Boy pilot who crashed plane hailed attacks

By Vickie Chachere

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. — The 15-year-old student pilot who crashed a small plane into a skyscraper Saturday wrote a note expressing sympathy for Osama bin Laden and support for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, police said Sunday.

The short, handwritten note found in Charles Bishop’s pocket said he acted alone, police Chief Bennie Holder said. The high school freshman had no apparent terrorist ties, Holder said.

"Bishop can best be described as a young man who had very few friends and was very much a loner," Holder said. "From his actions we can assume he was a very troubled young man."

Bishop took off in the Cessna 172R from a St. Petersburg airport, and began a flight that briefly included airspace over MacDill Air Force Base. Ignoring signals to land from a Coast Guard helicopter, he crashed into the 28th floor of the 42-story Bank of America building.

Images of the plane blasting a hole in the side of a skyscraper were chilling reminders of the World Trade Center attacks. Until it was pulled in early Sunday, the plane’s tail had dangled from the 28th floor of the building.

Bishop was the only fatality. Only a few people were in the building at the time of the crash, and none were injured.

Nothing indicates Bishop specifically targeted the building or "had any intention of harming anyone else," Holder said.

The note, a few paragraphs handwritten on plain white paper, was not addressed to anyone specifically, said police spokeswoman Katie Hughes. In the note he did not mention his family or say goodbye to anyone, she said, although authorities interpret it as a suicide note.

In Palm Harbor, about 25 miles west of Tampa, 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. Investigators said they would search Bishop’s personal computer for evidence.

Police said the boy had no criminal record, no history of psychological problems and had not threatened suicide. Investigators also said there’s no indication Bishop used illegal drugs.

Derek Perryman, a classmate of Bishop’s at East Lake High School in Palm Harbor, said Bishop often talked about planes with a friend in their journalism class.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he said, Bishop read a paper to the class. "It was real expressive about how he felt, how disappointed he was," Perryman told The Tampa Tribune.

Another classmate, Ross Stewart, 15, described Bishop as a "teacher’s pet."

"I knew he was an honor student. He got straight A’s," Stewart said. "He seemed to like his classes. He liked school. He was a happy kid. He was never really down about anything. He smiled a lot.

Bishop’s algebra teacher described him as a bright, disciplined student who was well-liked by his classmates.

"I’m floored. Totally floored," said Rayette Bouldrick. "He always had a smile. He was always pleasant and respectful."

Neighbors said Bishop, who had moved from the Boston area a year earlier, kept to himself.

"He rode my bus to school. He sat in the front row. He always had sunglasses on for some reason," said David Ontiveros, 14. "He never talked to anybody."

Bev Pinkham, who lived near the Bishops when they lived in Norwell, Mass., said Bishop "was just an ordinary quiet kid."

"One day he came over and said my flower gardens were beautiful," she said. "Other than that, he was very quiet."

Bishop had a planned flying lesson Saturday at National Aviation Academy, where he had taken lessons since March, authorities said. His grandmother took him to St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport for the 5 p.m. lesson.

He was supposed to check the equipment in the Cessna 172B before flying with an instructor, police said. At 15, he was a year too young to fly solo.

Investigators said it did not appear that any regulations were violated in leaving Bishop alone with the plane and its keys.

The plane was airborne for nine to 12 minutes, briefly flying through airspace over MacDill Air Force Base, said Butch Wilson, investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. 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 after he had traveled about 20 miles, and the crew signaled him to land. Crew members said he ignored them, then crashed the plane into the building.

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 flight school canceled its regular operations Sunday. Employees reached at home said they had been instructed to refer questions to the school’s attorney, Michael Cronin, who did not return calls for comment Sunday.

Investigators said it did not appear the any regulations were violated in leaving Bishop alone with the plane and its keys.

Cronin said Bishop had been taking flying lessons since March 2001 and had logged about six hours of flight time.

He said the boy often cleaned planes in exchange for flight time and was very familiar with operations at the school. Cronin said students do preflight equipment checks on their own, then have their accuracy verified by an instructor. Bishop was a year shy of being able to fly alone and two years too young to earn a pilot’s license.