Adnan Bukhari
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A Saudi flight engineer, Adnan Zakaria Bukhari (Arabic: عدنان زكريا بخاري) was initially reported by CNN to be one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks - his name was even said to have been on the flight manifest.
Between 5:00 and 5:30 on the morning of September 12, FBI agents backed by a SWAT team stormed Bukhari's leased house at 4036 57th Terrace and arrested him - citing that identity cards of him and an Ameer Bukhari (mistakenly thought to be a brother) were found in a rental car the hijackers had left in Portland, Maine; though it later turned out that Ameer had died a year earlier, and had no relation to Adnan.
Agents evacuated nearby houses, citing concerns that Adnan Bukhari's house was rigged with explosives, and took him to Miami for questioning. While searching his house, they announced that they had found a copy of Ameer Bukhari's pilot license, and a "hazardous materials manual"[1]. After passing a polygraph, he was released and later cleared of any wrongdoing.
Bukhari gave lessons to Saudi Arabian Airlines pilots at the FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, where several of the hijackers had trained. As of 2001, he held flight engineer, turbojet, mechanic, airframe, powerplant, instrument panel and single-engine landing certificates, as well as a First Class Medical Certificate issued in May 2000.
On September 19, an FAA employee named James P. Hopkins was fired for independently going through FAA records and reporting to the FBI that Bukhari had trained at the FAA's academy in Oklahoma City twice, in 1991 and 1998. The Office of Special Counsel reviewed the case and awarded Hopkins his employment back, citing unfair termination.[2]
