Call revealed from doomed flight Court documents unsealed, list items in hijacker’s car left at jetport

PORTLAND – An American Airlines employee received a cell phone call from a flight attendant aboard doomed Flight 11 shortly before it crashed into the World Trade Center, according to newly unsealed court documents.

The flight attendant told the unidentified employee that several men of Middle Eastern descent seated in the area of Rows 9 and 10 were armed with knives and had wounded other passengers and were hijacking the plane, an FBI affidavit stated.

Mohamed Atta, who piloted the doomed plane, was assigned Seat 8G, according to the documents released in U.S. District Court. Another hijacker, Abdulaziz Alomari, was in 8G.

The FBI cited its interview with the American Airlines employee in an affidavit supporting its request for a search warrant for the rented car that Atta left at Portland International Jetport.

The affidavit and a list of items found in the blue 2001 Nissan Altima were among court documents unsealed Thursday at the request of government lawyers.

The property inventory had 31 items, including hair samples taken from the car, seat belt buckles, vacuum filters, food, a Chips Ahoy package, a toothpick and maps. The affidavit did not say what areas of the country the maps covered.

Investigators said Atta and Alomari checked into the Comfort Inn in South Portland on the eve of the Sept. 11 hijacking and boarded a commuter flight to Boston the next morning.

From there, they boarded American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Their car was identified and seized late on Sept. 11 at a parking garage at the Portland airport.

Baggage that accompanied Atta and Alomari on the flight from Portland but did not get onto Flight 11 contained a hand-held electronic flight computer, a simulator procedures manual for Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft; two videotapes relating to “air tours” of the Boeing 757 and 747 aircraft; a slide-rule flight calculator; and a copy of the Quran, the affidavit said.

Also recovered from the luggage was a handwritten document in Arabic titled “In the name of God all mighty, Death Certificate.” It instructs that “When I die, I want the people who will inherit my possessions to do the following,” according to the FBI affidavit.

The documents were unsealed hours after the FBI released surveillance photos and a chronology detailing how Atta and Alomari spent their final hours in Portland and appealed to the public to come forward with any additional information. They stopped at a couple of ATMs and a gas station and Atta visited a Wal-Mart, the chronology said.

The Altima was rented by Atta on the evening of Sept. 9 at an Alamo rental office in Boston, the affidavit said. It was due back at the Alamo office in Boston at 6 p.m. on the day of the attacks.

The car was identified at 11:30 p.m. in a parking lot at the airport, according to police.

Portland detectives surveyed the scene, took pictures and scooped up a cigarette butt next to the car. The car then was taken to the Maine State Police crime lab in Augusta.

Authorities have said Atta and Alomari may have come to Portland to avoid attracting attention by having so many hijackers arrive at Logan.