Huffman Aviation

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Huffman Aviation is a flight-training school owned by Wally Hilliard and the Dutchman Rudi Dekkers, in Venice, Florida.

The school was comprised of more than 80% foreign nationals, following a marketing campaign designed to lure overseas students.[1] It also suffered from a poor local reputation, as the Venice Gondolier ran continuing stories about the flight school's troubles. On May 12th 2001 it reported the school as having paid 3 months of past-due rent, was threatened with eviction by the city on June 9th.

It gained note after the September 11th attacks, when it was revealed that Mohamed Atta al-Sayed and Marwan al-Shehhi had both attended the school to learn how to fly small aircraft.

On July 3rd 2000, both applied to the school; Atta claimed to be of royal Saudi descent and presented Marwan as his bodyguard. In August, the school filed the necessary INS paperwork in order to allow both pilots to switch from 'tourist' Visas, to 'student', in order to allow them to enroll in the school's piloting program. While they were allowed to apply, final verification did not reach the school until March 11th 2002, 6 months after both pilots had been killed in the attacks.[2]

For a short while, during their time at the school, both Marwan and Atta lived with a company employee named Charlie Voss for a few days, paying him about $250 cash. After a week, Voss reportedly kicked them out of his house for insulting his wife.[3]

After the attacks, media pointed out that one of the school's hangars was also the location of Britannia Aviation, a possible CIA front that listed no employees or licensing, and had assets totalling only $750 yet had been listed as awarded multi-million dollar contracts in order to operate. Its only known employee was named Paul Marten.[4]

Owner Rudi Dekkers gave conflicting reports after the attacks, once claiming that he knew both students were on terrorist watchlists, and that they were alleged to be planning to use planes as weapons.[5]

In January 2002, Huffman Aviation again made headlines when the local paper sent a reporter onto its property, who managed to casually move between airplane cockpits, fuel tanks and other "safety concerns" without anybody noticing or stopping him. In March, the school was cited for having left fueltrucks unlocked, with keys in the ignition at the Venice Municipal Airport.[6]

Dekkers was arrested in early March 2003 on charges filed January 17, charged with Fraud involving a security interest, and was allowed to meet a bail bond set at $1000. The issue dealt with a $200,000 loan that had not been repaid after Dekkers property the school was only renting to Triple Diamond Jet Center. On the eve of the trial, Dekkers sold all of Huffman's holdings minus 10 planes to Triple Diamond, to gather the money needed to repay his business partner.[7][8]