Khalid Al-Mihdhar - September 11th Attacks

September 11th Attacks

On September 10, 2001, Mihdhar and the other hijackers checked into the Marriott Residence Inn in Herndon, Virginia, near Washington Dulles International Airport. Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen, a prominent Saudi government official, was staying at the same hotel that night, although there is no evidence that they met or knew of each other's presence.

At 06:22 on September 11, 2001, the group checked out of the hotel and headed to Dulles airport. At 07:15, Mihdhar and Moqed checked in at the American Airlines ticket counter and arrived at the passenger security checkpoint at 07:20. Both men set off the metal detector and were put through secondary screening. Security video footage later released shows that Moqed was wanded, but the screener did not identify what set off the alarm, and both Moqed and Mihdhar were able to proceed without further hindrance. Mihdhar was also selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS), which involved extra screening of his luggage; however, because Mihdhar did not check any luggage, this had no effect. By 07:50, Mihdhar and the other hijackers, carrying knives and box cutters, had made it through the airport security checkpoint and boarded Flight 77 to Los Angeles. Mihdhar was seated in seat 12B, next to Moqed.

The flight was scheduled to depart from Gate D26 at 08:10 but was delayed by 10 minutes. The last routine radio communication from the plane to air traffic control occurred at 08:50:51. At 08:54, Flight 77 deviated from its assigned flight path and began to turn south, at which point the hijackers set the flight's autopilot setting for Washington, D.C. Passenger Barbara Olson called her husband, United States Solicitor General Ted Olson, and reported that the plane had been hijacked. At 09:37:45, Flight 77 crashed into the west facade of the Pentagon, killing all 64 people aboard, along with 125 in the Pentagon. In the recovery process, remains of the five hijackers were identified through process of elimination, since their DNA did not match any from the victims, and put into the custody of the FBI.