The 911 hijackers took at least one rehearsal flight. The actor James Woods was a witness to their odd behavior on that rehearsal flight. This could have been a rehearsal flight. Or perhaps the rags couldn't assemble their bomb as planned (hence the one man mouthing the word "no" near the end of the flight).
I agree that living in fear is not the way. But burying your head in the sand in the face of blatantly threatening behavior is foolish. How many stories, editorials, etc. have been published about how the 911 hijackers were able to take over their planes with nothing more than box cutters because the passengers were so stunned that such a thing could happen that they failed to take any action to stop what was going on? Only the brave souls on the Pennsylvania flight did this - and only after they found out by cell phone what had happened earlier in New York.
Northworst should have taken better action - including calling an immediate emergency landing if the pilots deemed it appropriate. Even if the group turned out to not be an immediate threat (they would probably be a threat on a later flight), such action would send out a signal that the airlines are still being vigilant.
As for claims of racial profiling, Phuck the rags. Give them their own airline and then everyone will be a whole lot safer.
>>The actor James Woods was a witness to their odd behavior on that rehearsal flight.<<
Any place on line were we can read an account of what he saw?
"As for claims of racial profiling, Phuck the rags. Give them their own airline and then everyone will be a whole lot safer."
I like that idea.
Absolutely!!!!
I've been thinking of that very James Woods incident as I read this thread. However, I suspect the man mouthing the word "No" might have been the same one that carried his cell phone into the lav. He may have been checking for a "Go" signal. Perhaps it was a dry run, but in the sense that the participants thought it could be the real thing.
I find this very disturbing. I hope that the flight crew & air marshalls thoroughly checked the lavs during the flight to make sure nothing was being assembled, then left for the next person to add-on. Of course, it's possible that they were assembling something & then carrying it back to their seats.
As to profiling, I am reminded of something Walter Williams(?) once said. Paraphrasing:
I don't think it's unreasonable for anyone, white or black, to be apprehensive about a gang of young black men on a dark street. I'd be apprehensive about meeting a tiger. I know that not all tigers attack, and probably this one won't. But I know that some tigers attack and possibly this one might.
Yeah, that'd be great. Then they wouldn't even have to hijack a plane to fly it into a tower-----it would be on the official flight plan! ("Flight 412 is scheduled to arrive in side of Sears Tower at approximately 3:39CST...")
Exactly the reason why I think this was the real deal, and not a dry run.
Uh, not to sound rude, but do you REALLY want an all-arab all-Muslim aircraft flying not 2 miles from OUR flights?