Private jet ordered to land in Charlotte September 10, 2002 Posted: 3:40 PM EDT (1940 GMT) CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) -- An Egyptian-registered private jet on a "pre-sale inspection" flight was ordered to land under fighter escort Tuesday at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport because its authorization to fly in U.S. airspace had expired, federal officials said. Two F-16 fighter jets from Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, escorted the plane down at Federal Aviation Administration request, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. The jets broke off their escort before the aircraft landed after FAA officials said they resolved the situation, NORAD said. Controllers ordered the pilot of the Cessna Citation 560 to land at the nearest international airport because "there was a question as to whether the foreign-registered aircraft had the necessary waivers to fly within the contiguous United States," FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. The number of people on board was not disclosed. That type of plane can hold six to 10 passengers, depending on the interior design. The jet carries registration SU-EWA, an Egyptian designation. It had taken off from Columbia, South Carolina, and was headed to Denver. It landed in Charlotte at 11:29 a.m. Officials said the plane had an expired waiver, and therefore wasn't cleared to fly in the United States. Heather Rosenker, spokeswoman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, said the pilot was conducting a "pre-sale inspection" of the aircraft. As such, he may not have been aware of the status of the waiver. CNN producers Mike Mount and Beth Lewandowski contributed to this report.