Marwan al-Shehhi

Marwan al-Shehhi (May 9, 1978 – September 11, 2001) was an Emirati terrorist hijacker for al-Qaeda. He was the hijacker-pilot on United Airlines Flight 175 (Boeing 767). As part of the September 11 attacks, he crashed the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in a suicide attack. He was one of five hijackers aboard the aircraft and one of two Emiratis to take part in the attacks, the other being Fayez Banihammad, who helped him hijack the same plane.

Al-Shehhi was a university student in applied sciences from the United Arab Emirates. In 1996, at the age of 18, he moved to Germany to pursue his university education. There, he met Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah, who were also studying applied sciences and engineering. Shortly thereafter, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who provided them with financial support, joined them, and they formed the Hamburg cell. Together, after pledging their lives to martyrdom (Jihad), they became the leaders of the September 11 attacks.

In late 1999, Ramzi bin al-Shibh invited three of them to al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, and they went. They met with Osama bin Laden, who assigned tasks to three members of the Hamburg cell for the attacks in the United States. He arrived in the United States in May 2000, one month before Atta. Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah had been trained as pilots in Florida at Huffman Aviation, receiving their commercial pilot licenses in December 2000 and January 2001 from the FAA.

Al-Shehhi spent his time making preparations for the attack itself, such as meeting with crucial planners abroad, assisting with the arrival of hijackers aboard the other flights, and travelling on surveillance flights determining details on how the hijacking would take place. On 9 September 2001, he traveled from Florida to Boston, where he stayed at the Milner Hotel until 11 September. After boarding United Airlines Flight 175 at Logan International Airport, al-Shehhi and 4 other hijackers waited 30 minutes into the flight to make their attack, which then allowed al-Shehhi to take over control as pilot, and at 9:03 am, 17 minutes after Mohamed Atta crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower, Al-Shehhi flew the Boeing 767 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center between floors 77 to 85. At 23 years of age, he was the youngest hijacker-pilot to participate in the attacks. The impact of the Boeing 767 into the South Tower was seen live on television around the world as it happened. At 9:59 am, after 56 minutes of burning, the 110-story skyscraper collapsed, killing around 900 between office workers and first responders.