FBI clears pilot under surveillance Man took airplane to Portland jetport

PORTLAND – A pilot who bought an airplane that was placed under surveillance at the Portland International Jetport after the Sept. 11 attacks has been cleared by the FBI, an agency spokesman said Monday.

The FBI no longer is interested in Khaled Alzeedi or a small plane he brought to the Portland International Jetport to have extra fuel tanks installed, said Jay Grant, an FBI special agent in Boston.

“We no longer have an investigative interest in regard to Mr. Alzeedi and his Tampico aircraft,” Grant said.

Alzeedi purchased two Tampico TB-9s in Clarksville, Tenn., the month before the attacks and brought one of them to Portland. The small European-made aircraft often are used for pilot training and by flying clubs.

Officials at the Portland airport, where two hijackers boarded flights to Boston on Sept. 11, learned several days later that the airplane parked at the general aviation terminal was under FBI surveillance.

Alzeedi, a Moroccan who owned Zidi Aviation, was quoted in an Arabic-language newspaper as saying he intended to return to retrieve the plane, but his plans were disrupted by the terrorist attacks.

A stop in Maine wouldn’t be unusual for a pilot planning to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and the Northeast is a common place to get an extra fuel tank before a trans-Atlantic trip, officials have said.

“The matter was investigated. It was learned that Mr. Alzeedi was a legitimate businessman. … As far as his having a terrorism connection, there wasn’t any,” Grant said.

“We were able to move along.”

The plane was allowed to clear U.S. Customs and now has left the country, Grant said from Boston.

Alzeedi could not be reached for comment Monday. A phone number listed before Sept. 11 for his company, Zidi Aviation in Saudi Arabia, was disconnected and an e-mail message was not answered immediately.

The airplane was removed several months ago, possibly last spring, said Jeffrey Monroe, Portland’s transportation director.

The plane was parked in an area away from the Portland International Jetport’s main passenger terminal, where Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari boarded flights early on Sept. 11, 2001.

They later joined other hijackers in Boston before boarding a jetliner that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City.