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.'

FMI: www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1187734.ece