Your new boss
– Seven Flights Disrupted In One Day
Seven unrelated security incidents disrupted U.S. air travel Friday, and one was especially worrisome: The discovery that a stick of dynamite had been aboard a flight from Argentina to Houston.
BOMB THREAT: Security and airport officials leave an Aer Lingus plane that was evacuated at Shannon International Airport, Limerick,Ireland, on Friday after a bomb threat. The plane had flown from New York with 239 passengers. Officials said the threat proved unfounded. – BRIAN GAVIN / Associated Press
There was no indication terrorism was involved in any of the incidents, scattered from coast to coast. Two flights were diverted, others were delayed and many fliers were questioned by federal officials.
There are numerous reports about these incidents, many contradictory. But let me summarize the best I can from the news reports and from the logic of these reports to give you some idea as to how skittish everyone is getting.
Incident Number One: O’Hare. An autistic kid who does not want to fly decides to put an end to his misery and he blurts out that he has a bomb strapped to his leg as they are forcing him on the plane. He is asked to recant and instead he repeats it. Apparently nobody actually bothers to look on his leg. The plane was then quarantined, removed to a remote part of the airport and everyone was delayed for hours. The parent and the boy were taken away under suspicion of terrorism.
Incident Number Two: An American Airlines flight was diverted from Manchester , England to Bangor, Maine as the passengers were told that someone was sick. The flight was headed to Chicago. Nobody was sick. Instead the Marshals or someone had handcuffed what appeared to be a middle-eastern-looking pimp to a seat in the back and taken him off. It was thought that he was on the no-fly list – long after take off – and so the plane was stopped before he could kill everyone. Later reports indicated that a mistake had been made. This one is still sketchy. One humorous aspect is that because of flying time limitation the crew had to be swapped out before the plane could leave. This meant getting new people into Bangor while the passengers sat there.
Incident Number Three: Some college student returning from South America to New Jersey after supposedly “blowing up mines in Bolivia” as part of a demolition crew throws a half stick of dynamite in his checked luggage. He thought it would make a cool souvenir. Besides, he checked it didn’t he? A bomb sniffing dog discovers this. The kid is busted. They decide he’s not a terrorist but some want to throw the book at him anyway.
Incident Number Four: A flight from NYC to Dublin is evacuated in a panic after a bomb threat is apparently phoned in. It turned out to be a hoax.
Incident Number Five: A flight crew member found a missing panel in the bathroom of a Continental plane on a flight to Bakersfield. The flight landed in El Paso where an investigation ensued. Nothing came of it.
Incident Number Six: A knife, possibly left by a maintenance guy who could now never fess up, was found by itself on a seat on a plane from Philly to Connecticut. Panic ensues and the State Police of Connecticut are called in to investigate. They discover nothing.
Incident Number Seven: A flight to Charlotte was diverted on Friday when a man, apparently drunk got up to go to the bathroom and in the process “shoved” a Stewardess for whatever reason, probably to keep from falling down. He was wrestled to the floor by on-board Air Marshals. The story now becomes sketchy and nobody is talking about it. I reckon he was a loud obnoxious drunk too since the passengers reportedly clapped for the Air Marshals after they subdued the guy with force.
Incident Number Eight: Yet another incident involving Charlotte. At the airport today a woman got into a fight with the TSA over their trying to confiscate her nail polish. At some point she apparently kicked one of the TSA folks in the tussle (and if you’ve ever been kicked in the tussle — ow!). She was hauled off to jail. They didn’t “think” it was related to terrorism.
I just realized what terrorist could do to our airline infrastructure…all they need to do now is just call in bomb threats in a serious manner and in a totally believable manner. Like a “tip” or whatever. Then it shuts down entire airports and flights are delayed and business grinds to a halt for a few hours.
They don’t even have to have real explosives, they could even put “suicide” hoax people on planes to disrupt flights. Just saying, once in the air, that you have a bomb will totally shut that down and even doing that on 5 or so airplanes in a planed disruption could halt all flights in the country like on 9/11….even though they’ll all be “hoaxes”. The suicide hoaxsters will be arrested, but that’s they’re way of giving their lives to the cause.
No one would die, but it would cost the country millions of dollars and make people afraid to fly or just avoid it due to the hassles.
Think about it.
I worked in the industry. It was screwed up than and it’s royally screwed up now. A guy told me that they should have the government run the airlines. I said, they already do why do you think it’s screwed up. It’s being run into the ground. I feel sorry for anybody forced to fly. It’s like taking a trip back into the old soviet union. It is the starting point for a police state. You can feel it at the airport. I avoid the place. I’m a one man do not fly list.
The terrorist could follow Johns attack. They want us in a police state, so I doubt it will happen. The government is better equipped to destroy us than some terrorist operation. They just need to wait and watch our liberties disappear and then move in for the kill. Look at the idiots we have as leaders. You’re not safe, you are safer as they like to remind us. DHS is a joke. There’s a guy on the news right now saying the levees are crap and could make another flood in New Orleans worse.
Keystone Kops…
Of course once our liberties are taken away by the federal government, the terrorists will be just putting us out of our misery. Iraq will have it made, thanks to the federal government and the moron war planners in Washington.
Mayberry Machiavellians
The fife you save may be your own.
NASA goes on, so convert the airports into little space centers and theme parks. All that’s left of the big airlines is debt, busted out pensions and junk stock. It’s a shell game, with big shells. It’s great news for charter and private operators and small FBO’s. You would have to be really dumb to plan a career in commercial aviation. The crooks have busted the industry out. It’s like going to work at Dracula Industries. There’s zero security, but you got a job and the union looking out for you. It’s so bad, the union can’t do much for you though.
This is getting ridiculous. I think the focus on airline security has to, in general, end with the airplane being used as a missle.
I am in no way advocating getting rid of all airport/plane security, but without being cute, any terrorist who wants the biggest bang for the buck can and will go for easier targets like mass transit systems, and malls, stadiums, water supplies, etc.
I guess blowing up airplanes occupies a special place in our collective psyche’s, but as someone who is in New York’s transit system (including penn station, grand central, etc) every day, those targets sure seem easier.
And the key to stopping those attacks are intelligence (both kinds) and good police work.
We have corporate police in our city. They get federal funds and pay people $9.50 an hour to stand around downtown passing out flyers telling people not to give the panhandlers and drunks spare change. It’s becoming difficult to help out a drunk these days. They must figure that these people are a threat to national security. The drunk could call in a airport bomb threat with spare change.
Aside from incident 7, authorities acted apropriately. Especial after last weeks terror arrests in England, everyone is alittle jumpy. Imagine the if something had happened and a plane had gone down. If any of these incidents had happened prior and no one didn’t act, everyone on this board would be calling for everyones head, from Bush on down. Better safe then sorry. Unfortunatly if we have to share the skys with morons like the asshole who had the dynamite in his lugage, then we will have to deal with these invconveinences.
“There was no indication terrorism was involved in any of the incidents.”
Which means that these type incidents occured all the time prior to 9/11, but now its newsworthy to frighten Americans for little reason. Sounds like the terrorists have won.
Osama Bin Ladin is free, what about you?
Sad when the “worlds greatest country” is reduced to chicken little.
No tolerance is lame. And any country that compromises freedoms for “security” deserves neither as Franklin said.
The best part, you can still get weapons on planes easily.
Phony Security for the loss Gerald!
The republican assholes can turn the airports over to the Dubai Ports Co. and they’ll fix it all up. Knowing Bush he would be out there saying this is a great idea. It’s over with. The airlines are screwed, the people forced to fly are like hostages and just about nobody has any faith at all in the entire system. All these false alarms are bad enough, when the real thing happens they’ll be caught with their dicks in their hands and we’ll get political bullshit speeches over bullhorns like we got at the WTC. They’ll drag Guliani out and he’ll smile a whole lot and say so the hell what and go on Oprah. You have 5,000 people dead and it’s not their fault. W will tell everybody to go to Disneyland, that’s leadership. We’re headed for a disaster. In Iraq they’re creating disaster by the hour in the name of who the fuck knows.
Even if you could wipe out all the republican assholes in the elections, it’s so fucked up the democrats wouldn’t be able to fix much of anything. We’re in for 10 years of bad times. If you have the cash move to Canada, get the hell out. People blame Bush, it’s not Bush it’s millions of assholes who voted for the dipshit. The whole nation has been disrupted, screw the corrupt greedy airlines. They deserve to die.
Jim, if you think the Democrats will be any better, then you are truly clueless. They care no more about you or the common man then any other politician. A politians sole goal is to keep getting re-elected and live the good life. The life of kick backs, perks and power. This applies to both sides of the isle. Your angry retoric of name calling shows you just don’t get it.
Plane crashed this morning. Let the conspiracy theories begin.
Rather safe then SORRY…
But, an idiot is an IDIOT…and stupid is STUPID.
There is true danger in this. After each false alarm we will become more and more complacent until none of it registers. That is when the terrorists will strike.
Terrorists don’t need to hit an airplane for maximum effect. There are dozens of other targets that would have even more of a hurt due to their unexpectedness. A few small explosive devises spread around the country on high voltage electrical transmission towers would shut down most of the country. One or two high explosives designed to go off after the container has been unloaded would shut down all the ports. Some legitimate OTC drugs are poisoned and replaced back on the shelves in their tamper proof packaging would stop people from buying anything off of a shelf. Some oil and chemical refineries or storage tanks get hit with mortar or short range rockets fired from mobile platforms. Etc etc etc.
The even greater fallacy will be expecting the terrorists to be middle eastern. There are many blacks and whites that agree with their cause that would willingly follow. Right wing militias could again exact vengeance for past wrongs. Radical Native Americans could vent their frustrations in explosive fury. Ex-patriot Mexicans could start a war of succession for south western America.
But people, our greatest danger is irrational fear.
There is nothing to fear but fear itself.
(And those who would use fear to control the people.)
18,
Good points, BUT also, we may be looking in the WRONG places…as you mentioned. there ARE many ways to create terror WITHOUT killing themselves.
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WE”RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!