My name is Mohamed Atta. THE LAST NIGHT. He . Apr. On August 6, Atta and Shehhi rented a white, four-door 1995 Ford Escort from Warrick's Rent-A-Car, which was returned on August 13. Mr. Kraus noted that the two men had been trained on smaller, ''uncontrolled'' airports that operate without flight towers. The men who would become the pilots of the four hijacked planes began working on the plot in 1999, traveled to the US in 2000, and enrolled in flight training schools. [48] When he returned in spring 1998, after disappearing for several months, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" than before to those who knew him. A NATION CHALLENGED: THE SUSPECTS; Mohamed Atta in Close Call In Incident at Miami Airport, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/17/us/nation-challenged-suspects-mohamed-atta-close-call-incident-miami-airport.html. Mohammed Atta, 33, and Marwan al-Shehhi, 23, piloted the planes that hit the World Trade Center, the North and South Towers, respectively. That aircraft hit the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. United Flight 175, also from Boston, hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. "One of the things we did at the White House was push the FBI to focus on Portland to determine whether or not there were people there that they might have met with, Cressey said. Investigators believe the call was to confirm the attacks were ready to begin. He assumed that they had already radioed the tower so he advised them to go to the offices of Signature, the private general aviation operator at the airport. Now, we are living in Germany since a while for study purposes. Months later both he and Jarrah enrolled at flying schools in America. identifies as one of the 19 hijackers, taxied a small private plane toward a runway when, unexpectedly, it stalled. The reservation was not used and canceled on August 9 with the reason "Family Medical Emergency". Undated photos of suspected hijackers of United Airlines flight #93 that crashed in rural Pennsylvania, released by the FBI September 27, 2001 in Washington, DC. After six months, they asked him to leave.[20][21][22]. "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. "[46][47] At the winter break in 1997, Atta left and did not return to Hamburg for three months. "Might have just been doing surveillance detection just to see if somebody might have been following him up in that area, Drumhiller said. This encounter took place "around the third week of April to the third week of May of 2000", before Atta's official entry date into the United States (see below). As it turned out, the employee said, a spark plug had needed tightening and the two pilots had probably flooded the engine. 1) Making an oath to die and renew your intentions. When they later returned to Huffman, Mr. Pursell said, they were reprimanded. [71] On July 8, Atta was recorded on surveillance video when he withdrew 1700 Swiss francs from an ATM. [6] Atta was not heard from again for nine minutes until 8:33:59, when he was heard to say: "Nobody move, please. Atta graduated from Cairo University with marks insufficient for the graduate program. Born and raised in Egypt, Atta studied architecture at Cairo University, graduating in 1990, and continued his studies in Germany at the Hamburg University of Technology. [15][17], Atta also got engaged to a woman lined up by his father and her family in Cairo, at late 1999, after coming back from Germany the same year. In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. The same day, he booked a one-way first-class ticket via the Internet on America West Flight 244 from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Las Vegas. The couple explained at dinner that they ran an exchange program and invited Atta to continue his studies in Germany; they also offered him room and board at their home in the city. [39], On August 1, 1995, Atta returned to Egypt for three months of study. After consulting with the other hijacker pilots about the flights they also booked on September 11, three days later Atta again visited aa.com and retrieved his reservations and paid for his flight for himself and A. al-Omari (one of his muscle men) using his VISA card. In-laws characterized the father of Atta as "austere, strict, and private," and neighbors viewed the family as reclusive. Usually in these types of things you have your initial plan and you have a fallback plan. There are two separate concourses in Terminal B; the south concourse is mainly used by US Airways and the north one is mostly used by American Airlines. Thirty minutes later, Marwan al-Shehhi hit the South Tower. The night before, Atta went to Portland, Maine, a trip that has mystified terrorism experts for five years. . On August 6, Atta booked a flight on Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, leaving on August 7 and returning on August 9. [1][2][3][4][5] Having just turned 33 at the time of the attacks, he was the oldest of the 19 hijackers who took part in the mission. A huge search operation is underway to try and find any survivors from the horror plane crash in Nepal, but officials have said that the chances of finding any . He had vacationed often as a child (and would continue to take vacations with his wife while he was in the United States) and was the best English speaker and student of the four. [33], After coming to Hamburg in 1992, Atta grew more religiously fanatical and frequented the mosque with greater regularity. They drove a rented Nissan to Portland, Maine, and arrived at the Comfort Inn Hotel at 5:43 p.m. At the time, Tyler Drumhiller was a top official at the CIA, responsible for all European Operations. He asked about the Pentagon and the White House. On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. We will high-jack airliners and crash them into specific targets. He mentioned Osama bin Laden and said "this man would someday be known as the world's greatest leader." We are going back to the airport. 3", "Ticket agent recalls anger in Atta's eyes", "9/11 victim calmly describes hijack on haunting tape", https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-18-na-introflight18-story.html, "102 Minutes: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Die", "TWO YEARS LATER: THE 91ST FLOOR; The Line Between Life and Death, Still Indelible", "FBI affidavit: Flight attendant made call to report hijacking", "A Case of Mistaken Identity: Mohammad Atta Not Linked to Bus Bombing", "2nd Witness Arrested; 25 Held for Questioning", "A Tale of Two 'Attas': How spurious Czech intelligence muddied the 9/11 probe", "Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in '00", "Officer Says 2 Others Are Source of His Atta Claims", "Hijackers Were Not Identified Before 9/11, Investigation Says", "Exclusive: Witnesses in Defense Dept. Atta was at the controls when the 767 collided with the . By the time it took off, Mohammed Atta was just four minutes away from hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Mohamed Atta Flight Record. [30][41] Atta returned to Hamburg on October 31, 1995,[40] only to join the pilgrimage to Mecca shortly thereafter. The day has now come for us to carry out our plan. [108], Atta's father, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, a retired lawyer in Egypt, vehemently rejected allegations his son was involved in the September 11 attacks, and instead accused the Mossad and the United States government of having a hand in framing his son. American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked by five al Qaeda terrorists led by Mohamed Atta and was deliberately crashed into the North Tower (on the right) of the World Trade Center at 8:46am local . But more likely it is that the origination of his flight in Newark, delayed on the ground for 40 minutes, that made his flight more vulnerable. Wail al Shehri (28), Saudi Arabia - Elementary school teacher (brother of Waleed) Waleed al Shehri (22), Saudi Arabia - Student. [76], During the meetings in Spain, Atta and bin al-Shibh had coordinated the details of the attacks. [110] In an interview on September 24, 2001, Atta Sr. stated, "My son is gone. After he graduated in 1990 with an architecture degree,[15] he joined the Engineers Syndicate, an organization under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood. On American Airlines Flight 11, Atta joined four other hijackers. Atta also started and led a prayer group, which Ahmed Maklat and Mounir El Motassadeq joined. The next day, he received a five-year B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa from the United States embassy in Berlin. Unable to restart the engine, the two men shut the plane down, flipped off the lights and, by one account, walked off. 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". Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, had already gotten a cellphone call from Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi. "It is possible that he calculated that security would be less stringent in Portland, Maine, than it would be in Boston, said terrorism expert Steve Emerson. An airport incident report indicates that the Piper Cherokee stalled at 5:45 p.m. and was removed from the taxiway by 6:20 p.m. "[1][95], In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the names of the hijackers were released. The report suggests that incident was an inconvenience but did not result in major delays. There, Atta and bin al-Shibh held a meeting to complete the planning of the attacks. Former Metro Sheriff Jerry Keller recounts the time 9/11 terrorists spent in Las Vegas. Likewise, Shehhi traveled from a different location, in his case via Brussels. Flight controllers, according to airport records, guided the waiting passenger airliners around the stalled aircraft until it was towed away 35 minutes later. Bin al-Shibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda. Al-Omari chose 8G and al-Suqami chose 10B in Business Class. We went through the logs of ferries leaving Maine, and we went through the logs of airlines and anything associated with potential for a terrorist cell to support Atta. Financial records and bank video show Atta and Al-Omari made two ATM withdrawals in Portland, and the men were reportedly spotted at an area Wal-Mart, as well as in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut restaurant. [73] The absence of other hotel stays, signed receipts or credit card stubs has led investigators to believe that the men may have met in a safe house provided by other al-Qaeda operatives in Spain. [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. Realizing they were facing a suicide mission, flight 93 passengers fought for control of the plane. The second chapter showed Atta and Ziad Jarrah reading their wills together ten days later on January 18. In Germany, he enrolled in the urban planning graduate program at the Hamburg University of Technology. Sun 14 Oct 2001 11.31 EDT. One of them came on Dec. 26 at Miami International Airport. American Airlines Flight 11: Mohamed Atta, Egypt (33) - Tactical leader of 9/11 plot and pilot. In August 2001, Atta traveled as a passenger on several "surveillance" flights, to establish in detail how the attacks could be carried out. Both enrolled at Jones Aviation in Sarasota and took training there for a brief time. The hijacking began 15 minutes into the flight at around 8:14 a.m., when beverage service would be starting. He rented a Chevrolet Malibu from an Alamo Rent A Car agency. It was Atta who took control of the first hijacked aircraft, American Airlines Flight 11, and told passengers, "Nobody move, everything will be OK. Statements entered at . Mohammed AttaUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (U.S. v. Moussaoui) Mistakenly broadcasting over the air traffic control channel instead of the public-address system, flight 11 hijacker Mohammad Atta, who is piloting the plane, announces, "We have some planes. "They conformed to all the guidelines of checking in." The only problem, Tuohey said, came when he told Atta that, after arriving in Boston, Atta and Omari would have to check in once again before transferring to American Airlines Flight 11. [45], After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. (Photo By U.S. Navy/Getty Images). [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. Although the marriage never happened, Atta's father mentioned they liked each other.[18]. Bryant said "the picture that came out in the newspaper, that's exactly what that man looked like. Having little else to do, he mostly studied at home and easily excelled in school. "[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. Had Atta or any of these men been on international watchlists, their names would have been flagged upon making a domestic reservation. 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.). But Atta's night before 9-11 which he spent in Portland, Main -- is a mystery that has puzzled terrorism experts for five years. [100][101][102], In 2005, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Congressman Curt Weldon alleged that the Defense Department data mining project, Able Danger, produced a chart that identified Atta, along with Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al-Mihdhar, and Marwan al-Shehhi, as members of a Brooklyn-based al-Qaeda cell in early 2000. At 2:43 p.m., Atta established an American Airlines "AAdvantage" profile #6H26L04 and reserved a business class seat on American Airlines Flight 11 departing Boston at 7:45 a.m. Reading airline charts and inquiring with the airline, he had determined that the flight would be in a Boeing 767-223ER plane, one that he had scouted and studied over months, taking numerous test flights to screen the plane and the boarding and security procedures. In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. If any of the hijackers could not reach their intended targets, Atta said, they were to crash the plane. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Did he meet with somebody in Portland who helped him with the attack? They may have helped arrange and host the meeting in Tarragona. 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, who is thought to have flown American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center AP "I said, specifically, 'These two clowns are up to . In November 2000, Atta earned his instrument rating, and then a commercial pilot's license in December from the Federal Aviation Administration. [16] Atta and Shehhi established accounts at SunTrust Bank and received wire transfers from Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew in the United Arab Emirates. Mohamed Atta, right, and Abdulaziz al-Omari are seen passing through security at the Portland Jetport on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Credit: Courtesy of Spectrum News Service It is a day no one . "[15] For his thesis, Atta concentrated on the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo. According to Bryant, Atta wanted to finance the purchase of a crop-duster. Ringleader Mohammed Atta and at least four of the other 19 hijackers made six visits to Las Vegas between late May and mid-August of 2001. Bin al-Shibh later explained that they believed it would contribute to operational security for Atta to fly out of Prague instead of Hamburg, where he traveled from previously. Madam Speaker, I say to the Speaker and to the Members that the ghost of Mohamad Atta has attacked our Nation. And so, we still don't know what he was doing there.". [23] He kept to himself to such an extent that he would often react to simple greetings with silence. This photo taken 12 September 2001 shows the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA. Why was Ziad Jarrah's plane the only one that failed to hit its target? On June 28, Atta arrived at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to meet with the three other pilots. Of the four hijacker pilots, Jarrah was the most westernized, coming from a Lebanese secular background and Christian schooling before moving to Germany for university studies. Plane Crash. [86][89] The plane's transponder was switched off at 8:21a.m. At 8:24:38a.m., a voice believed to be Atta's was heard by air traffic controllers, saying: "We have some planes. In the spring of 2000, Atta entered the United States and enrolled in an aviation school in Venice, Fla. On Sept. 10, 2001, Atta picked up another 9/11 terrorist, Abdul-Azzia Al-Omari, at the Milner Hotel in Boston. ''Tower seemed to have no trouble taxiing around it at a busy time,'' the handwritten report reads. [16][60] On July 6, 2000, Atta, Jarrah and Shehhi enrolled at Huffman Aviation in Venice, where they entered the Accelerated Pilot Program. Practicing for his assignment, Ziad Jarrah took a check ride at Airborne Systems Flight School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on August 17. While in South Portland, they were seen making two ATM withdrawals and stopping at Wal-Mart. During that time Atta flew out of Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville with a pilot, and Atta and either the pilot or Shehhi flew around the Atlanta area. But with more than 200,000 warrants pending on minor offenses in Broward County, he was never picked up. [25] The invitation had been for a three-day visit, but Atta ended up staying several weeks that August, only to visit Aleppo yet again that December. [13][14] In 1985, Atta enrolled at Cairo University and focused his studies on engineering. [94], On October 1, 2006, The Sunday Times released a video it had obtained "through a previously tested channel", purporting to show Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah recording a martyrdom message six months earlier at a training camp in Afghanistan. Mohamed Atta's Story. . 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. The Mossad killed him. Nepal plane crash victim shared tragic online post moments before 68 passengers died. After Jarrah's team hijacked Flight 93, flight attendants and passengers started making phone calls from the back of the plane. Dale Kraus, then the general manager at Huffman, recalled a telephone call that came within minutes of the incident in Miami from an irritated official in the flight tower. [55], A video surfaced in October 2006. [8][29] Among other odd jobs to supplement his income, Atta sometimes worked at a cleaning company and sometimes bought and sold cars. Had his conversations been monitored, the NSA would have heard the conversations of a husband and wife, talking about day-to-day life, in the German language, probably raising no suspicions. "He said he was an engineer and he wanted to build a chemical . He mentioned Al Qaeda and said the organization "could use memberships from Americans". FBI investigators have officially concluded that 11 of the 19 terrorists who hijacked the aircraft on 11 September did not know they were on a suicide mission, Whitehall . They checked out the next morning, and spent the next few days at an unknown location in Tarragona. He was among the highest-scoring students; by his senior year, he was admitted to an exclusive architecture program. "These guys looked like they might have been on business travel," Tuohey said. Just after 9:03 a.m., United 175 crashed into the World Trade Center's South Tower. Dekkers has written a book, "Guilty By Association," about his experience with Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, the two hijackers whose act of terrorism left nearly 3,000 people dead. 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. If you try to make any moves you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Atta disappeared from Germany for periods of time, embarking on the hajj in 1995 but also meeting Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan from late-1999 to early-2000. [42] He made acquaintances at al-Quds; some of whom visited him on occasion at Centrumshaus. That night and twice the next morning, he called Bashar Ahmad Ali Musleh, a Jordanian student in Hamburg who served as a liaison for bin al-Shibh. On May 2, Atta received his driver's license in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. 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]. Mohamed Atta, one of the key organizers among the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, left behind a five-page handwritten document in Arabic that includes Islamic prayers . On December 22, Atta and Shehhi applied to Eagle International for large jet and simulator training for McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 737-300 models. When Atta returned, he claimed that his passport was lost and applied for a new one, which is a common tactic to erase evidence of travel to places such as Afghanistan. The crash and fire kill 59 on the plane and 125 on the . [16] Atta traveled twice to Las Vegas on "surveillance flights" rehearsing how the 9/11 attacks would be carried out. One former flight instructor said a Federal Aviation Administration official placed an angry call on Dec. 27, threatening to investigate the maintenance record of the plane as well as the two pilots. Atta's professor, Dittmar Machule, brought him along on an archaeological expedition to Aleppo in 1994. Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, said the two men never explained why they chose to fly to Miami or apologized for the costs incurred by the school. The first chapter of the video showed bin Laden at Tarnak Farms on January 8, 2000. "Nothing they said or did raised any suspicions at all," he told the commission's investigators. He held interviews with the German news magazine Bild am Sonntag in late 2002, saying his son was alive and hiding in fear for his life, and that American Christians were responsible for the attacks. Atta was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 1,600 people during the attacks. [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. The two al-Shehri brothers selected seats 2A and 2B in first class. By the time it took off, Mohammed Atta was just four minutes away from hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Anyone can read what you share. . They were all well-educated, had experience of living in western society, along with some English skills, and would be able to obtain visas. He used his credit card to purchase two Swiss Army knives and some chocolate in a shop at the Zrich Airport. 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. Atta stayed in Cairo awhile with his family after Hauth and Bodenstein flew back to Germany. She observed Muslim customs, taking taxis to and from the office so as not to come into close physical contact with men on buses. So, did Mohammed Atta go to Portland because of security issues? Abdulaziz al Omari (22), Saudi Arabia - Airport security guard. Mr. Pursell later posted a sign inside the flight school forbidding novice pilots from flying into Miami International. "[62][63] Bryant contacted the authorities after recognising Atta in news reports. 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. Bin Laden was concerned about having so many operatives in the United States. Newsweek is reconstructing the road to 9/11 as it was constructed 20 years ago, day by day. Footage shows the five hijackers who flew American Flight 77 into the Pentagon progressing through security checks at Washington's Dulles International Airport. At 2:12 p.m. on August 25, Mohammed Atta logged into his Travelocity account. ", The other possibility is that Atta went to Portland for a final meeting with an unknown supporter. [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. 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. The men who planned and carried out the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings staked out the White House before deciding that their targets should be the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and the U.S . Political psychologist Jerrold Post has suggested that Atta and his fellow hijackers were just following orders from al-Qaeda leadership, "and whatever their destructive, charismatic leader Osama bin Laden said was the right thing to do for the sake of the cause was what they would do. It is not known where he stayed that night, but on the 29th he registered at the Econo Lodge at 1150 South Las Vegas Boulevard. 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 . . Ziad Jarrah should demonstrate that intelligence collection needs to be a holistic endeavor and is highly complicated. "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. While in the United States he traveled to Lawrenceville, Georgia, where he and Shehhi visited an LA Fitness Health Club. But, he agreed, it raised a host of questions, most notably one that remains unanswered: Why were the two novice pilots flying into a heavily trafficked airport on such a busy day? 17--Former federal terrorism investigators say a piece of luggage hastily checked in at the Portland, Maine, airport by a World Trade Center hijacker on the morning of Sept. 11 provided the . "[113] In turn, political scientist Robert Pape has claimed that Atta was motivated by his commitment to the political cause, that he was psychologically normal, and that he was "not readily characterized as depressed, not unable to enjoy life, not detached from friends and society. Then at 8:50pm, he checked into the Hotel Diana Cazadora in Barajas, a town near the airport. that best enable air traffic controllers to follow a plane's path. [6] At 8:18am, flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney began making phone calls to American Airlines to report what was happening. In this field, we haven't yet any knowledge but we are ready to undergo an intensive training program (up to ATP and eventually higher)." [32] Atta Sr. rejected media reports that stated his son was drinking wildly, and instead described his son as a quiet boy uninvolved with politics, shy and devoted to studying architecture. Atta returned to Hamburg in February 2000, and began inquiring about flight training in the United States. Each day a new story will be published here. [112], There are multiple, conflicting explanations for Atta's behavior and motivation. In mid-1998, Atta worked alongside Shehhi, bin al-Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping. [58], On May 17, Atta applied for a United States visa. The Washington Post quoted a United States Air Force official who explained, "discrepancies in their biographical data, such as birth dates 20 years off, indicate we are probably not talking about the same people. He seldom bathed, and they could not bear his "complete, almost aggressive insularity". Bin Laden asked them to pledge loyalty and commit to suicide missions, which Atta and the other three Hamburg men all accepted. Mr. Kraus said Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi told him they had not been aware that they needed to radio the tower for instructions. The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54 in the borough of Harburg, near the Hamburg University of Technology,[50] at which they enrolled. [70], In July 2001, Atta again left for Spain in order to meet with bin al-Shibh for the last time. Following the real Mohamad Atta and his crash into the World Trade Center, his ghost, like ashes left at Ground Zero, has arisen and entered the public consciousness again. He led the team of hijackers who took control of American Airlines flight 11 and flew it into the north tower of New York City's World Trade Center.