Huffman Aviation

Huffman Aviation

Huffman Aviation was a flight-training school in Venice, Florida at Venice Municipal Airport.

Background

Huffman Aviation was established in 1972 as "Venice Flying Service", and was reorganized in 1987 and renamed as "Huffman Aviation". [cite web |url=http://web.archive.org/web/19990128130958/www.huffmanaviation.com/page2.html |title=About Us |publisher=Huffman Aviation (via Internet Archive) |accessdate=1998-12-12] Huffman Aviation was purchased by Wally Hilliard and the Dutchman Rudi Dekkers in 1999.cite news |url=http://generalaviationnews.com/editorial/articledetail.lasso?-token.key=1247&-token.src=news&-nothing |title=Raytheon lands 50-plane order, maybe more, from Executive Jet, Inc. |publisher=General Aviation News |date=July 9, 1999] At the time of purchase, the school had a fleet of 12 small aircraft. Huffman offered private pilot, instrument rating, Commercial pilot, Multi-Engine Ratings, and flight instructor training, but did not offer training on larger, jet aircraft. [cite web |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010604043715/huffmanaviation.com/page3.html |title=Flight Training |publisher=Huffman Aviation (via Internet Archive) |accessdate=2001-06-04]

The school was comprised of more than 80% foreign nationals, following a marketing campaign designed to lure overseas students. [http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:Ef9BDB5Fd14J:www.madcowprod.com/issue02.html+%22Huffman+Aviation&hl=en] It also suffered from a poor local reputation, as the Venice Gondolier ran continuing stories about the flight school's troubles. On May 12th 2001 it reported the school as having paid 3 months of past-due rent, was threatened with eviction by the city on June 9th.

eptember 11, 2001 attacks

It gained note after the September 11th attacks, when it was revealed that Mohamed Atta al-Sayed and Marwan al-Shehhi had both attended the school to learn how to fly small aircraft.

On July 3, 2000, both applied to the school; Atta claimed to be of royal Saudi descent and presented Marwan as his bodyguard. In August, the school filed the necessary INS paperwork in order to allow both pilots to switch from 'tourist' Visas, to 'student', in order to allow them to enroll in the school's piloting program. While they were allowed to apply, final verification did not reach the school until March 11th 2002, 6 months after both pilots had been killed in the attacks. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/03/12/inv.flight.school.visas/index.html] ]

For a short while, during their time at the school, both Marwan and Atta lived with a company employee named Charlie Voss for a few days, paying him about $250 cash. After a week, Voss reportedly kicked them out of his house for insulting his wife. [ [http://newsmine.org/archive/9-11/flight-schools/hijackers-traced-to-huffman-aviation.txt] ]

After the attacks, media pointed out that one of the school's hangars was also the location of Britannia Aviation, a possible CIA front that listed no employees or licensing, and had assets totalling only $750 yet had been listed as awarded multi-million dollar contracts in order to operate. Its only known employee was named Paul Marten. [ [http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:eYIPuslH958J:www.rense.com/general20/link.htm+huffman+aviation&hl=en] ]

Controversy

In January 2002, Huffman Aviation again made headlines when the local paper sent a reporter onto its property, who managed to casually move between airplane cockpits, fuel tanks and other "safety concerns" without anybody noticing or stopping him. In March, the school was cited for having left fueltrucks unlocked, with keys in the ignition, at the Venice Municipal Airport. [ [http://www.venicegondolier.com/NewsArchive3/030202/TP2VN12.HTM Venice Gondolier - 03/02/02 ] ]

Dekkers was arrested in early March 2003 on charges filed January 17, charged with "fraud involving a security interest", and was allowed to meet a bail bond set at $1000. The issue dealt with a $200,000 loan that had not been repaid. [cite news |title=State files charges against flight school owner |publisher=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=January 22, 2003 |author=Werner, Michael and Earle Kimel] On the eve of the trial, Dekkers sold all of Huffman's holdings minus 10 planes to Triple Diamond, to gather the money needed to repay his business partner. [http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:YnU6BAaRWMMJ:billstclair.com/911timeline/2003/sarasotaheraldtribune012803.html+jossart+dekkers&hl=en] [http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/030903/tp3np3.htm?date=030903&story=tp3np3.htm] In December 2003, the charges against Dekkers were dropped, because Dekkers "never got any of the money and there wasn't anything he'd done to defraud anyone." [cite news |title=State drops charge against ex-owner of flight school |publisher=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=December 6, 2003 |author=Kimel, Earle]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Aviation history — deals with the development of mechanical flight, from the earliest attempts in kite powered and gliding flight, to powered heavier than air flight, and beyond. Humanity s desire to fly possibly first found expression in China, where people flying …   Wikipedia

  • Huffman Prairie — Infobox nrhp | name =Huffman Prairie Flying Field nrhp type = nhl caption = nearest city= Fairborn, Ohio lat degrees = 39 lat minutes = 48 lat seconds = 12 lat direction = N long degrees = 84 long minutes = 3 long seconds = 57 long direction = W… …   Wikipedia

  • Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park — IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape) …   Wikipedia

  • 1905 in aviation — yearbox in?=in aviation cp=19th Century c=20th century cf=21st century yp1=1902 yp2=1903 yp3=1904 year=1905 ya1=1906 ya2=1907 ya3=1908 dp3=1870s dp2=1880s dp1=1890s d=1900s dn1=1910s dn2=1920s dn3=1930sThis is a list of aviation related events… …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline of aviation - 20th century — 1901= * July 31 German meteorologists Berson and Süring climb to 10,800 m in a free balloon.August*August 14 in Fairfield, Connecticut, Gustave Whitehead reportedly flew his engine powered Whitehead Number 21 800 meters at 15 meters height,… …   Wikipedia

  • Mohamed Atta — Born Mohamed Atta (in Arabic: محمد عطا) September 1, 1968(1968 09 01) Kafr el Sheikh, Egypt Died September 11, 2001 …   Wikipedia

  • Planning of the September 11 attacks — BackgroundAl Qaeda s origins date back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.cite book |author=Gunaratna, Ronan |title=Inside Al Qaeda |year=2002 |publisher=Berkley Books] Soon after the invasion, Osama bin Laden traveled to… …   Wikipedia

  • Marwan al-Shehhi — مروان الشحي Born Marwan al Shehhi (in Arabic: مروان الشحي) May 9, 1978(1978 05 09) Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates Died September 11, 200 …   Wikipedia

  • Sierra Academy of Aeronautics — The Sierra Academy of Aeronautics is an aviation flight school headquartered in Livermore, California. It operates two training facilities. The largest is at the Livermore Municipal Airport. The other facility is located at the former Castle Air… …   Wikipedia

  • Responsibility for the September 11 attacks — Soon after the September 11 attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was able to identify the 19 hijackers [cite press release |url=http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/092701hjpic.htm |title=The FBI releases 19 photographs of individuals… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”