Boy pilot had no known ties to terrorists

By Vickie Chachere

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. – The 15-year-old who crashed a small plane into a skyscraper had no known terrorist ties despite a note he wrote expressing sympathy for Osama bin Laden, authorities say.

“He expressed support for what happened on 9-11, including support for bin Laden,” Police Chief Bennie Holder said. “Charles Bishop was a troubled young man – he acted alone without help from anyone else.”

Bishop deliberately flew the single-engine Cessna 172R into the 42-story Bank of America Plaza in downtown Tampa on Saturday night, Holder said Sunday. Bishop was the only fatality.

A short, handwritten note found amid the wreckage detailed Bishop’s sentiments but didn’t shed light on why he chose that building, investigators said.

Grief counselors were sent to Bishop’s high school today but as of midmorning no students had turned out talk about his suicide, said Ron Stone, a spokesman for Pinellas County School District. The school was closed to reporters.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Butch Wilson said it appears Bishop had full control of the plane after he stole it from the Clearwater flight school where he was taking lessons.

No one in the building was injured. The building reopened today, except for two law offices that got hit directly.

Holder said there is no indication Bishop targeted the building or “had any intention of harming anyone else.”

In Palm Harbor, police unrolled yellow crime scene tape Sunday outside the apartment complex where Bishop lived with his mother, while detectives and FBI agents interviewed family members.

Neighbors said the boy kept to himself, and investigators for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said he spent much time alone in his room. Investigators seized computers from the home.

Investigators said Bishop had no history of mental problems and did not appear to be using illegal drugs.

In a phone interview from Florida, Bishop’s grandmother, Karen Johnson, told the Boston Herald: “He was a wonderful kid, an honor student. He was a great son and a wonderful grandson.”

Tampa Mayor Dick Greco told the St. Petersburg Times that Bishop hinted of something calamitous the day of the flight.

“If something happens to me, don’t let any of my enemies come to my funeral,” the mayor said Bishop told his grandmother after she dropped him off for his lesson.

Bishop also recently told certain classmates to watch the news, Greco said.

Jim Sewell, a regional director for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said that statement is considered a rumor but is being investigated.

The suicide note, a few paragraphs handwritten on plain white paper, was not addressed to anyone, police said. Bishop also did not mention his family in it, nor did he say goodbye to anyone, police said.

Bishop’s grandmother had taken him to the National Aviation Academy flight school at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport for a 5 p.m. flying lesson on Saturday, authorities said.

He took off without waiting for an instructor who was supposed to accompany him. At 15, Bishop was a year too young to fly solo and two years too young to earn a pilot’s license.

Wilson said the plane was airborne for nine to 12 minutes, briefly flying through airspace over MacDill Air Force Base. The base houses Central Command, which is directing the war in Afghanistan.

Air Force Lt. Col. Rich McClain said the base was notified when the aircraft was about three miles away. It entered base airspace, descended slightly and left one minute later without making any threatening moves, he said.

A Coast Guard helicopter caught up to Bishop over Tampa after he had traveled about 20 miles, and the crew signaled for him to land. Pilots said he ignored them, then crashed the plane.

As a precaution, two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled from Homestead Air Reserve Base, 200 miles away, but they arrived after the crash, said Capt. Kirstin Reimann at the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

The head of the Tampa air traffic controllers union told the St. Petersburg Times that the plane passed just 1,000 feet above a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that had taken off moments earlier from Tampa International.

Tampa controllers warned the jetliner’s pilots and they quickly slowed their climb, said Joe Formoso, the head of the controllers union.

“It was only by the grace of God that the Southwest pilots saw it,” Formoso told the newspaper.

Investigators said it did not appear that any regulations were violated in leaving Bishop alone with the plane and its keys. The flight school canceled its regular operations Sunday.

News of the note police found stunned Bishop’s algebra teacher, Rayette Bouldrick, who described him as a bright, disciplined student who was well-liked by his classmates.

“I’m floored, totally floored,” said Bouldrick. “He always had a smile. He was always pleasant and respectful.”

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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