On December 26, 2000, “Flying a Piper Cherokee they had rented from Huffman [Aviation flight training school in Venice, Florida], the two unproven pilots [future 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi] touched down at Miami International Airport and were preparing to take off again when the plane stalled. Stranded on a causeway that led to a runway, they could come up with no way to revive the engine. But instead of notifying airport authorities, they simply flipped off the lights and abandoned the aircraft where it was, blocking ground traffic in one of the ten busiest airports in the nation. They were gambling that no penalties would be incurred or investigation launched. They bet right.”
– John Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell, The Cell, Page 277