But none of them were so flagged. "[46][47] At the winter break in 1997, Atta left and did not return to Hamburg for three months. He believed that the drab and impersonal apartment blocks, built in the 60s and 70s, ruined the beauty of old neighborhoods and robbed their people of privacy and dignity. Newsweek is reconstructing the road to 9/11 as it was constructed 20 years ago, day by day. [112], There are multiple, conflicting explanations for Atta's behavior and motivation. He said they wanted advice on trying to restart the plane. He spent two nights in Salou at the beachside Casablanca Playa Hotel, then spent the last two nights at the Hotel Residencia Montsant. As his father insisted that he go abroad for graduate studies, Atta, to this end, entered a German-language program at the Goethe Institute in Cairo. Atta was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 1,600 people during the attacks. This photo taken 12 September 2001 shows the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA. Why was Ziad Jarrah's plane the only one that failed to hit its target? Atta began adhering to the strictest Islamic diet, frequenting the most conservative mosques, socializing seldom, and acting disdainfully towards the couple's unmarried daughter who had a young child. The report suggests that incident was an inconvenience but did not result in major delays. We will high-jack airliners and crash them into specific targets. [8] He then worked for several months at the Urban Development Center in Cairo, where he joined various building projects and dispatched diverse architectural tasks. Readers may recall the shaving custom from the media coverage of 9/11. Atta's family moved into an apartment block in 1990; it was to him but "a shabby symbol of Egypt's haphazard attempts to modernize and its shameless embrace of the West. [65], According to official reports, Atta flew from Prague to Newark International Airport, arriving on June 3, 2000. [97] After 9/11, there also were reports stating that Mohamed Atta had attended International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Atta and Jarrah appear in high spirits, laughing and smiling in front of the camera. Skies, Plot Leader Met bin Laden", "Video of 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta posted by British news site", "FBI Informant Says Agents Missed Chance to Stop 9/11 Ringleader Mohammed Atta", "Flight Path Study American Airlines Flight 11", "Personal Stories Who Were They? It . Abdulaziz al Omari (22), Saudi Arabia - Airport security guard. 5:45 AM - Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al-Omari, two of the intended hijackers, pass through security at the Portland International Jetport in Maine. Bin Laden also asked that other operatives not be informed of the specific data until the last minute. In Hamburg, Atta became involved with the al-Quds Mosque, where he met Marwan al-Shehhi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ziad Jarrah, together forming the Hamburg cell. Atta phoned his graduate advisor, Machule, and mentioned family problems at home, saying, "Please understand, I don't want to talk about this. "[114] By contrast, criminal justice professor, Adam Lankford, has found evidence that indicated Atta was suicidal, and that his struggles with social isolation, depression, guilt, shame, hopelessness, and rage were extraordinarily similar to the struggles of those who commit conventional suicide and murder-suicide. Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, had already gotten a cellphone call from Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi. Bin al-Shibh was worried that Jarrah might even abandon the plan. He moved into a nearby apartment in the Wilhelmsburg district, where he lived with Said Bahaji and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. ''Whatever came of that, I don't know,'' said Dan Pursell, who was then the chief instructor at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Fla., the flight school where Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi earned their pilot's licenses and had rented the Piper Cherokee that day. Atta, an Egyptian, and Omari, a Saudi, held $2,400 first-class tickets to fly from Portland to Boston to Los Angeles. Atta grew up in Egypt and studied urban planning in Germany. Atta and the other Hamburg cell members were recruited by bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for a "planes operation" in the United States. During his trip to Las Vegas, he is thought to have used a video camera that he had rented from a Select Photo outlet back in Delray Beach, Florida. He rented a Chevrolet Malibu from an Alamo Rent A Car agency. Undated photos of suspected hijackers of United Airlines flight #93 that crashed in rural Pennsylvania, released by the FBI September 27, 2001 in Washington, DC. At 7:59a.m., the plane departed from Boston to Los Angeles International Airport, carrying 81 passengers.[86]. Atta's bags were later recovered in Logan International Airport, and they contained airline uniforms, flight manuals, and other items. If any of the hijackers could not reach their intended targets, Atta said, they were to crash the plane. "I suspect they were casing a fallback position to launch from if, for weather or security, they couldn't get out of Boston, Drumhiller said. Hanjour piloted the plane. After six months, they asked him to leave.[20][21][22]. It is not known where he stayed that night, but on the 29th he registered at the Econo Lodge at 1150 South Las Vegas Boulevard. "Might have just been doing surveillance detection just to see if somebody might have been following him up in that area, Drumhiller said. Tuohey was the ticket agent at the Portland International Jetport who handed two of the terrorists - Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz al-Omari - their boarding passes for an early morning flight to . This was the last transmission heard from Flight 11. In the Czech Republic, some intelligence officials say the source of the purported meeting was an Arab informant who approached the Czech intelligence service with his sighting of Atta only after Atta's photograph had appeared in newspapers all over the world. Mohamed Atta accepted and was in Germany two weeks later, in July. There, Mr. Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, another man the F.B.I. Lip readers have failed to decipher it. He led the team of hijackers who took control of American Airlines flight 11 and flew it into the north tower of New York City's World Trade Center. Bryant said "the picture that came out in the newspaper, that's exactly what that man looked like. With its passengers defiant, the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. [6] At 8:18am, flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney began making phone calls to American Airlines to report what was happening. Another theory is that the 9/11 ringleader was concerned about a last-minute weather glitch or traffic jam in Boston. identifies as one of the 19 hijackers, taxied a small private plane toward a runway when, unexpectedly, it stalled. The 30million CSI-style probe has taken seven years. [64] Law-enforcement officials said Bryant passed a lie-detector exam. Bin al-Shibh passed along bin Laden's list of targets; bin Laden wanted the United States Capitol, the Pentagon, and the World Trade Center to be attacked, as they were deemed "symbols of America." He was the only pilot who was married, to a German national of Turkish descent. [49] The Hamburg group did not stay in Wilhelmsburg for long. . the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackings and the pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center, was a homosexual. [73] The absence of other hotel stays, signed receipts or credit card stubs has led investigators to believe that the men may have met in a safe house provided by other al-Qaeda operatives in Spain. Timeline September 11, 2001. The hijacking began 15 minutes into the flight at around 8:14 a.m., when beverage service would be starting. They continued to inquire about flight schools and personally visited some, including Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma, which they visited on July 3, 2000. Bin al-Shibh later explained that they believed it would contribute to operational security for Atta to fly out of Prague instead of Hamburg, where he traveled from previously. [66][67], Atta began flight training on July 6, 2000, and continued training nearly every day. Atta flew Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. [77] On July 19, Atta returned to the United States, flying on Delta Air Lines from Madrid to Fort Lauderdale, via Atlanta. It's Easy to Get Knives and Razors Onto a Plane, the Hijackers Found, The FBI's Radical Fundamentalist Unit Ignored This Radical Fundamentalist. Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, said the two men never explained why they chose to fly to Miami or apologized for the costs incurred by the school. In January, after flying from Miami to Madrid, he was allowed to re-enter the United States despite overstaying his previous visa. Said Bahaji, a German citizen, was a close friend of Mohammed Atta, the hijacker in control of American Airlines Flight 11 which was the first plane to strike the World Trade Center. Flight controllers, according to airport records, guided the waiting passenger airliners around the stalled aircraft until it was towed away 35 minutes later. At 2:12 p.m. on August 25, Mohammed Atta logged into his Travelocity account. The two other "muscle men," intended to take over the plane, were also Saudi citizens: Abdulaziz al-Omari (A. al-Omari on the flight manifest) and Satam al-Suqami. They had problems following instructions and were both very upset when they failed their Stage 1 exam at Jones Aviation. refused to comment on whether any official investigation had ever been started against the two men, citing the criminal investigation into the hijackings. There was some confusion regarding who Mohamed Atta was, and cases of mistaken identity. Almost all of these points discuss spiritual preparation, such as prayer and citing religious scripture. Ramzi bin al-Shibh was also there, teaching occasional classes, and became Atta's friend. In the first attack at 8.46am, American Airlines Flight 11, travelling from Boston to Los Angeles and piloted by plot leader Mohamed Atta, smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in . Wail's ticket was purchased over the phone with a debit card. Jarrah was the first of the Hamburg group to enter the United States, settling in Venice, Florida, where he began flight training. THE LAST NIGHT. Wail al Shehri (28), Saudi Arabia - Elementary school teacher (brother of Waleed) Waleed al Shehri (22), Saudi Arabia - Student. But Atta's night before 9-11 - which he spent in Portland, Main -- is a mystery that has puzzled terrorism experts for five years. They were among the first to enter the U.S. in May and . A voice believed to be that of al Qaeda hijack leader Mohamed Atta urged passengers to . There hasn't been a successful attack against commercial aviation in the U.S. in the 20 years since 9/11, and outside experts agree that while there is still room for improvement, the TSA has been . Atta flew Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. [110] In an interview on September 24, 2001, Atta Sr. stated, "My son is gone. [48] When he returned in spring 1998, after disappearing for several months, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" than before to those who knew him. He is now with God. [30][41] Atta returned to Hamburg on October 31, 1995,[40] only to join the pilgrimage to Mecca shortly thereafter. [33], After coming to Hamburg in 1992, Atta grew more religiously fanatical and frequented the mosque with greater regularity. On November 29, 1999, Mohamed Atta boarded Turkish Airlines Flight TK1662 from Hamburg to Istanbul, where he changed to flight TK1056 to Karachi, Pakistan. He stayed there until 1998. On July 26, Atta traveled via Continental Airlines to Newark, New Jersey, checked into the Kings Inn Hotel in Wayne, New Jersey, and stayed there until July 30 when he took a flight from Newark back to Fort Lauderdale. "[15] For his thesis, Atta concentrated on the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo. [1][2][3][4][5] Having just turned 33 at the time of the attacks, he was the oldest of the 19 hijackers who took part in the mission. Atta's professor, Dittmar Machule, brought him along on an archaeological expedition to Aleppo in 1994. After consulting with the other hijacker pilots about the flights they also booked on September 11, three days later Atta again visited aa.com and retrieved his reservations and paid for his flight for himself and A. al-Omari (one of his muscle men) using his VISA card. The leader of the nineteen was Mohamed Atta, and they were divided into four groups, one for each plane, each with a pilot who served as group leader: Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Samir Jarrah . Likewise, Shehhi traveled from a different location, in his case via Brussels. He inquired about flight training, "Dear sir, we are a small group of young men from different Arab countries. On July 25, Atta dropped Ziad Jarrah off at Miami International Airport for a flight back to Germany. In August 2001, Atta traveled as a passenger on several "surveillance" flights, to establish in detail how the attacks could be carried out. [59] After obtaining his visa, Atta took a bus on June 2 from Hamburg to Prague where he stayed overnight before traveling on to the United States the next day. The official, Mr. Kraus said, said the two pilots had abandoned the plane without radioing the tower and were walking across the airfield toward the main hanger used for general aviation. By early 1999, Atta had completed his thesis, and formally defended it in August 1999.[47]. [16], On August 4, Atta is believed to have been at Orlando International Airport waiting to pick up suspected "20th Hijacker" Mohammed al-Qahtani from Dubai, who ended up being held by immigration as "suspicious." LA Times Archives, Tracking the Flights Hijacked on 9/11, Last edited on 21 February 2023, at 21:12, [mmmd elmi wd essj.jed t], Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, "On Path to the U.S. The plane is piloted by plot leader Mohamed Atta. He . [91] The angle at which Atta crashed into the North Tower severed all means of escape from Floor 92 or higher, ensuring that no one on those floors was able to make it out alive before the building collapsed 102 minutes later at 10:28 A.M.[92], Because the flight from Portland to Boston had been delayed,[93] his bags did not make it onto Flight 11. On May 2, Atta received his driver's license in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. Atta disappeared from Germany for periods of time, embarking on the hajj in 1995 but also meeting Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan from late-1999 to early-2000. You may have heard about recently. [10] His father, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, was a lawyer, educated in both sharia and civil law. [38] Even before bin al-Shibh had arrived, Atta, Shehhi, and Jarrah were sent to the House of Ghamdi near bin Laden's home in Kandahar, where he was waiting to meet them. He used his credit card to purchase two Swiss Army knives and some chocolate in a shop at the Zrich Airport. Bin Laden asked them to pledge loyalty and commit to suicide missions, which Atta and the other three Hamburg men all accepted. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin. [107], Lt. Col. Shaffer's book also clearly indicates direct identification of the Brooklyn cell, and Mohamed Atta. The incident, which occurred on a busy travel day at the country's ninth-busiest passenger airport, is especially notable because of how close it brought the two men to official scrutiny. [88] At 6:45a.m., while at the Boston airport, Atta took a call from Flight 175 hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi. ''I told them to forget it. "[62][63] Bryant contacted the authorities after recognising Atta in news reports. Jarrah had arrived in the United States on June 27, 2000, after his flight landed at Newark, New Jersey, and Jarrah had decided to go with Shehhi and Atta to search for different flight schools in the US. In mid-1998, Atta worked alongside Shehhi, bin al-Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping. He insisted that she write his name as ATTA, that he originally was from Egypt but had moved to Afghanistan, that he was an engineer and that his dream was to go to a flight school. One former flight instructor said a Federal Aviation Administration official placed an angry call on Dec. 27, threatening to investigate the maintenance record of the plane as well as the two pilots. Hardball takes a look at the top mysteries surrounding the deadliest terror attack on American soil starting with the activities al-Qaida ring leader Mohammed Atta on the evening of Sept. 10, 2001. [103] Shaffer largely based his allegations on the recollections of Navy Captain, Scott Phillpott,[104] who later recanted his recollection, telling investigators that he was "convinced that Atta was not on the chart that we had." Following the real Mohamad Atta and his crash into the World Trade Center, his ghost, like ashes left at Ground Zero, has arisen and entered the public consciousness again. identifies as one of the 19 hijackers, taxied a small private plane toward a runway when, unexpectedly, it stalled. According to The Sunday Times, "American and German investigators have struggled to find evidence of Atta's whereabouts in January 2000 after he disappeared from Hamburg. [52], German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. The FBI also reported that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut, where Atta is known to have eaten that day. On December 26, Atta and Shehhi needed a tow for their rented Piper Cherokee on a taxiway of Miami International Airport after the engine shut down. [7] In Germany, he registered his name as "Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta", and went by the name Mohamed el-Amir at the Hamburg University of Technology. [73], On the morning of July 9, Mohamed Atta rented a silver Hyundai Accent, which he booked from SIXT Rent-A-Car for July 9 to 16, and later extended to the 19th. He mentioned Osama bin Laden and said "this man would someday be known as the world's greatest leader." (Photo By U.S. Navy/Getty Images). About a minute later, he turned the plane southbound, on a course pointed in the direction of New York City. Turning toward New York. In the aftermath of the attack, law enforcement agents discovered a four-page document in Mohamed Atta's baggage. [73][74] After bin al-Shibh returned to Germany on July 16, 2001, Atta had three more days in Spain. Atta stayed in Cairo awhile with his family after Hauth and Bodenstein flew back to Germany. At 8:26 a.m., Flight 11 makes . He provided the first official confirmation that Atta and two other pilots had been in Afghanistan, and he also provided the first dates of the training. While in South Portland, they were seen making two ATM withdrawals and stopping at Wal-Mart. So, did Mohammed Atta go to Portland because of security issues? The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54 in the borough of Harburg, near the Hamburg University of Technology,[50] at which they enrolled.