The Man Who Taught Atta And Al-Shehhi To Fly Tries To Move
On
You may not know who Rudi Dekkers is, but you can probably
appreciate his dilemma. He's the guy who owned the flight school in
Venice, Florida which trained Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi,
who flew the two planes that hit the World Trade Center in New York
on 9/11. He's currently promoting a book on the topic, titled
"Guilty by Association," which he hopes will set the record
straight.
Dekkers says he endured death threats, and was the victim of
false rumors that he had been friends with Atta, and had even gone
to a strip club with him while the terrorist trained at his flight
school. Dekkers claims he has lost a total of $12 million as a
result of the association, and rumors which included one about the
hijackers specifically requesting to be taught to steer, but not
land, Boeing airliners.
In his book, Dekkers tells his story of an entrepreneur who rose
from beginnings living on a houseboat in the Netherlands with an
alcoholic mother and authoritarian father. After a series of menial
jobs, Dekkers says he made it big as a home developer, and took up
flying when his income afforded him the opportunity. He moved with
his family to Florida at age 35. He never bothered to get a green
card.
A partner financed his takeover of Huffman Aviation in Venice.
He says Atta and al-Shehhi said they wanted to get their pilot
certificates so they could get airline jobs back home in the middle
east, and that their arrival during the slow summer months promised
to bring his flight school $40,000 in needed revenue. He says both
students did earn pilot certificates.
For all he says other people and 9/11 itself did to him
unfairly, Dekkers has also created his own problems. The St.
Petersburg Times reports he's left a trail of claims for unpaid
bills, owes a fine for installing swimming pools without becoming a
licensed contractor, and surrendered his pilot certificate to
settle FAA allegations he conducted unlicensed charter flights. He
and his wife are awaiting a foreclosure notice after discontinuing
mortgage payments on their 6,500-sq.-ft. home in the gated La Vida
community. He owes the IRS over $50,000.
But his situation may not be hopeless. His book is generating
interest and sales, and Dekkers tells the St. Petersburg Times, "I
have so many ideas to start a business. All my life I think outside
the box. That's how I make money.'