FBI: Man Flew Into NYC From BWI With Firecracker [4-inch-long, three-quarter-inch-wide.....]

WCBSTV ^

[Sub-Driver]

FBI: Man Flew Into NYC From BWI With Firecracker Passenger Taken Into Custody After Explosive Device Found Wedged Between Two Seats On Piedmont Airlines Flight Into LaGuardia NEW YORK (CBS) ―

A passenger who flew into LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night was questioned by FBI agents after allegedly boarding the flight with an explosive device in his possession, CBS 2 has learned.

Officials confirmed Monday that a crew member on board Piedmont Airlines flight 4126 was cleaning the plane after it landed in New York around 7:30 p.m. when he found a large firecracker-like device wedged between two seats. Port Authority officials contacted FBI agents, and the passenger from that seat location, identified as 67-year-old Thomas Ouelette, of Bonita Springs, Fla., was tracked down and taken into custody.

Ouelette was planning on taking a connecting flight to Fort Myers, Fla. from New York.

Authorities did not release details on the kind of device discovered other than saying it was a 4-inch-long, three-quarter-inch-wide explosive pyrotechnic.

[Chode]

true, but... there are explosive and nonexplosive pyrotechnics.

[2CAVTrooper]

“My wife had a lipstick confiscated by a hostile TSA agent.
The rest of us can’t bring more than 3 ounces of toothpaste and it has to be in a clear quart size bag..or else.”

I can understand the banning of the flammable and explosive stuff because there is already enough stuff that’s going to burn and go kaboom when one of these things go splat. It’s also understandable that they also want to prevent another crash like the Valuejet crash in the Everglades.

But some of the other banned items for carry on is absurd. My aunt wasn’t allowed to board a flight one time because she was hand carrying a wedding gift for a family friend. The gift (a crystal handled silver cake knife) was wrapped with a bow and eveything. She called the airline, they said there wasn’t any problem. She asked the agent when checking in her bags, agent said there wasn’t any problem. She gets to the security checkpoint, and they said that she couldn’t be allowed through because it’s a “weapon”.

But on the bright side, you can still bring tools (7 inches or less), and scissors (4 inches or less) on board according to TSA..... Not like a phillips or flat head screwdriver in trained hands couldn’t be used as a weapon or anything /sarc

[2CAVTrooper]

Thanks for the info.

Any time.

I think I flew on Piedmont once as a kid from Logan to National and back.

Even flew Eastern a few times and TWA once. Past few years I’ve flown mostly Delta but not so much now since they merged with Northworst.

All of the worst flights I’ve been on were Northworst.

[Red Boots]

From the size description, sounds more like an M-80. That is one mighty firecracker

Yeah. Most every firecracker I've ever seen has been about 1-2" long, and no more thn 1/4" wide. Wonder if they even sell a "firecracker" that is 4 in long and 2 in wide in the States ? Maybe Wyoming ?

[Yaelle]

Napolitano: “As long as we are NOT profiling Muslims, the system is working! We allow for a certain amount of collateral damage.”

[HerrBlucher]

Many have posted to me that it was likely a 1/4 stick of dynamite and not an M-80, given the size.

[goodnesswins]

YEP.....the LAST time I flew I forgot the water bottle (sealed, never opened) I had in my purse....as I was going thru security the “SOMALI” security guy said....”what’s this?” I said “water....uh...I forgot”>....he says...yeah....that’s the problem”.....”I said...uh, NO, the problem is I am NOT a person who would store explosives in a sealed water bottle”...while staring him down....he said nothing....and I said...”YOU can have it!” I’m sure the people around me were waiting for me to be hauled off....including my husband!

[Colorado Doug]

That’s sounds like dynamite. Too small for dynamite but just right for a cast nitro booster. A little more energetic than dynamite

[Victor]

M-80s are not 4 inches long. Maybe 2.

This thing sounds like half a stick of dynamite.

[Kenny Bunk]

family is sunning themselves in Hawaii

I have heard that Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. is actually from Hawaii. Also, medically speaking, he and the girls do not have to worry much about "Haole Rot."