And the shoe bomber guy was a Brit ..
No one has mentioned the possibility yet that the manifested 70 year old Swiss pilot was not at the controls for the crash.
If (all speculation here) he was going up for a scheduled solo flight, it would be easy for a ground crew/terrorist to hide in the plane and take it over in the air. That would also explain the 6pm strike: the schedule was a matter of opportunism in this (speculative) scenario.