NP 20/20 hindsight

[Doug Millison]

An on-the-ball FBI and FAA might have prevented the September 11 attack and
the need to blow poor Afghanistan to bits...


 	 	 	 	 
 

Eagan flight trainer wouldn't let unease about Moussaoui rest
Greg Gordon
Star Tribune

 
Published Dec 21 2001


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When a Twin Cities flight instructor phoned the FBI
last August to alert the agency that a terrorist might be taking lessons to
fly a jumbo jet, he did it in a dramatic way:


"Do you realize how serious this is?" the instructor asked an FBI agent.
"This man wants training on a 747. A 747 fully loaded with fuel could be
used as a weapon!"






The aviation student he was talking about was Zacarias Moussaoui, who was
arrested the following day and last week was charged in a federal
indictment with conspiring with Osama bin Laden and others to carry out the
Sept. 11 attacks.



New details of how Moussaoui raised suspicions at the Pan Am International
Flight Academy in Eagan -- and the company's eerily prescient tip -- are
emerging from the briefings the school recently gave to congressional
offices.


The still-unidentified flight instructor became wary of Moussaoui
immediately, according to Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar and others with
direct knowledge of the briefings.


Moussaoui first raised eyebrows when, during a simple introductory
exchange, he said he was from France, but then didn't seem to understand
when the instructor spoke French to him.


Moussaoui then became belligerent and evasive about his background,
Oberstar and other sources said. In addition, he seemed inept in basic
flying procedures, while seeking expensive training on an advanced
commercial jet simulator.


Besides alerting the FBI about Moussaoui, the school's Phoenix office
called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) early this year about
another student -- Hani Hanjour, who was believed to be the pilot of the
plane that flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. The school had raised
questions about Hanjour's limited ability to speak English, the universal
language of aviation.


An FAA representative sat in on a class to observe Hanjour, who was from
Saudi Arabia, and discussed with school officials finding an
Arabic-speaking person to help him with his English, said Oberstar and
others with direct knowledge of the school's briefings.


Oberstar and Minnesota Rep. Martin Sabo, who also was briefed by the
school, praised Pan Am for its efforts to safeguard the skies and for
passing federal authorities clues to possible terrorist activities before
Sept. 11.


They said that, with the benefit of hindsight, it appears that the FBI and
the FAA could have responded more vigorously.


"From what I've heard, the school was clearly more alert than federal
officials," Sabo said.


[...]

continues at http://www.startribune.com/stories/1576/913687.html