National Crop-Duster Ban Expected to Be Lifted.

Publication: The Seattle Times (Seattle, Washington) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2001 The Seattle Times

Sep. 25--Crop-dusters were scheduled to be back in the air today after a two-day shutdown by federal authorities.

A crop-duster would provide a crude but deadly delivery system for poisonous chemicals or biological agents, according to one senior terrorism official in Washington, D.C.

The official, who spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity, said law-enforcement officials reacted with alarm last week when they learned some of the men suspected in the Sept. 11 attacks on the East Coast may have visited crop-dusting companies in Florida and Texas.

Another suspected terrorist, identified as Zacarias Moussaoui, reportedly had a manual on the operation of crop-dusting equipment.

The Washington Post reported yesterday the man who the FBI says flew an American Airlines plane into the World Trade Center apparently walked into a U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Florida last year and asked about a loan to buy a crop-duster plane.

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