Scouting jetliners for new attacks

The Washington Times ^ | Audrey Hudson

[Amerimom2]

Flight crews and air marshals say Middle Eastern men are staking out airports, probing security measures and conducting test runs aboard airplanes for a terrorist attack. At least two midflight incidents have involved numerous men of Middle Eastern descent behaving in what one pilot called "stereotypical" behavior of an organized attempt to attack a plane.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

Some one needs to check out this casino. Why are they hiring Syrians as musicians? The guy that hired them is probably a terrorist as well.

Do you sweat when you jump to conclusions like this? Sheesh!

[MortMan]

So go ahead boys, empty the magazine into those tangos and don't worry about little holes.

Better yet, practice good gun control - and get a tight shot grouping that doesn't damage the fuselage!!!

[Uncle Miltie]

HELLLLOOOOOOOOOO NORM MINETTA!

We ought to profile mercilessly. Arab males ought to be strip searched every time. Air Marshalls should be on every single plane with an Arab male. Air Marshalls and crew should be allowed to require everyone in their seats, on penalty of arrest or shooting.

Jeez. We're just freaking ripe for the next 9/11.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

If that was the case, then how do you explain all the bombers from WW2 that seemed to be turned into smth close to swiss cheese and STILL made it home safe ?

Those bombers weren't pressurized.

[Salvation]

I flew a major airline this last week, and believe me, I had my eyes open.

[Lazamataz]

Sorry but I'm not buying your argument. Guns on planes? One shot through a window and that plane is gone.

RIGHT! Why, if there's even the slightest little hole in a plane, it blows right up!

I know, because I saw it in a Bruce Willis film!

[Lazamataz]

I recall an incident that happened some years ago near Hawaii. Seems like the whole danged cabin roof came off a plane. Passengers were sitting in their seats with the sky as their roof, but the plane made it back and safely landed.

Did they at least get a complimentary drink and some peanuts?

[misterrob]

Really? I'll check that out.

[jsraggmann]

I fly it too and I know what the consequenses of NOT obeying the rule is. Maybe I misunderstood your post, but I thought you suggested applying the rule to all flights, regardless of destination. It simply wouldn't work.

[johnfrink]

There's another thing that many musicians like to do that would make them

(a) secretive,
(b) visit the lavatory frequently
(c) paranoid.

If Jacobsen had said that they also had a strange fondness for beef jerky, I think we all would have ID'd the problem instantly.

[N3WBI3]

DId not see that mythbusters? was the cabin pressuraized and in the same pressure as it would be at 3k feet??

[Blood of Tyrants]

"There is a great degree of concern in the airline industry that not only are these dry runs for a terrorist attack, but that there is absolutely no defense capabilities on a vast majority of airlines," the second pilot said.

THANK YOU GEORGE BUSH AND NORM MINETA! You have virtually guaranteed that the flight crew will be unarmed and unable to defend themselves by your foot dragging and deliberately making it nearly impossible for the pilot and co-pilot to be armed in the advent of a hijacking attempt.

[green iguana]

"I recall an incident that happened some years ago near Hawaii. Seems like the whole danged cabin roof came off a plane. "

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 in 1988. One flight attendent was sucked out of the plane - the only casualty. Check it out here - the pictures are amazing:

http://www.disastercity.com/flt243/

[76834]

If I recall correctly, no.
Mainly because the stewardess was not buckled and got sucked out of the plane, 30,000+ feet to fish food.
No stewardess, no one to serve the goodies....

[SpottedBeaver]

Did they at least get a complimentary drink and some peanuts?

They did! And not only that, they got complimentary passes to the hair salon. Apparently, a few people were having a bad hair day.

[monday]

"Do you sweat when you jump to conclusions like this? Sheesh!"

You don't think it is strange that a casino hires Syrian musicians? I don't know where you are from, but there isn't much demand for Syrian music where I live.

If I went to a casino, and the entertainment was the cat screeching that constitutes most middle eastern pop music, was the only thing on offer, I would wonder if the entertainment director had lost his mind.

[Sender]

Better yet, practice good gun control - and get a tight shot grouping that doesn't damage the fuselage!!!

Amen to that! If there are ANY US passenger planes flying today without a gun in the cockpit, now three years after 9/11, it is a travesty!!!

[zeugma]

Have you ever paid attention to the little presentation the flight attendant gives at the beginning of each and every US flight? The one where she demonstrates how to put on the oxygen mask "in the event of loss of cabin pressure"?

I would suggest you check out some of the resources pointed out elsewhere on this thread. It takes a heck of a lot more than just a bullet hole to cause cabin pressure to drop to an significant degree. Losing the airplane door would do it, but not a simple gunshot. Again, this is just hysteria generated by the "make sure they are all sheep" crowd.

[ChocChipCookie]

The airlines and DOT may refuse to profile, but that doesn't mean the passengers can't. If every passenger refused to get on a flight with more than one Middle Eastern-looking male, the airlines would be forced to change their policy.

[Capt.YankeeMike]

So...what happened to the ME asshole who took out the mirror in the bathroom and got caught by the air marshall...did we apologize and let him go or what????