Fireworks set off aboard airliner (ABC News: Not fireworks - "powdery substance")

CNN ^ | 12/25/09 | CNN

[Cyberrat]

A passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, caused a brief disturbance Friday at the end of the trip by igniting firecrackers, a Delta Air Lines spokeswoman said...

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said.

Lets hope that this is the perp.

[Cyberrat]

"Detroit has a large Muslim/Arab community."

Despite my earlier post, it is actually NEVER wise to jump to conclusions. However, given the details, this incident does raise questions, and warrant concern.

[Nekman]

Maybe he had spent a week in the coffee houses and just started to “Jones” after a long flight?...

[JosephW]

Detroit is the major intl hub for NW/Delta.

Amsterdam & Frankfurt are the major European hubs.

The facts that it is these two cities are more coincidence than anything else.

I wouldn’t discount muzzies, but don’t let these cities make the case.

[missnry]

I have flown that leg going out of Europe many times. They always prescreen with interviews and xray at the gate. Interesting... still all members may be recipients of the ...

[The KG9 Kid]

Wow. I find it hard to believe that someone managed to smuggle fireworks on board a plane at Amsterdam's Schipol Airport.

Shortly after 9/11, I went to Holland with my wife. On my return trip out of Schipol, they swabbed my bags and backpack and picked up trace amounts of gunpowder on the inside of my backpack that a week earlier I'd used while target shooting in the USA to carry back home my fired brass cartridge cases. They inspected the lining of the bag thoroughly before they let me continue, and I thought it was over until a Dutch government security agent (who reminded us precisely of the young SS officer at the train station from 'Schindler's List') came along at checkpoint #2 and gave me a rapid fire twenty-question rundown on what bags were mine, please point at them specifically, who packed them, to swear before God they're mine, what's my destination, where I'd been in Europe, what's my grandfather's middle name, would I object to being X-rayed up the wazoo, and so on. Once he was done questioning me, he opened them up and inspected them right there.

I thought it was just me that he was singling out, but he did that to everyone on the flight headed to New York's JFK.

I can't believe that they missed fireworks. Oh, I can believe that the TSA would miss fireworks, but not at Amsterdam Schipol. There were police walking patrolling in pairs of two with Hk MP5 submachine guns just looking like they wish something would happen so they could earn their pay.

[raybbr]

Seeing as how neither fireworks nor matches would cause an alert on a metal detector I don’t see how it would be all that hard.

[Chode]

roger that...

[varon]

Fireworks set off aboard airliner

Whoa, that's a lot of shorts with skid marks on that flight.......LOL

[Chode]

yes, hopefully subdued into unconsciousness...

[Sub-Driver]

so much for airport security......

[LayoutGuru2]

[saganite]

For some reason my computer absolutely refuses to open that CNN page at the link. The computer may be smarter than me and refuse to go to CNN. Is there a FOX version of the story?

[dalereed]

“Maybe he had spent a week in the coffee houses and just started to “Jones” after a long flight?... “

what is that gibberish supposed to mean?

[Polynikes]

Since the TSA in their infinite wisdom decided to publish their screening protocols on line you will see that one pack of “safety” matches are allowed in carry on baggage. As far as fireworks are concerned they are “forbidden” but are hard to spot via Xray. In all fairness to the TSA this flight originated in Amsterdam and the security at that end most likely was less than “optimal”

[teletech]

Was he given the Madoff “Fall out of bed” treatment?

[Moe Tzadik]

There’s “fireworks” precedent - also from Amsterdam.

[kittykat77]

What, it's not customary to celebrate the successful conclusion of a trans-Atlantic flight by setting off fireworks? I didn't know.

[mj81]

Hard to believe that someone would insert fireworks into places where they can’t be detected.... If fireworks can’t be detected, then what of C4 or some similar compound?

[Nekman]

What??? You never saw Reefer Madness?.........