MSNBC NEWS BULLETIN
Plane diverted to Boston
Report: Subdued passenger
had explosives on his person.

MSNBC NEWS SERVICES

BOSTON, Dec. 22 — An American Airlines flight from Paris bound for Miami diverted Saturday for an emergency landing in Boston. Airport officials said the plane landed after its crew discovered and subdued a passenger who appeared to have explosives in his shoes.

Tom Kinton, director of aviation at Boston’s Logan Airport, said at a news conference that the jet’s crew found prevented “something serious” from taking place.

The suspect had C-4 plastic explosives on his person and a detonator, according to one report from WHDH-TV in Boston. He was carrying a British passport with the name Richard Reed, though federal officials believed the passport “looks bogus,” Kinton said.

The suspect appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, officials said, though his real name and background did not appear to be available yet.

Kinton also said the suspect had been detained in Belguim three weeks ago. A reason was not given.

The American Airlines flight was carrying 85 passengers and 12 crew members, one aviation source told NBC News. Two fighter jets escorted it to the ground in Boston.

The flight number was not immediately given, though it appeared likely it was American Flight 63, which flies direct from Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport to Miami on Saturdays. That flight usually uses a Boeing 767.
     

[url]http://www.msnbc.com/news/676895.asp?0cm=c20&cp1=1#BODY[/url]

Great.

I thought C4 was detonated electricly, not chemicaly, like a match.  ;)

Since these terrorists get - what is it 70 virgins if they can succed in killing themselves - wonder if they get any virgins for losing a couple of feet ?

Chicken Noodle News said that he attempted to light the explosives with a match and that the aircrew noticed the sulfur smell.

I don't belive this to be consistant with C4.

... ditto, WTF?

Stupid people come in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

I was always told that if you used burning C4 to boil up your coffee in the morning not to stomp it out, because burning plus compression would set the C4 off.  Might be a tall tail or it might be true perhaps that is what the guy was trying to do!

Seems like once upon a time grunts would use a little plastique to warm-up the rations.
Wish the little sucker could have gotten his feet lit.

The sulphur smell would be consistent with the use of a match for an ignitor - even though it is guaranteed to fail in setting off C4 (and most other plasticised explosives.)

C4 can be LIT with a match, but it will NOT rpt NOT explode - it will merely burn.  C4 will burn hot enough to cook over, and can be easily extinguished by gradual smothering (the usual method is to invert your empty C-rat can over the flame and wait)  C4 DOES experienced incresed sensitivity to shock when aflame, and attempting to stamp out the flame will cost you a leg.  This may be what the fool was trying to do, but it is unlikely that it would have caused the plane to crash in the hands of a competent pilot.  Depressurisation would be likely, and would force descent to 10,000 feet MSL or lower and a forced landing at first opportunity...

FFZ

Also unless he had det cord and such, I don't see how this fool could have done any real damage. Maybe jump up and down in his shoes - but I don't thinke even that would be enough pressure....Then again, CNN may have their s##t wrong as usual about the circumstances surrounding the plane. Regardless of what happened, I still have to fly commercial next week overseas.........don't you love the military?

... remember, if he was successful, it would have been a "freak accident".

Right on. I never thought of the sulfur smell coming from the match.  Makes perfect sense.

RDX, the main component of C4 does not contain any sulfur.

MSNBC said that he had holes drilled in his shoes with det cord going into the holes, so he may have tried to ignite it and it failed so he panicked and tried to light it with a match.

I think it is an all or nothing proposition.  NO virgins this idiot.

You gotta hand it to the aircrew and passengers. LOL The guy took a little nappie and woke up in Boston to face death by lethal injection, instead of death via an explosive hotfoot.

One bastard down anyway...

Didn't the security people tell him that you can't bring fire onto a plane? [:D]

Maybe next time he'll ignite the fuse in the lav....you know, where people can't see you or thwart your plans?

These terrorists don't seem too bright.  Remember the ones who returned the Ryder truck after the 1993 WTC bombing SO THEY COULD GET THEIR DEPOSIT BACK?!?!

He had det cord going to C-4 in his shoes.  That would go boom with a match.  He probably fiddled around trying to be sneaky and the first match or two went out before he could get the det cord started.  Luckly the flight attendant was paying attention and got the SOB before he got it to ignite.

Flight attendants should be allowed to be armed.  Next time the terrorist will have a blasting cap with a battery and a switch attaced to set off the c-4, and if the flight attendant notices, they will have less than a couple seconds to stop the guy from blowing up the plane.

det cord doesnt explode, but it burns really, really fast.  no cap, no bang.  exception - stomping on it.  Damn that would hurt dont ya think

A fire over mid-ocean is nothing to sneeze at.

I find it curious that when the media mentions the F-15 “escort” they forget what their main mission is.    I think they forget the F-15’s are there to shoot the plane down if it is going in an unauthorized direction.

That's pretty much their only function!

The ABC news story at [url]http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/airplane_explosives011222.html[/url] quotes the Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman as saying that a flight attendant was alerted by the smell of a lit match and:

"We did an x-ray of the shoes on board, and the shoes — both shoes — appeared to have wires and other things contained in them."

Something doesn't add up.  Both electrical and pyrotechnic detonators?  Sounds too sophisticated for your basic shoe bomb.

Updated Story:

THE SUSPECT, IDENTIFIED as Richard Reid, was taken into custody by the FBI. Officials said he was traveling on a British passport.

“I’m told the flight attendant was drawn to him by the smell of sulfur from a lit match, and then challenged the individual as to what he was doing,” said Thomas Kinton, interim executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority, or Massport, which runs Logan International Airport.

A flight attendant intervened after the man tried to light his shoe on fire, and the 6-foot-4 suspect resisted and bit her, Massport spokeswoman Laura White said. He was identified as being 28 years old.

Kinton said at a news conference that the jet’s crew prevented “something serious” from taking place. He said they “tackled” the passenger, though “the flight attendants were hurt during this, and yelled for help from other passengers and received that help from other passengers on board the aircraft.”

POWERFUL EXPLOSIVES
     
Passengers subdued him, strapping and belting him into a seat in row 29 of the plane. Two doctors used the airplane’s onboard medical kit to sedate him, and the man’s shoe, which had protruding wires, was removed. Officials said the man was sedated a total of three times before landing.

The flight, identified as American Flight 63, landed in Boston at 12:50 p.m. with police, fire and bomb squads standing by.

“They X-rayed the shoe and found that in the heel, there were holes drilled, and there looked to be a detonator wire, and the substances consistent with (the explosive) C-4,” White said.

The shoe was taken from the plane, rendered harmless and taken to an FBI laboratory for analysis, White said.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were assigned to assess the material on the plane; they cautioned that they could not confirm exactly what the material was, though local officials had already described it as C-4.

C-4, a powerful plastic explosive, is primarily used by the military. Usually sold in clay-like bars, it is often lightly colored and appears like a putty, making it easy to mold into almost any shape. When ignited, it releases a powerful blast. It cannot be detected by a metal detector, though some newer equipment in airports is able to detect explosive material.
     
‘BOGUS’ PASSPORT

White said Reid’s passport, issued in Belgium three weeks ago, was “questionable.” He boarded the plane without luggage or additional identification.

Federal officials believed the passport “looks bogus,” Kinton said.

The suspect appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, officials said, though his real name and background did not appear to be available yet. An FBI spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that it was working with the Massachusetts state police to investigate.

Reid was being interrogated at the airport by the FBI. The other passengers were also being questioned, White said.

The FBI’s Kim McAllister confirmed that one man was being held in FBI custody for “interference with a flight crew,” but had not been arrested.

The intervention on the flight “appeared to have prevented something very serious from occurring,” Kinton said.

A spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said, “We are seeking normal consular access as we would with any U.K. citizen.”

You need a blasting cap, or some other kind of explosive to detonate C4, but there are a lot of explosives that can be detonated with fire that can detonate C4, like black powder for example.

Oh yeah, notice once again that it was us civvies who wrestled the terrorist to the ground and apprehended him, not cops, no air marshals in sight. Two flight attendendants started it and then the passengers had to come and help tie him up. Two doctors found some kind of sedative to keep him quiet.

Hope they left the air bubble in...

Plastique, C-4 can deflagrate (burn) or detonate(explode). As mentioned above the guy had a detonator, as well as C-4. I believe detonators, in my time, contained mercury fulminate, which can be detonated electrically or by lighting a fuse that causes C-4 to violently detonate. The sulfur smell sounds like the guy tried to use a match to light a fuse, or that he shit himself  when he realized he only had one match and it that fizzled...If true, all aboard were very fortunate.....GIB