FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The owner of a flight school where two of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists trained is named in a federal complaint that accuses him of making unauthorized passenger flights.

Rudi Dekkers, 47, was named in an April 5 complaint that also accuses Ambassador Aviation, Plane 1 Leasing Co., and Plane 1 Director Wallace J. Hilliard of making the unauthorized flights from Naples to numerous locations around the country in April and May 1999.

The complaint says the companies flew three Learjets on 26 occasions without having a Federal Aviation Administration air carrier operating certificate.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Steinbeck is asking the court to impose an $11,000 fine for each violation for a total fine of $286,000.

In 1999, Dekkers was owner of Ambassador Aviation of Naples, which is no longer in business.

He was the owner of Huffman Aviation at Venice Municipal Airport when Mohamed Atta (pictured, left) and Marwan Al-Shehhi (pictured, below right) took flight lessons before hijacking an airliner they crashed into the World Trade Center.

Federal officials declined to discuss the case other than to say it's a civil matter unrelated to Huffman Aviation or Sept. 11.

Hilliard, who said he hadn't seen the complaint, denied the accusations.

Dekkers has an non-published telephone number and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In January 2003, Dekkers was charged with failing to repay a $200,000 loan from a business partner, but prosecutors dropped the charges.