T5 B46 Footnote Materials 3 Of 3 Fdr- 3-18-02 Doj Oig Interview- Rudi Dekkers-huffman Aviation 151

9/11 Law E n f o r c e m e n t

Pri\y ,//9/ll Personal Privacy

of Justice

MEMORANDUM OF INVESTIGATION

Office of the Inspector General

OFFICE OF OVERSIGHT AND REVIEW

On March 18, 2Q02 at 12 noon, OIG Special Agent] j and Program Analyst | | met with RUdi Dekkers,CEO/President of Huffman Aviation^inc. to discuss his contacts with the two 9/11 hijackers who attended his flight school (Mohamad Atta and Marwan Alshehhi). We met at the Naples, Florida office of Dekkers' attorney, Casey Wolff, who was present during the interview. Background Dekkers stated that he is not a U,S. citizen; he is a Dutch citizen who is in the United States on an E-2 [Treaty Investor] visa. He said that he has been the president of Huffman/Aviation since June 1999. He is also the president of Deckers Aviation Group located in Venice, Florida and Aerojet Service Cerxter, Inc./ located in Naples, Florida. Initial Contacts Dekkers stated that Atta arid Alshehhi first showed up at the school on July 1, 2000. They spoke to the student coordinator, Nicole Antini, who provided them with information on the flight school [Note: Antini subsequently told us that | [was the school coordinator at this time and that | |was tne one wno had the initial contact with the hijackers]. They returned on July 3, 2000 and said that they were interested in enrolling in the professional pilots course. Dekkers added that he had no knowledge of Atta and Alshehhi prior to July. He stated that Atta and Alshehhi had previously attended Jones Aviation, so both had had some piloting experience. It was his understanding that they were asked to leave Jones Aviation due to their bad attitudes. They presented their log books when applying at Huffman to prove that they had some prior flight experience. According to Dekkers, it was out of the norm for foreign students to apply in person. To his knowledge, all other foreign students in his school had applied from overseas. He required Atta and Alshehhi to first take private lessons with his company before enrolling in the professional pilots course. This was done to make sure that they were "serious" about the course. He added that he routinely requires students to first take private lessons for 2 to 3 months before enrolling in a full-time course. About a month after they started the private lessons, the flight instructor complained to Dekkers about Atta's and Alshehhi's attitudes, stating that they weren't listening to him. The instructor asked for Dekkers' permission to kick them out of the course if their attitudes didn' t approve. Dekkers told the instructor to give them another chance. Apparently there were no more problems, since they were allowed to Special Agent Name and Signature: OIG Form Hl-107/2 (1 Q&3/96)

9/11 Law Enforcement

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Continue the lessons. By the end of August Atta and Alshehhi were ready to take the professional pilots course. Course of Instruction Dekkers said that his school offers many types of courses - private pilot (single engine plane; multiple engine plane), instrument ratings, and commercial pilot (single engine plane; multiple engine plane). Prior to 9/11 approximately 75 percent of his students were foreign; now the percentages are reversed. Atta and Alshehhi were both enrolled in the professional pilots [commercial] course in September. They took lessons at Huffman from July 2000 through December 2000. Both passed the FAA pilot's written test in December 2000, so they were effectively done with the program. The pilot's course takes place at the student's own pace (there are no set semesters or terms). When the student has accrued a sufficient number of flight hours (based on FAA regs), he/she can sit for the pilot's license test. Vouchers maintained by Huffman indicate the number of flight hours. In addition, both the flight student and the flight instructor maintain logs containing their flight hours. As far as Dekkers knows/ he is not required to apprise the INS of the attendance or lack of attendance of foreign students. Nor is he aware of any requirement to inform the INS when foreign students complete their courses. Atta paid about $18,000 and Alshehhi about $20,000 for lessons. They didn't want to pay up front as was the normal practice, but instead wanted to pay by the week, which they were allowed to do. Atta paid for them both, with separate checks. Dekkers stated that he normally charges foreign students $250 for the handling of the I-20s. This is refundable should they show up at the school. He didn't think Atta and Alshehhi were charged this since they applied in person. The 1-20 Process Dekkers generally referred us to Nicole Antini for specific

information on how the 1-20 process worked. We asked why the I-20s weren't signed by Atta or Alshehhi. Dekkers said he didn't know. Hi, Dekker's attorney, Casey Wolff, mentioned that on the multi-part 1-20 form, the signature block doesn't have a carbon behind it like the rest of the form. Therefore, the applicant is required to sign each individual copy. In this case, they may have only signed one copy. Dekkers' stated that his policy is to require all of his foreign students to obtain M-l status prior to taking any of his professional courses. He requires this to be "on the safe side." He complained

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a lot of other flight schools don't do this. Dekkers added that „ "feels it is okay for his foreign students to take the private lessons with just B1/B2 visa status, but if they want to take one of the courses, he requires them to have a student visa. He didn't realize until last week, when a CNN reporter showed him INS regulations, that foreign students who took less than 18 hours of instruction were not required to have student visas. Dekkers stated that Atta and Alshehhi were taking a full course of study. When we asked whether they were taking 18 hours a week, he said that it would be impossible for a flight student to have that much flight time in a week ("they would get dizzy"). Wolff prompted that that the 18 hours would probably include classroom time. Dekkers dismissed this by saying that there is no classroom instruction and that students could use the company's computer to study, at their own pace, for the FAA exam, should they desire to do so. Atta's and Alshehhi's changes of status were the first he could recall processing. In fact he had never heard of a change of status before. He thought Antini had called INS for assistance, but he didn't know the specifics. Dekkers stated that the normal practice was for INS to send a copy of the 1-20 to the school once it is processed. That is the only contact the school normally has with the INS.

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