[Lion's Cub]

Hmmm. Still haven't said why he went to Portland.

And it's interesting that he stayed in Manhattan, which just happens to be where the ambassador's kid was. Is that why they won't name the hotel?

[Risky Schemer]

Great. Now GPS purchases will require waiting periods and background checks.

[rohry]

One thing to add here.

My flight instructor (I just started taking flying lessons) says that the original coordinates for the WTC were obtained from Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000. Apparantly the proper coordinates were included for the buildings (and airports and anything else in the program). The day after the WTC attrocity Microsoft was ordered to pull all the "games" and redo them with false coordinates (or none at all).

I'm surprised that this wasn't in the story...

[wcbtinman]

Wait a minute. Atta checks out of the Comfort Inn at 5:33am and then is seen 12 minutes later at 5:45am boarding a flight?

I wish someone could show me how to get from the motel, move through an airport and what little security they had at the time, and get on to an airplane in 12 minutes. Either this is a typo, or somebody is full of of it.

[fivecatsandadog]

This makes me sick. And you can bet there's more A@@#$@3&! out there just like him scoping out new targets, walking around virtually invisible to the rest of us.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

The FBI found transactions that show Atta used a credit card in Manhattan the day before the planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Until recently, law enforcement officials could not figure out why he was here.

Really?

[Redleg Duke]

Pathetic to see so much effort and planning put towards such a pointless end, unless of course, as a tool of the devil, he was attempting to end life on earth by starting a final conflict.

I have come to the conclusion that Islam and the rest of the world are incompatible. Either Islam will conquer the world or the world will rise up and exterminate Islam and all of its liberal appologists.

And, Islam has established the rules of engagement.

[Rebelbase]

Unless the directions of East and South have changed, anyone with 1/100th of a brain could navigate a plane to NYC....unless they were a Public High School student, then there might be a problem.

[OldFriend]

Anyone else remember the middle eastern student who was arrested after 9/11. He was a staying at a hotel near WTC and a GPS was found in his room. The story became more bizarre and finally the charges were dismissed.

[VRWC_minion]

Can we equip planes with a GPS jamming device that can be intitiated remotely ?

[Jumper]

Just wondering if this store in Ohio was in or near Columbus and the Ohio State University.

The Clinton's went to Ohio State in Early Spring 1998 and got their head's handed to them by the Islamic presence in the Arena on Campus. No one ever thought to check the regional demographics and determine whether this would be a good place to talk about bombing Serbia, defending KLA, etc. The Islamic Congress of the US is in Columbus. One of the Clinton's very major political gafs. Islam has a major presence in this area. FBI Should BE ALL Over THIS Place!

[slimer]

This is old news. Why are stories like this resurfacing now as "Exclusive" news stories? It was reported shortly after the Sept 11th attacks that they had handheld GPS equipment.

[cake_crumb]

"They know the hijackers bought GPS devices in the months leading up to the attack."

How soon until John McCain sponsors legislation closing the "loophole" in GPS system shows?

[denydenydeny]

This does fit into the known timeline of Atta's movements. Atta, however, was definitely witnessed in Logan Airport on the morning of the ninth, checking out the procedures for Flight 11. This would have required him to either travel down to New York the early morning of the tenth, or later in the day on the ninth.

There were earlier reports of Atta being in New York that weekend. See the linked timeline.

[Equality 7-2521]

Frankly I don't get the point of the GPS at all. Just set your LF/ADF to 162.55 MHz and fly so that the needle is pointing up. I don't know if NOAA's antenna was on top of the WTC, but wherever it was in Manhattan it would get you close enough to VFR your plane into a building as large as the WTC was.