Atta and the Portland flight?

Reading the new edition of the Commissions' book and how they still have no clue why Atta and one of the other hijackers drove from Boston to Portland only to hop a flight back to Boston, where all the other 175 and 11 jackers where all posted waiting to board. Any ideas why this was done?

Because they really came from Canada perhaps? maybe multiple people were using the same ID? I thought they drove through the border somewhere in eastern Maine.

reply to post by stikkinikki


I dont have the book with me so I wont quote exactly where they came from on sept 10th when they stayed in boston, but they drove from boston to portland to a smaller airport and atta and one of his associates flew from portland to boston on a connection flight to flight 11. All the other hijackers had one way tickets that were boarded at the originating location.

The commissions question and the one i pose to ATS members is why didnt Atta just purchase one way tickets on flight 11 and just fly out of boston with the other 8 or 9 hijackers that were already there waiting. Why drive to portland to hop a connector flight back to boston when your already in boston?

Maybe he visited someone there? I doubt it would be to try and cover his tracks.

Maybe he was checking out some more targets. Car ferries, cruise ships and tankers of fuel oil ply the coastal waters that are littered with rocky islands and remote buildings that no one bats an eye at. I won't even mention the monied set that have summer cottages (mansions) up and down the coast. Kennebunk Port is where the Bush family compound is.

Sept. 11 Carlisle Group meeting
When did Atta allegedly get paid by the the Paki secret service? Checking on the payment perhaps? Taking a last sightseeing trip before the act. That shirt he was wearing was dorky as hell and stood out.

You could spend a lot of time speculating about this.

This trip to Portland put his boarding Flight 11 in jeopardy... and therein lies one possible piece of speculation. Assume, as most CTs do, that Atta was an asset, and assume that he was never meant to be aboard Flight 11. Sending him to Portland accomplished a number of key goals.

• It enabled Atta to be caught on CCTV at an airport, reinforcing the myth of his involvement
  
• It enabled Atta to either be switched or else pulled out at any time before boarding Flight 11
  
• And it provided the opportunity to prevent Atta's bag from making it aboard Flight 11, giving the authorities the names of the hijackers, as well as Atta's will and letters to his fellow 'hijackers'

It's worth remembering that Atta was selected for CAPPS screening. Anyone selected was required to board their flight before their baggage was loaded.

Is this why Atta's bags didn't make it aboard Flight 11 - because Atta himself didn't?

reply to post by coughymachine


I have to agree, thats one of the more logical reasons Ive heard regarding the Portland flight.

Most likely attempt to throw off attention - imagine 5 swarthy "Middle
Eastern" type showing up at airport togather. Even at that time would
be noted.

On September 10, Atta picked up al-Omari from the Milner Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, and the two drove their rented Nissan to a Comfort Inn in Portland, Maine, where they arrived at 5:43 p.m. and spent the night in room 232 only to catch a US Airways flight back to Boston the following morning. Possibly this was done by the two men to clear airport security under less scrutiny in Maine than they would have faced at Logan Airport in Boston. It was initially reported that Adnan and Ameer Bukhari were the two hijackers who had rented and driven the car. The FBI also states that Atta made a credit-card purchase in Manhattan, New York on the 10th[10][11]

The two spent their last night pursuing ordinary activities: making two ATM withdrawals, and a 20-minute stop at Wal-Mart. FBI reports specified that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut, but despite alluding to Atta and Abdulaziz, does not explicitly say it was them.

On the morning of September 11, they drove to the Portland International Jetport, and took the 6:00 a.m. Colgan Air (U.S. Airways Express) BE-1900C flight to Logan International Airport in Boston. The two sat in the rearmost seats, next to one another. In Portland, Mohamed Atta was selected by CAPPS,[63] which required his checked bags to undergo extra screening for explosives and involved no extra screening at the passenger security checkpoint.[64]

The connection between the two flights at Logan Airport was within Terminal B, but the two gates were not connected within security. One must cross a parking garage before going through security once again. 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. It was overlooked that there would still be security in Boston because of this distinct detail of the terminal's arrangement.

en.wikipedia.org...