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Ohio pilot store cited as source of training videos for Sept. 11 hijackers
By TERRY KINNEY BATAVIA, Ohio – A man accused of plotting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and two of the hijackers bought jumbo jet flight training videos from a store in Ohio, prosecutors said.
The first indictment directly related to the suicide hijackings detailed how an "Ohio Pilot Store" sold flight videos for large Boeing jets to Mohammed Atta in November 2000 and Nawaf al-Hazmi in March 2001. Atta and al-Hazmi died in the attacks.
The indictment was issued Tuesday in Alexandria, Va., against Zacarias Moussaoui, 33, who was born in France and is of Moroccan descent.
It charged him "with conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida to murder thousands of innocent people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11."
The indictment said Moussaoui bought flight deck videos for the Boeing 747 Model 400 and the Boeing 747 Model 200 in June.
Attorney General John Ashcroft called Moussaoui an "active participant" with the 19 hijackers who crashed four jetliners in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Moussaoui was detained in August after seeking flight lessons in Minnesota a month before the hijackings.
It was not clear what the name of the store was, but some believe it is Sporty's, which sells aviation training guides and pilot gear such as headsets, leather jackets and sunglasses.
Neither Sporty's nor FBI spokesman Ed Boldt in Cincinnati would confirm that it was the business named, but pilots said they knew of no comparable pilot store in Ohio.
"It's very unfortunate that any products sold by Sporty's may have been used in the training of those involved in the Sept. 11 attack on our nation," Sporty's said in an Oct. 8 statement after the initial visit by the FBI.
Store spokesman Bill Anderson said Tuesday it was unlikely that Moussaoui or the terrorists who died in crashes bought the training videos in person.
The store accepts orders by mail order, phone, Internet and fax. The indictment did not say how the hijackers bought their training materials.
"We're a catalog business," Anderson said.
The videos do not take the place of in-plane training, but could cut a few hours off the flight time needed to earn a pilot's license, Anderson said.
Sporty's is at the Clermont County Airport, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati. It offers flight lessons and has a small store from which customers can see Sporty's main operation – a warehouse with multiple conveyer belt lines where employees pack and ship orders.
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APNP-12-12-01 0715CST
Associated Press Writer