Hijackers..just curious??

JGriffis

New Member
Hey I was just curious where the hijackers of the 9/11 occurence did their flight training? Any ideas or assumptions about what ratings they had completed etc? I've never read anything about this and it just struck me...thanks
 
I think I remember hearing on the News that they trained at Flight Saftey. Although that's something they don't mention in their Flying Magazine ads.
 
Most of them were at Huffman Aviation in Venice and American Flyers in Ft. Lauderdale. I don't think any were at FSI.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Although that's something they don't mention in their Flying Magazine ads.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe thats because they didn't.

They trained at some hole of an FBO in FL.

...Or was it Sierra?
smirk.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I think I remember hearing on the News that they trained at Flight Saftey. Although that's something they don't mention in their Flying Magazine ads.

[/ QUOTE ]

That was incorrect information. None of the 9/11 terrorists trained at Flight Safety.

Apparently shortly after 9/11 there was a major press conference for many of the flight schools in Florida discussing what was known and not known thus far. As I understand it there were school logo’s positioned behind the speakers and Flight Safety’s logo was fairly prominent. Seeing that reporters and the public deduced that FS was one of the schools that had trained the 9/11 terrorists. This was quickly decided to be false, but the rumor and story still floats around.

That is the way I understand it anyway.
 
Article in AOPA Pilot this month talks about the flight school in FL where they trainied and the impact that 9/11 had on the flight schools in FL.
 
There was more than one school.

Huffman is the one that got the headlines, but I am pretty sure American Flyers had a couple, too.

I remember the reference to strip clubs in FLL, where the so-called muslim freedom fighters would go to lear at American women.
 
The pilot that hit the pentagon trained in MD, he in fact trained in one of my flight schools 172's when we were leasing it to another school.
 
Pan Am had one training there and that school in Oklahoma had one too. There were a few training in San Diego somewhere too. I remember that one because that was where they told the instructor they "didnt want to learn how to land, only fly at cruise." The owner of the FBO there said "they were the worst students he'd ever seen." Pan Am in Minn. was where Mosowee (sp?) told the instructors he "wanted to learn to fly Boeings, not Cessnas", which is what led to police investigating him and putting him jail for his immigration status.

Those are the ones I remember, but I know there were more like Huffman in FL and something about American Flyers in FLL too.

The warning signs were out there but their plan of splitting up around the country covered them well and no one except the monday morning quarterbacks figured that one out till all was said and done.
 
Huffman closed it's doors on flight training, but I think they operate just under another name now. I wonder if it was the effect of them happening to be the school where the hijackers trained?
 
I'm glad the rumor about Flight Safety was cleared up. I to thought that was where some of the Sept. 11 hijackers had trained.
Anyway, i've found that alot of non aviation enthusiast and professionals automatically hear about a flight school in Florida and think that is where the hijackers trained. I just recently did an ad analysis paper for my English class on the Embry Riddle CAPT program ad in AOPA Flight Training ( the one with the Pilot standing on the epaulet). And when I was discussing the analysis with the class, my teacher said "That's where the Sept. 11 hijackers trained". Thats just one example of generalization that people have made about flight schools in Florida
frown.gif
. I knew they hadn't trained at Riddle so I proved her wrong.
 
This is not meant to flame, but what difference does it make where they trained? If you found out you were attending the very school where they obtained their rating(s), would you transfer?

It's not the school's fault. The terrorist that perpetrated 9/11 were in the country legally for the most part.

It's not like they walked into Huffman and told Old Man Huffman - "Look. Here's the deal. We're terrorists and we're going to hijack four 757's and fly them - full of fuel and passengers - into strategic buildings..... but we can't tell you the date. How much for flight training?"

It doesn't make one bit of difference. I've flown into VNC many times. I've been in the FBO where Huffman is (was? I wasn't aware that they closed their doors. They were still there a year and a half ago.) - and it's your normal "mom and pop" FBO that offers flight training.

Nothing more. Nothing less.
 
First of all no one has said anything about that being a factor in them choosing a flight school??? The post is about just being curious and intended to be informational, not compare and contrast flight schools that the terrorists trained... I found out the info on Huffman at www.Huffmanaviation.com
 
I think a few of the hijackers went to Westwind and the instructor who taught them got deported back to England. Thats what I heard on the Phoenix channel 5 news. The school keeps their lips sealed so I don't know the whole story and I doubt I ever will.
 
Back
Top