Hysteria and panic do not protect people, and that’s what this was. Leather straps and leather boxes are not fuses and little bombs. Major drop out of common sense in this case.
Very few Jewish people display their Tefillin in public.
To the uninitiated, they look very strange.
I had no idea what they were the first time I saw them, and I grew up in a Jewish Neighborhood.
So, I would have to be understanding in the case of the pilot, especially in this current climate.
Not everybody is as well informed as us FReepers! :-)