why did mohamed atta crash the plane

They instead traveled to Afghanistan over a two-week period in late November. A Pakistani businessman named Mohammed Atta had come to Prague from Saudi Arabia on May 31, 2000, with this second Atta possibly contributing to the confusion. Mohammed Atta sat in seat 8D in Business Class. Atta also started and led a prayer group, which Ahmed Maklat and Mounir El Motassadeq joined. The day has now come for us to carry out our plan. A passenger revolt kept Flight 93 from hitting the Capitol. The alleged distortions of the IG report centered around excluding any evidence that Able Danger had identified and tracked Atta years before 9/11. While in the United States he traveled to Lawrenceville, Georgia, where he and Shehhi visited an LA Fitness Health Club. Mohamed Atta accepted and was in Germany two weeks later, in July. 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. [49] The Hamburg group did not stay in Wilhelmsburg for long. [3][56] On his return journey, Atta left Karachi on February 24, 2000, by flight TK1057 to Istanbul where he changed to flight TK1661 to Hamburg. Some say it was the makeup of Jarrah's team, that he had only three instead of four muscle men (because the 20th hijacker and his fourth was denied entry into the U.S.). [38] The instructions in his last will and testament reflect both Sunni funeral practices along with some more puritanical demands from Salafism, including asking people not "to weep and cry" and to generally refrain from showing emotion. He was the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 which he crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks. It had been overlooked that there would still be a security screen to pass in Boston because of this distinct detail of the terminal's arrangement. The reservation was not used and canceled on August 9 with the reason "Family Medical Emergency". . [87], The connection between the two flights at Logan International Airport was within Terminal B, but the two gates were not connected within security. Bin al-Shibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The Mossad killed him. One of them came on Dec. 26 at Miami International Airport. [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. His mother, Bouthayna Mohamed Mustapha Sheraqi, came from a wealthy farming and trading family and was also educated. [11] Atta was the only son; he had two older sisters who are both well-educated and successful in their careers one as a medical doctor and the other as a professor. This claim has been disputed; Terry McDermott has argued that it is unusual for someone to go on pilgrimage so soon after the first time and to spend three months there (more than Hajj requires). On the way, Atta stopped in Reus to pick up Ramzi bin al-Shibh at the airport. Mohamed Atta had varied his name on documents, also using "Mehan Atta", "Mohammad El Amir", "Muhammad Atta", "Mohamed El Sayed", "Mohamed Elsayed", "Muhammad al-Amir", "Awag Al Sayyid Atta", and "Awad Al Sayad". 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. Phillpott said that Shaffer was "relying on my recollection 100 percent," and the Defense Department Inspector General's report indicated that Philpott "may have exaggerated knowing Atta's identity because he supported using Able Danger's techniques to fight terrorism. ", "Staff Report "We Have Some Planes": The Four Flights a Chronology", National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, "The Aviation Security System and the 9/11 Attacks Staff Statement No. ; Azrbaycanca; Catal; etina; Dansk; Deutsch; Espaol; ; Franais; ; Hausa; Bahasa Indonesia; Italiano; . "There's a real question there because he took a tremendous risk in going to Portland the night before and then having to catch a commuter flight to Boston, said Roger Cressey, who was director of transnational threats for President Bush's National Security Council. Atta was believed to have used a payphone at the airport to phone a number "linked to al-Qaeda" after Qahtani was denied entry.[78]. At 2:12 p.m. on August 25, Mohammed Atta logged into his . My name is Mohamed Atta. They lived in the area for several months. It is only Jarrah's connection to Bin al-Shibh and others that would have connected him to any plot, including his attendance at the al Quds mosque in Hamburg. "[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. [16][60] On July 6, 2000, Atta, Jarrah and Shehhi enrolled at Huffman Aviation in Venice, where they entered the Accelerated Pilot Program. The hijacked airliner came down . We would like to start training for the career of airline professional pilots. In the summer of 2001, Mohamed Atta, the operational leader of the 9/11 conspiracy, drove another conspirator, Ziah Jarrah, to Miami's main airport so that Mr. Jarrah could fly to Germany to visit . Both enrolled at Jones Aviation in Sarasota and took training there for a brief time. Instead, he went to Central Office & Travel in Pompano Beach to purchase a ticket for a flight to Newark, leaving on the evening of August 7 and schedule to return in the evening on August 9. He said they wanted advice on trying to restart the plane. Lip readers have failed to decipher it. [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 date for the planes operation is set. "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. On the morning of September 11, 2001, 46 minutes into United Airlines Flight 93, a nonstop flight from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco, four hijackers took control of the Boeing 757-222. Statements entered at . On December 29 and 30, Atta and Marwan went to the Opa-locka Airport where they practiced on a Boeing 727 simulator, and they obtained Boeing 767 simulator training from Pan Am International on December 31. He is now with God. There was some confusion regarding who Mohamed Atta was, and cases of mistaken identity. On June 28, Atta arrived at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to meet with the three other pilots. The crash and fire kill 59 on the plane and 125 on the . Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, had already gotten a cellphone call from Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi. 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 . "[15] For his thesis, Atta concentrated on the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo. 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. Bin Laden sent them to see Atef to get a general overview of the mission, and then they were sent to Karachi to see Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to go over specifics. 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. [79], On August 23, Atta's driver license was revoked in absentia after he failed to show up in traffic court to answer the earlier citation for driving without a license. Although estimates range from 18 Just stay quiet and you will be OK. We are returning to the airport." "[98], In the months following the September 11 attacks, officials at the Czech Interior Ministry asserted that Atta made a trip to Prague on April 8, 2001, to meet with an Iraqi intelligence agent named Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani. During his time in the United States, Jarrah left five times to visit his wife in Germany and he constantly communicated with her, both over the phone and in email. 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. 8:24 am - Hijacker Mohammed Atta makes the first of two accidental transmissions from Flight 11 to ground control (apparently in an attempt to communicate with the plane's cabin). Bin al-Shibh explained that he passed along instructions from Osama bin Laden, including his desire for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible. ''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. At this time, the pilots stopped responding to air traffic control, and the aircraft began deviating from the planned route. [8] In mid-1995, he stayed for three months in Cairo, on a grant from the Carl Duisberg Society, along with fellow students Volker Hauth and Ralph Bodenstein. Atta purchased cockpit videos for Boeing 747-200, Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 and Boeing 767-300ER models via mail-order from Sporty's Pilot Shop in Batavia, Ohio, in November and December 2000.[16]. Unidentified sources from both Al-Qaeda and the United States confirmed The Times the video's authenticity. By early 1993, Atta had moved into university housing with two roommates, in Centrumshaus. While in the United States, Atta owned a red 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix. In-laws characterized the father of Atta as "austere, strict, and private," and neighbors viewed the family as reclusive. [30], By mid-1998, Atta was no longer eligible for university housing in Centrumshaus. The two al-Shehri brothers selected seats 2A and 2B in first class. After Jarrah's team hijacked Flight 93, flight attendants and passengers started making phone calls from the back of the plane. Spanish investigators have said that Marwan al-Shehhi and two others later joined the meeting. In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. Another theory is that the 9/11 ringleader was concerned about a last-minute weather glitch or traffic jam in Boston. Newsweek is reconstructing the road to 9/11 as it was constructed 20 years ago, day by day. According to Bryant, Atta wanted to finance the purchase of a crop-duster. The Mohamed Atta Files. 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? (L to R, top to bottom) Ahmed Alnami, Ahmed Ibrahim A. al-Haznawi, Ziad Samir al-Jarrah, and Saeed Alghamdi. On the morning of September 11, Atta boarded American Airlines Flight 11, which he and his team then hijacked. They may have helped arrange and host the meeting in Tarragona. This included the construction of high-rise buildings in Cairo and other ancient cities in the region. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin. ''Tower seemed to have no trouble taxiing around it at a busy time,'' the handwritten report reads. [72] After the stopover in Zrich, he arrived in Madrid at 4:45pm on Swissair Flight 656, and spent several hours at the airport. Follow the Newsweek live tweet of September 11, 2001 (based upon the new book On That Day) starting at 4:45 a.m. EST @Roadto911. 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. On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. [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.