BOMBER LINDSAY `LEARNING TO FLY'.

Byline: Neil Atkinson ,

Detectives probing flight simulator training

SUICIDE bomber Jermaine Lindsay may have learned to fly - on a simulator.

Detectives are probing claims that Lindsay, who was brought up in Huddersfield, obsessively used flight simulators to practise flying jet passenger planes.

And the inquiry has echoes of the New York suicide bombers, who "learned" to fly planes before carrying out the horrific September 11 2001 attacks.

Lindsay, 19, was listed as a "pilot" with a web-based group of flying enthusiasts who operate virtual copies of genuine airline schedules.

Most members of the club use Microsoft Flight Simulator, a realistic PC-based program that is also thought to have been used for training by the September 11 attackers.

A pilot roster for SimAirline.net, discovered by the Press Association, indicates that a "Jermaine Lindsay" joined the group in December 2003.

He listed his nearest major airport as London Heathrow, and clocked up nearly 30 hours honing his skills over the next two months.

Police began investigating possible links between Lindsay - whose first name has been variously spelt Germaine and Jermaine - and flying simulators after being handed the document by the Press Association last week.

It is understood detectives have been trying to establish whether the man on the roster is the same 19-year-old who set off a bomb on the Piccadilly Tube line on July 7, killing himself and 26 others.

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said today that they would not comment on individual lines of inquiry.

SimAirline.net operates a virtual copy of scheduled flights by 22 real carriers, including British Airways, Virgin, Emirates and Air Canada.

The group's hundreds of pilots are expected to log their trips, stick to specified timetables, and use the type of aircraft employed by the particular airline they are "flying" for.

The 9/11 Commission in the US concluded last year that the terrorists on planes which flew into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon had used PC-based flight simulators for training.

* Two more people have been charged over an arson attack on Lindsay's former home.

Robert Cusworth, 20, and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were arrested on Saturday by Thames Valley Police. After questioning, both were charged with arson with intent to endanger life and arson recklessly endangering life.

Cusworth, of Bicester Road, Aylesbury, and the teenager are to appear at Aylesbury Magistrates Court today. The charges relate to an attack on the empty family home of Lindsay in Northern Road, Aylesbury, last Friday.

Lindsay, who went to Rawthorpe High School, blew himself up on a Piccadilly Line train in London on July 7, killing 26 others.

He was one of four bombers who carried out attacks on the capital that day.

A third youth, also aged 17, was arrested on Friday and appeared before magistrates on Saturday facing the same charges. He was remanded in custody.