Ali Muhammed Kiiza is a retired Ugandan Major General, in the UPDF Air Force, who serves as a Senior Military Adviser to the President of Uganda.
[1] After recruitment, he attended basic training at Jinja, for about four months in 1966, before he transferred to Entebbe, to start flight school, in 1967.
[1] He was then assigned to the VIP Transport Division, within the Uganda Army Air Force, using a Piper PA-23 aircraft.
[1] In 1972, Ali saw combat during the Uganda–Tanzania border skirmish, when the Fouga Magister he was piloting was fired at by Ugandan exiles in Northern Tanzania.
[1] Following training in the United States, Kiiza started to fly as co-pilot on the Gulfstream in 1974, with American pilots in control.
Also, General Yakubu Gowon, at that time the president of Nigeria, was overthrown while he was in Kampala, attending the OAU Summit.
[2] In spite of the multiple changes in leadership in Uganda during the 1970s and 1980s, Kiiza continued to function as the presidential chief pilot, because of his training and experience.
Kiiza handed the presidential jet to Lieutenant Colonel Paul Babula (RIP), who flew the Gulfstream II back to Uganda.