All US planes being searched

Fox News Cable | Oct 17, 2003

[TomGuy]

Box cutters, bleach found in 2 packages on Southwest Airlines plane.

All commercial planes in US currently being searched.

developing............

[hispanarepublicana]

When I was younger I was just a 3 X 5 index card.

This is America.......don't settle for Flyer. You too can be a billboard someday.

[diamondjoe]

I'm guessing it is clay. My theory is that some guy(s) pulled this stunt as a way of illustrating our pathetic security. Probably packed a number of items to show that any number of things could be slipped through.

[Eaker]

Opps!!!!

Sorry!

[LizardQueen]

Any word/idea what the "clay like" substance is?

I was wondering the same thing. C4, Semtex?

They'll probably have to chemically test it before ID'ing it. I think my DH (chemist) said it needs a fuse to ignite and that you can hold a match to it and it won't do anything (not that I'd want to try, mind you).

LQ

[Leatherneck_MT]

C'mon, you didn't hear me say that anyone was going to blind 168 passengers.

I said that bleach makes an excellent weapon. It can be used to blind your victim.

Whether or not your average Peaceful Muslim is going to try to use it to blind one person or 168 people is immaterial. The fact remains it is a good disabling weapon.

And

Depending on the delivery system

You could use it to blind 168 people in an air craft.

I doubt seriously tho they would be able to get the delivery system past security. At least I would hope not.

[CARTOUCHE]

Have you contemplated a ground to air missile? Apparently not. I'm not into tin foil but the more I think about it the more I have come to the conclusion that TWA 800 was shot out of the sky leaving JFK. Would the French supply a terrorist with the capability to shoot our planes down. Do you even have to ask twice?

[Frank_Discussion]

lol.

Thanks.

[TomGuy]

Southwest Airlines Statement


DALLAS, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- While performing maintenance on an aircraft lavatory in New Orleans last evening, several items were discovered in a lavatory compartment. The items, inside a small plastic bag, included a small number of boxcutters and other items intended to simulate a threat.

A similar discovery was made in Houston last night on another aircraft during a scheduled maintenance inspection (C check).

A note in both packages indicated the items were intended to challenge the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint security procedures.

Both discoveries were made on Thursday night, Oct. 16, by Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) Employees. These items were immediately turned over to authorities with whom we will continue to cooperate during this investigation.

After consulting with the TSA, we immediately completed inspections of our entire fleet of 385 aircraft and found no additional miscellaneous items. We continue to cooperate with the TSA and FBI to determine the origin of these items.

We will not speculate on who might have left these items onboard. We will cooperate with the federal authorities to investigate this thoroughly.

www.southwest.com

SOURCE Southwest Airlines

[Flux Capacitor]

This story's a full 40 minutes old and Bush hasn't been blamed for the incident yet?! C'mon, Dems, quit yer slacking!

-Dan

[Cacophonous]

It will ultimately settle on the one that will keep it in business.

[Orangedog]

Agreed. The days of hijacking plane-loads of Americans ended two years ago. I imagine that the resonse that any future Attah-wannabe's with box-cutters would get from the passengers and crew would be:

Hijacker: "This is a hijacking! Open the door to the cockpit or we start cutting people!

Passengers and Crew: [snickers and chuckling]

Hijacker: "What do you Infidels think is so funny?!"

Flight Attendant: "We're all just trying think about how funny y'all are gonna look trying to walk around Gitmo with that thing shoved up your a$$...that is if you can still walk five minutes from now."

[Solson]

I know. I'm just saying...from a standpoint of flying quite a bit...there won't be another successful highjacking by passengers of an aircraft.

They may blow one out of the sky from a bomb, shoot one down, or somehow get a pilot/co-pilot to take one down but not from the passengers...regardless of the weapon.

[steplock]

mix bleach with hydrogen peroxide (common hair bleacher) = chlorine gas

[Cacophonous]

Like I said, nothing is 100%. The current security under TSA would not be able to do anything against such a missile either.

[TomGuy]

I doubt seriously tho they would be able to get the delivery system past security. At least I would hope not.

Fill a plastic hairspray bottle with "it" and you probably could.

[steplock]

bleach + hydrogen peroxide

[Euro-American Scum]

Box cutters, bleach found in 2 packages on Southwest Airlines plane. All commercial planes in US currently being searched.

Looks like it's time to strip-search some more 85-year-old grandmothers.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

Do people really still think it is possible to hijack airlines?

Someone back in the early part of the century once said that all the major inventions had already been invented, and nothing really important would ever be invented again. As soon as you believe hijackings are impossible, that's when wer're most vulnerable to them. I guess that's part of asymmetrical warfare.

[wita]

the feds have issued carry permits

That and the preceeding on this thread are just some of the reasons I am so glad I do not have to fly. It is bad enough to be treated like a criminal just to get into the county bldg to get my license plates.

[Labyrinthos]

It will ultimately settle on the one that will keep it in business.

Which is the one that allows it to make the most money for its shareholders. I guarantee that just about every corporation that sells a consumer product has calculated the cost of making the product safer vs. the cost of product failure, and the lower cost will usually win.