The flight instructor was shocked by the strange meaning of the hijacker’s “happy ride”

In this series, Newsweek describes the road of 9/11, as it happened 20 years ago, day after day.

exist August 15, The flight instructor at the Pan American International Flight Academy contacted him-and was informed by the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization that his visa expired on May 22- FBI The Minneapolis field office decided to detain Zacarias Moussaoui.

The flight instructor told the FBI that Mousavi not only did not fit the image of a normal commercial airline student, but he was not interested in actually learning how to fly. The instructor said that he showed special interest in the “mode control panel” of the flight simulator, which is a machine capable of computerized flight. Moussaoui has proved that during an emulator session he completed, he already knew how to use the mode control panel. The instructor thought this information was ominous, because Mousavi said he went to flight school to “flight happy.” Based on his own experience as a pilot, the instructor knows that the joy of driving involves actually flying the plane, not letting the computer fly.

The flight instructor also reported that although he himself initially raised the issue, Mousavi seemed to be very interested in aircraft doors and their operation, and Mousavi seemed to be surprised to learn that the doors were pressurized by air during the flight. It cannot be opened. cabin.

While the FBI was interviewing Mousavi’s roommate-a 21-year-old Yemeni citizen whose family lives in Saudi Arabia-the agents asked and obtained his permission to search some of their hotel rooms He has luggage within reach. In order to check the weapon, the agent opened several bags that his roommate told them belonged to Mousavi. The agent found a laptop, spiral notebook, many aviation study materials, a mobile phone and a small “intercom” radio in the bag. The agent did not search for these items further.

The roommate allowed the agents to search the room and his belongings. By searching his roommate’s property, agents obtained phone numbers, personal address books, credit card and bank records, and a large number of personal documents. The agents found several pieces of paper written in Arabic, which the roommate thought was his will, and there was a pamphlet suggesting how to prepare the will. In addition, the agents also found a partially completed Pakistan visa application, padded gloves, leg guards, binoculars, hiking boots, Power Point 2002 computer software, and a copy indicating Mousavi’s intention to purchase a handheld GPS The system receiver and rents a file. Camera.

The FBI also discovered that Moussaoui allegedly also worked for a Malaysian company owned by Yazid Sufaat and Sufaat.

The FBI doesn’t know, Sufat is known CIA As members of the Jemaah Islamiyah and host of the January 2000 meeting, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi attended the meeting, they were the aircraft operators heading to Los Angeles. Another piece of paper owned by Mousavi wrote Ahad Sabet’s name and phone number in Germany. The US intelligence agency later learned that Sabet was an alias for the financial managers of Ramsey bin Hibb and Mousavi, who became famous in Hamburg.

Agents in Minneapolis determined that Mousavi had been to Pakistan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Europe. They also obtained the name and surname of a colleague of Mousavi in ​​Oklahoma, as well as the name of another. When the roommate was asked to explain why he and Moussaoui had to wear padded gloves and leggings, he replied that Moussaoui bought them a set so that they could train to protect themselves from American crime. He also told the FBI that Mousavi advocated that “true Muslims must be prepared to fight.”

Although the FBI agent who dealt with Mousavi believed that he might intend to commit terrorist acts involving his flight training, in view of Mousavi’s refusal to cooperate, there was internal debate on what the next step was. The bureau discussed a criminal search warrant, a search warrant for his laptop and other electronic devices under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and expelled him to France to let their secret police do dirty work.

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