A#$#@$ from Nigeria tries to blow up Plane flying to Detroit

[msu#1]

People think its just firecrackers but is a real bomb that fails to fully explode.

Guy is in the burn unit at UofM hospital.

Merry Christmas

[ragtopW]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_airliner_disturbance

[ph4ever]

Well.........so much for me feeling confidant about airport security.

[flipflopgirl]

WTF??????????? ASSHAT!!!!!!!!!!!

[ragtopW]

WTF??????????? ASSHAT!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope He resisted the Citizens arrest..

[SeattleParrotHead]

Well.........so much for me feeling confidant about airport security.

That's airport security overseas . . . hard to know if our TSA people would have intercepted it . . .
They sure seem to single my 82 y.o. grey haired M.I.L. out for special screening more often than not.
It must be her foreign sounding name . . . Flaherty.

[Crazy Navy Flyer]

Bad guys are still out there and they still want to kill us. Stay alert when you fly.

[Brown Eyed Girl]

Lucky me, I get to fly tomorrow!

As for TSA, at LAX the guy kept saying "no need to take off belts, leave your belts on". So for the first time ever I don't take off my belt and BZZZZZZ! Took me 3 times to get thru the dang xray machine cuz they kept saying it wasn't the belt. Guess what? IT WAS, dumbasses. Then because they ran my belt and bracelet thru the scanner separately, I almost walked away without both of them. They were plenty nice, but a little short on brains....

[SeattleParrotHead]

Me too! Goin' to HNL for a few days . . . where you off to BEG? Headin' to to SFO for the Emerald Bowl?

[Brown Eyed Girl]

Me too! Goin' to HNL for a few days . . . where you off to BEG? Headin' to to SFO for the Emerald Bowl?

Lucky you, Mel! I'm headed home, was just a quick trip to GA. Think I could get the pilot to swing over the game?

Safe travels, my friend!

[SeattleParrotHead]

Me too! Goin' to HNL for a few days . . . where you off to BEG? Headin' to to SFO for the Emerald Bowl?

Lucky you, Mel! I'm headed home, was just a quick trip to GA. Think I could get the pilot to swing over the game?

Safe travels, my friend!

You too, Kath! Be safe and GO TROJANS!

[flyboy55]

As someone pointed out, according to the authorities, this fellow boarded the flight in Nigeria and there was a stopover in Amsterdam before flying on to Detroit. If there was a security lapse, it could have happened at either of those two locations. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions on which one. But lapses occur domestically, too, and I wouldn't be letting any secrets out to say this because the TSA's own audits turn things up all the time.

The other thing is, only one law enforcement official has said it was a bomb, but this was based on the perpetrator's own declaration that he had a bomb and was trying to detonate it. Other security officials have said it is too soon to tell whether what the man was carrying could be called a bomb. But he was apparently carrying matches and/or a lighter. More on this below.

Finally, this person's only tie to Al Qaeda so far is his own declaration that he is affiliated with them. It is too soon to determine whether or not that is the case. If so, then we have bigger problems than just airport security. The U.S. government gets complete passenger manifests of all U.S. bound flights long before they arrive here, and ALL the names are run through a screening process by folks with more computer power than you can imagine (I don't know - I can imagine quite a lot).

I think it is too soon to come to the conclusion that this was a bona fide Al Qaeda terror plot.

I do have one important question however: Why is it still allowable for a passenger to have in their carry on or on their person a book of matches and two butane lighters but I can't carry a cup of coffee through the crew bypass while in uniform, on duty, appropriate federal ID, while my bags are screened and I walk through the metal detector with my pockets emptied and in my sock feet?

I'm guessing the smokers in the crowd have a powerful lobby on their side.

[RinglingRingling]

As someone pointed out, according to the authorities, this fellow boarded the flight in Nigeria and there was a stopover in Amsterdam before flying on to Detroit. If there was a security lapse, it could have happened at either of those two locations. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions on which one. But lapses occur domestically, too, and I wouldn't be letting any secrets out to say this because the TSA's own audits turn things up all the time.

The other thing is, only one law enforcement official has said it was a bomb, but this was based on the perpetrator's own declaration that he had a bomb and was trying to detonate it. Other security officials have said it is too soon to tell whether what the man was carrying could be called a bomb. But he was apparently carrying matches and/or a lighter. More on this below.

Finally, this person's only tie to Al Qaeda so far is his own declaration that he is affiliated with them. It is too soon to determine whether or not that is the case. If so, then we have bigger problems than just airport security. The U.S. government gets complete passenger manifests of all U.S. bound flights long before they arrive here, and ALL the names are run through a screening process by folks with more computer power than you can imagine (I don't know - I can imagine quite a lot).

I think it is too soon to come to the conclusion that this was a bona fide Al Qaeda terror plot.

I do have one important question however: Why is it still allowable for a passenger to have in their carry on or on their person a book of matches and two butane lighters but I can't carry a cup of coffee through the crew bypass while in uniform, on duty, appropriate federal ID, while my bags are screened and I walk through the metal detector with my pockets emptied and in my sock feet?

I'm guessing the smokers in the crowd have a powerful lobby on their side.

a) if I were betting on where the security lapse occured, my money is on the Nigerian end. Schipol is a good airport, and the Europeans aren't nearly as porous in their security as a third-world (yeah, they have oil money but, they are essentially a third-world kleptocracy) civil war zone.
b) the number of times I have been thru the lines, the idea of having to leave a cup of coffee behind strikes me as an ongoing "here's a little something to sweeten your profit level" to vendors who already pay outrageous-stupid rents in airports and charge accordingly.
c) I travel with cigars, sometimes cigars and a couple pipes (dissembled to prevent breakage), pipe tobacco, and matches. yeah, I can buy lighters on the far end, but that strikes me as similar to b) now..
d) it's almost a shame the person who jumped on him wasn't a bit more effective in his "disarming and subduing". Thanks to the tool with the legburns, there are going to be even more ridiculous measures in place on domestic flights.

now, if you could guarantee that baggage claim personnel (and TSA folks) won't rifle my luggage if I put valuables inside; and if airlines were not still charging (yeah, except for Southwest) $25 a bag and trying to claim it's part of the recouping loss program when Jet A was 2x more expensive than it is now, two years later, I'd put a lighter or matches and my pipes in my luggage and check it thru. Requiring that of all passengers, especially on the legacy carriers who feel that need for an extra $100/person round trip, is just a form of corporate welfare.

[RinglingRingling]

Well.........so much for me feeling confidant about airport security.

That's airport security overseas . . . hard to know if our TSA people would have intercepted it . . .
They sure seem to single my 82 y.o. grey haired M.I.L. out for special screening more often than not.
It must be her foreign sounding name . . . Flaherty.

you never know about the Irish...

[bravedave]

Dang, was he the son of the deposed Nigerian king who left all his money in the numbered Swiss account for me? I hope I'll still get the money...

[dnw]

[SchoolGirlHeart]

If it's true he had materials strapped to his thigh, the only thing that would have caught that is an explosive-sniffing dog, or maybe if he'd happened (against big odds) to be the guy they pulled and tested his carry-on for explosive residue....

First reports are saying the explosive was PETN powder. If true, this is the same explosive used by Richard Reid (the "shoe bomber") in his nearly-successful effort to bring down American Airlines Flight 63 between London and Miami in December 2001. If it had exploded like it was meant to, instead of burning, yesterday's Christmas headlines would probably have been very different.....

Now, as to why Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was in a database of people with potential terrorist ties but not on the no-fly list, well, that's another good question.

[ragtopW]

If it's true he had materials strapped to his thigh, the only thing that would have caught that is an explosive-sniffing dog, or maybe if he'd happened (against big odds) to be the guy they pulled and tested his carry-on for explosive residue....

First reports are saying the explosive was PETN powder. If true, this is the same explosive used by Richard Reid (the "shoe bomber") in his nearly-successful effort to bring down American Airlines Flight 63 between London and Miami in December 2001. If it had exploded like it was meant to, instead of burning, yesterday's Christmas headlines would probably have been very different.....

Now, as to why Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was in a database of people with potential terrorist ties but not on the no-fly list, well, that's another good question.

as a CPAP user I am tested every time I fly..

[HurricaneSeason]

Nothing about that makes any sense.

Detroit?

[SchoolGirlHeart]

Nothing about that makes any sense.

Detroit?

It does make sense, though. It's not so much Detroit as the ability to fly KLM into Amsterdam and transfer to a US-bound non-stop, which would be Delta/Northwest direct to Detroit.