[eno_]

New York, 9/11, the subsequent discovery of the shoe bomber, the previous AQ experiments with small improvised explosives on planes, the UNGA in town, Dubya in town, witnesses claiming to have seen fire/explosions on board, etc.

Plus this: The plane lost both engines and the vertical stablizer. Which is more likely: a) The vertical stabilizer falls off and the plane falls like a brick; or b) An explosion severs hydraulics (it was not a FBW frogbus, but an older model) the plane gets sideways at 350kts, and big surfaces get ripped off?

[Bobby777]

exactly ... more than likely it was a shoe bomber-type ...

[null and void]

Interesting that they said composite parts fail all the time, but kept the entire A300 fleet in the air. Missed a perfectly good change to stick it to the frogs, too...