pointing to each student and the words: “China’s Peoples Liberation Army/Redding CA.”
Now, school officials say that Jan. 21 of Anderson City Councilman Darin Hale — who said on social media that he was tracking IASCO flights and made vague claims of Chinese espionage — put their students at risk during a time of heightened tension over immigration.
“In the current climate, this type of language creates a serious safety concern for the people who live, work, and train in this community,” said Miranda Vorhis, superintendent of schools, in a letter to the Anderson City Council last week.
He added: “When such talk comes from an elected official, it is irrational, it raises suspicions, spreads misinformation, and encourages members of the public to view students and teachers as targets rather than neighbors.”
Hale did not respond to a request for comment.
Hale, who works in the construction industry, was elected in 2024 to serve on the City Council in Anderson, a city of 11,300 people south of Redding.
His social media account as filled with pro-Trump comments and screenshots of flight tracking maps. His accounts also include writings about conspiracy theories, such as the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, “it was an inside job.”
In recent days, Hale has posted about IASCO Flight School several times on Facebook and X. He pointed out that the school has a bad relationship with the Chinese military and that members of the community who have raised concerns have been ridiculed.
“Now that I have been chosen to be their voice I intend to use it. No matter the risk,” Hale wrote in X on Jan. 25.
The councilor wrote that he is suspicious of planes near important local infrastructure, including Shasta Dam and Whiskeytown Dam.
On his Facebook page, Hale wrote that he was not advocating for students to be harmed but that he believed the Chinese military was “in our backyard gathering information about us and our infrastructure.”
In an interview with The Times on Tuesday, Vorhis called Hale’s claims false and disrespectful.
He said school staff were regularly trained to detect potential threats and would “absolutely remove” any student who raised safety concerns.
Vorhis said the students flew over Shasta Dam as part of their training, not to gather intelligence. He noted that the main dam is not exactly private – it has a free public tour, and people can wade into it and fish near it.
Vrhis said Hale posts messages or tags the school on social media “every few months.” Last week, he said, school officials successfully petitioned Facebook to remove some of his comments.
“We were able to ignore a lot of things, but when he singled out each student, we felt unsafe,” he said.
In a public response to Hale’s Facebook comment about the altered photo, the school’s account wrote: “If you wish to continue this discussion, I suggest you educate yourself first.” The students in the picture above are not even Chinese.”
The school’s account added: “Regarding what intelligence you believe can be gathered by flying Cessnas in Redding, California…
Hale responded with links to right-wing news and opinion outlets Breitbart and Newsmax.
A statement from the school says the students in the photo are part of a class affiliated with the Hong Kong International Aviation Academy, which is partnered with the Redding school.
Vrhis told The Times that the Hong Kong school sends students from all over the world.
About half of IASCO’s approximately 100 students, he said, are from other countries. The school works in Redding, he said, because it is one of the sunniest cities in the United States, allowing for more than 300 days of flying per year.
In his letter to the Anderson City Council, Vorhis said international students are “approved through established federal procedures” and are subject to US Citizenship and Immigration Services and TSA oversight, including background checks and biometric collection.
Vrhis urged the Anderson City Council to “reflect carefully on the conduct and public relations” of its elected leaders.
Anderson City Manager Joey Forseth-Deshais told The Times that Hale’s comments on social media “were made as a private citizen” and had “nothing to do with the City of Anderson.”
He said he does not know whether the Durban Council will discuss these statements or its policy on social media in future meetings.
In recent years, Shasta County has been a hotbed of authoritarianism, election denial and conspiracy theories.
In 2023, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted to scrap Dominion’s voting machines, citing allegations of voter fraud sought by President Trump. The elected leaders tried unsuccessfully to request a manual vote count of their more than 110,000 registered voters.
Even the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District board of trustees — where Hale recently served as president — has been a contentious issue.
In 2023, county commissioners appointed right-wing political activist Jon Knight, who warned of mosquitoes becoming “flying syringes for mass vaccination,” to the vector control board.
Knight – a hydroponic garden store owner who was photographed outside the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021- elected to replace retired epidemiologist and former public health director.
