Routine Turned to Mayhem on Terror Flight

Wall Street Journal ^ | December 26, 2009 | Neal Boudette and Andy Pasztor

[reaganaut1]

Seconds after passengers spotted flames climbing above the back of a window seat midway down the left side of Northwest Flight 253, Friday's routine descent toward Detroit's main airport turned into horror, mayhem and instant heroism.

Just as the widebody Airbus A330 made a rumbling sound as the landing gear started down, horrified travelers in seats around the young Nigerian later detained as a terrorism suspect started screaming, according to eyewitness reports by passengers. Flight attendants quickly joined the hubbub around the man in seat 19A, repeatedly screaming "What are you doing?"

There was a pop and then smoke wafted through the cabin. A passenger then climbed over several seats, lunged across the aisle and managed to subdue the suspect, the eyewitnesses said. The Nigerian man was placed in a headlock before being dragged up to the first class cabin. Passenger Zeina Seagal told CNN that after the suspect was collared and parts of his burning pants were removed, flight attendants quickly grabbed fire extinguishers and doused the fire at his seat.

"We saw the fear in the flight attendants eyes" when they ran in the aisles and "grabbed the fire extinguishers," Michelle Keepman, a passenger who had been seated near the back of the plane, recalled.

Many of those seated further back didn't initially understand the reason for all the commotion. Roey Rosenblith [...] was in seat 38J, near the rear exits, when he heard the sounds of a struggle coming from many rows ahead. "People were yelling and screaming," he recalled hours later in an interview [...].

When a flight attendant sprinted down the aisle past his seat and then ran back in the opposite direction clutching a fire extinguisher, Mr. Rosenblith realized something was seriously wrong, he recounted. "At that point everybody was terrified."

[reaganaut1]

The passenger who subdued the terrorist is a hero, and I salute him.

[highlander_UW]

...horrified travelers in seats around the young Nigerian later detained as a terrorism suspect started screaming, according to eyewitness reports by passengers.

Nope, this is an unacceptable description to Obama. it should read...

>...horrified travelers in seats around the young Nigerian later detained as a man caused disaster perpetrator suspect started screaming, according to eyewitness reports by passengers.

[DeaconRed]

Remember:
Your CIC will not allow us to ask this creep anything except his name and cerial choice. . . . . .
If ever we needed to hook up red to one side of nuts and black to the other side this creep would tell everything he knows and save lives. . . . .

[livius]

Mr. Rosenblith said he was asked if he had noticed a man videotaping on the plane before take off, and again as the incident played out. He said he believed authorities were looking for the man with the camera, but he couldn't determine if investigators suspected if this individual could be an accomplice.

Interesting. I wonder if the man was perhaps using his cell phone to videotape it and immediately sending the recording to his terrorist buddies somewhere. If the plane had blown up, a video camera wouldn't have a survived. But I bet a video recording of the unsuspecting passengers followed by a recording of the events leading up to and ending with the explosion would have shot to the top of the charts in the AQ hit-parade worldwide.

[bgill]

And now cameraman is wandering the streets of the US free as a bird. Hope they’re re-checking the manifest closely for any and all accomplices.

[GOPJ]

I wonder if the man was perhaps using his cell phone to videotape it and immediately sending the recording to his terrorist buddies somewhere. If the plane had blown up, a video camera wouldn't have a survived. But I bet a video recording of the unsuspecting passengers followed by a recording of the events leading up to and ending with the explosion would have shot to the top of the charts in the AQ hit-parade worldwide.

All that airport security has to be good for something - maybe they have a picture of the guy...

[ripley]

What if the terrorist scu&bag was killed during the scuffle?

Would the passengers who prevented his attempt at homicide have been arrested and tried for murder?

(one wonders.)

IMHO

[Kartographer]

"Reflecting the new, more proactive security role that has emerged for passengers in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) told Fox News, "they were the first responders in this attack; they got the job done.""

This is a thing we need to remind ourselves each day; we are all first responders in the war we now find ourselves in.

[narses]

Firecracker? I don't think so! Terrorist Attempt Update: Bomb Was Incendiary, Comprised of Mixed Liquids; Obama Only Notified Three Hours After Incident

More:

A Nigerian man, claiming to be linked to al-Qaeda, allegedly tried to set off an incendiary device aboard a transatlantic airplane Friday as it descended toward Detroit's airport in what the White House called an attempted act of terrorism.

The man was quickly subdued after another passenger leapt on top of him, others on the plane said, and Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam landed safely around 1 p.m. Friday. The suspect was being treated at a hospital for burns he suffered while igniting the device...

The suspect[,] Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab[,] 23, attends University College London, where he studies engineering.

Although not on the TSA's "no-fly" list, Abdulmutallab's name appears to be included in the government's records of terrorism suspects, according to a preliminary review, authorities said.

Abdulmutallab has told federal investigators that he had ties to al-Qaeda and traveled to Yemen to collect the incendiary device and instructions on how to use it, according to a federal counterterrorism official briefed on the case. Authorities have yet to verify the claim, and they expect to conduct several more interviews before they determine whether he is credible, the official said.

Federal authorities have been told that Abdulmutallab allegedly had taped some material to his leg, then used a syringe to mix chemicals with the powder while on the airplane, one official said.

But doing so "caused him to catch on fire," Richelle Keepman, who sat a few rows in front of Abdulmutallab, told WDIV-TV.

...

Officials described the device as incendiary rather than explosive, pending tests by forensics experts at the FBI. Incendiary devices generally deliver less of an impact than explosive devices.

[jimbo123]

The hero passenger was a young Dutch man.

[jimbo123]

The muslim was traveling on a one-way ticket, paid with cash and wasn’t screened by the Amsterdam airport security.

[narses]

Nice. Those oh so tolerant, civilized Dutchmen.

[livius]

I hope they can find him. Wasn’t one of the Muslim freaks in that group that was thrown off a flight a few days before Christmas trying to film the whole thing from a seat in the back of the plane? IIRC, the flight attendants had to tell him to sit down and turn off his cell phone and that was one of the things that started the commotion.

Making a recording seems to be a standard part of their technique nowadays.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

This hero was described as a rather large guy - I hope he squashed this little piece of crud into the floor of the plane with gusto! Imagine he did. Good for him!!!

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

One way ticket????

Wasn’t screened in Amsterdam?

Epic fail of once solid cooperation in the war on terror,..

(Thanks Obama!)

[TShaunK]

Don’t be surprised that charges of “profiling” be brought against the man who subdued the “man made disasterer.”

[stephenjohnbanker]

” Allhu A....oh $hit!!”

[Paige]

This is my complaint with TSA. People such as myself (white, blond, blue eyed) get tagged and morons like this one who have the INTENT to kill innocent people are not once tagged.

Our government is so busy playing Politically correct games the time will come the TERRORIST will complete their mission (tens of thousands or more dead) if this Politically Correct game does not stopped.

[hennie pennie]

>>>> "The muslim was traveling on a one-way ticket, paid with cash and wasn't screened by the Amsterdam airport security." <<<<<

Sounds to me like he had inside help, Muslims work at airports all around the world, and surely some of them have terrorist connections and perhaps he is correct when he claims he has al Qaeda connections?

[stephenjohnbanker]

“But doing so “caused him to catch on fire,” Richelle Keepman, who sat a few rows in front of Abdulmutallab, told WDIV-TV.”

” Allhu A....oh $hit!!”