Ziad Jarrah (born May 11, 1975) was the pilot-trained hijacker on United Airlines Flight 93.
Jarrah was born on May 11, 1975 into a secular, middle-class family in Lebanon. His mother, who came from a well-off family, worked as a teacher, while his father working in the government. In Lebanon, Jarrah attended private Christian schools. After high school, Jarrah had the option of going to either Canada or Germany, both places with family relatives, so that he could continue his education. Jarrah chose Germany, as he was not interested in going so far as Canada.[1] Soon after arriving in Germany in 1996, he met his girlfriend, Aysel Senguen, who was a student at the same school in Greifswald.[2] Jarrah met Aysel when moving into the student residences in Greifswald, where they lived down the hall from each other. Aysel came from a working-class Turkish immigrant family in Germany.[1]
In September 1997, Jarrah transfered into the aeronautical engineering program at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg.[3] Jarrah also applied to a number of other programs in Germany, with interest in studying dentistry, as Aysel was.[1] Jarrah ended up selecting the program in Hamburg, leaving Aysel behind in Greifswald as he began the program. Jarrah did visit Asyel frequently on weekends, though visits began to drop off. While still in Greifswald, Jarrah began turning radical. In Hamburg, he became increasingly radical and interested in politics, telling Aysel about the "problems Muslims have in the Middle East" and about the intifada. In Hamburg, Jarrah went to the Al-Quds Mosque, which is the same place that Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ramzi Binalshibh attended.[1]
After studying in Greifswald, Aysel transferred to the University of Bochum, which was somewhat closer and more convenient to Hamburg. Yet, Jarrah continued to be distance from Aysel. Jarrah maintained some commitment to Aysel, but became more distant and would criticize her for drinking and other western, non-Muslim behavior. In Spring 1999, Jarrah asked Aysel to marry him, and they held an informal ceremony. Neither of their families were informed. Jarrah and Aysel continued to live apart, with sporadic visits. The couple broke up from time to time, but would get back together.[1]
For two years, he did well in school, but in September 1999 he registered for just one class and then disappeared. Around that time, his behavior and attitudes began to change.[4] In Hamburg, Jarrah became involved in the group known as the "Hamburg Cell".
In November 1999, Jarrah disappeared from Hamburg and spent three months in Afghanistan. He returned from Afghanistan during February 2000.[5] Before leaving, Jarrah visited Aysel in October 1999. He told her that he "was going home to Lebanon to consider where he was in his life and where he wanted to go." She didn't believe that he was going back home to Lebanon, but did not know what he was up to. In late November, a friend mentioned to Aysel that he thought Jarrah had gone to Afghanistan. While Jarrah was away, Aysel did get one letter from Jarrah (bearing a Yemeni postmark), with Jarrah saying, "Don't worry, please. I will be back soon."[1]
Aysel did not see Jarrah again until early February when he suddenly showed up at her door. When he came back, Jarrah seemed more relaxed about his religion and a bit more like he used to be. But Jarrah never mentioned to Aysel about where he had been. But he did tell Aysel that he knew what he wanted to do with his life. Jarrah wanted to become a pilot. They did look together at flight schools in Germany, but Aysel arrive home one day to find a message on the answering machine from a flight school in Florida. Jarrah convinced her that the training in the United States would be better and quicker.[1]
Soon after returning to Germany, Atta obtained a new passport on February 9, 2000, telling officials that his passport had been stolen.[6] On May 25, 2000, Jarrah obtained a five-year B-1/B2 tourist/business visa in Berlin, and arrived for the first time in the United States on June 27, 2000. Immediately after arriving, Jarrah began flight training at the Florida Flight Training Centre in Venice. By early August, Jarrah had earned a single-engine private pilot certificate. Though Jarrah became a student, he never changed his immigration status to get a student visa, but there was no system in place for immigration authorities to know that he was a student and violating his immigration status.[7]
In October 2000, Jarrah left the United States and returned on October 29 via Tampa. Jarrah was still in flight school, but he received a tourist visa for another six months.[7]
While undergoing pilot training in Florida, Jarrah stayed in a small house with several other students, including Marcel (a German), two Dutch students, and a British student (Paul Deakin). After the attacks, Paul Deakin was able to identify Jarrah's voice on the cockpit voice recorder. Deakin also recollected about Jarrah's use of computer flight simulator programs which Jarrah used in his bedroom, "He would always choose places in the United States on the simulator. Once when I saw him crash into a skyscraper in Chicago I said something like Great flying mate'. He just sniggered."[8]
Ziad Jarrah maintained close contact with his girlfriend, as well as his family in Lebanon. While living in Germany and the United States, Jarrah traveled to Lebanon on occasion for visits, and also maintained contact via phone and e-mail.
His father also provided financial support for Jarrah's studies. His family continued to send him money, up until the end. Jarrah received $2,000 from his father shortly before September 11, 2001, and had phoned his father two days before 9/11 to tell his father that he received the money.[9]
Jarrah's family didn't see the religious side of Jarrah, "He was a normal person, Jamal Harrah said. "He drank alcohol, he had girlfriends. Only last August, his Turkish girlfriend Asle came to meet our family here because she wanted to meet her future in-laws. He wasn't able to come with her because he said he was too busy with his studies."[9]