FBI seeks records from Florida pilot training center

Agents with the FBI are asking Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for records as federal officials in Washington said the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon could have been trained in America.

The attention on ERU was heightened when authorities seized a 1994 Camaro from nearby Daytona Beach International Airport, briefly putting a former ERU student in the cross-hairs of the world-wide hunt for terrorists. The car, registered to the former student, had a photo displayed in the window of an Arab man wearing a turban, apparently bringing it under suspicion. The student was later cleared by police of having any involvement.

FBI Director Robert F. Mueller III, said that investigators have identified a good number of the hijackers from flight manifests. Those names are being cross-checked in a variety of ways to research their backgrounds, education and movements.

School spokeswoman Lisa Ledewitz said the university is cooperating with all FBI requests for information, but she would not detail the nature of those requests.

While Embry-Riddle officials would not discuss the FBI’s probe, they did say it’s likely that, because of the sheer number of pilots the school graduates, at least one of the commercial airline pilots killed Tuesday was an ERU alumnus.

The school was founded as a Cincinnati flight school in 1925, moved to Florida in 1965, and it is now has international renown. Its main campus in Daytona Beach had nearly 5,000 students last year, including 674 international students.

Among its programs, ERU trains foreign pilots through its Center for Aviation Facilities, currently based in DeLand. Officials there wouldn’t comment Wednesday, citing a university order. Ledewitz said that the school is grieving over the possible loss of pilots.

Nineteen-year-old student Brad Stein said that the mood on campus has been somber all Wednesday, and many are fearful that the attention ERU is getting could hurt the school.

“We still had classes, but most of the classes were spent watching the news or talking about this,” he said. “Everyone is pretty glum. People are upset.”

Students attempted gallows humor, with one noting that it was time to go to “Terrorism 101.”

For a little less than 24 hours, Daytona Beach resident Ali Mohammed Al-Darmaki, 20, was under suspicion. Al-Darmaki’s red Camaro was found at the Airport Storage after the FAA shut down all air travel.

A worker spotted the picture of a man wearing a turban and called security. The Volusia County Sheriff’s office brought in a bomb-sniffing dog and then the FBI impounded the car.

The car was towed by Arrow Wrecker Service to the company’s compound but was retrieved late Wednesday evening by Al-Darmaki, who previously held a drivers license from Saudi Arabia. He promptly removed the window photographs, said Arrow owner Al Balboa. Daytona Beach Police Sgt. Al Tolley said the image turned out to be that of a political leader from the United Arab Emirates.

Daytona Beach Police Sgt. Al Tolley said Al-Darmaki and his car have been “cleared” and are no longer part of any investigation. Al-Darmaki could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Orlando Sentinel staff writers Ludmilla Lelis, Sean Mussenden and Sandra Pedicini contributed to this report.