More hijackings likely

[SunTracker]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040721-101403-1508r.htm

Basically, arabs are probing airport and airline security.  I believe there will be a repeat of 9-11 before the year is over.

[Trell]

I still dont believe that they will ever be able to take over a plane like that again. They would either need alot more people to take it over, or something alot more deadly then box cutters.

before 9-11 all the hijackers would do would land somewhere and make demands, so americians have allways been told to just let the crime continue, and they would be released.

Now every one would know they were going to die,  I can sure believe that the passangers wont just sit there and watch them crash another plane.

[Hortlund]

That is really scarey.

What if they manage to go in through the front bathrooms like that... 4 terrorists lock themselves in the bathroom, then break a hole in the wall into the cockpit. The passengers would not be able to intevene without first forcing the bathroom door, and then coming one at a time through the bathroom.

[Curval]

There was another story written about one of those incidents which focused upon the likelihood that the suspicious guys were doing a dry run for building a bomb inside the plane (the bathroom.)  Each passenger involved would, it is assumed, carry a small component of the bomb aboard and it would be assembled in mid-air.

Here

[midnight Target]

Local guys are reporting that that suspicious Syrians were the members of a band booked to play in Vegas.

AIR MARSHALS SAY PASSENGER OVERREACTED
By ERIC LEONARD
KFI NEWS
 
LOS ANGELES | July 22, 2004 – Undercover federal air marshals on board a June 29 Northwest airlines flight from Detroit to LAX identified themselves after a passenger, “overreacted,” to a group of middle-eastern men on board, federal officials and sources have told KFI NEWS.
 
The passenger, later identified as Annie Jacobsen, was in danger of panicking other passengers and creating a larger problem on the plane, according to a source close to the secretive federal protective service.
 
Jacobsen, a self-described freelance writer, has published two stories about her experience at womenswallstreet.com, a business advice web site designed for women.
 
“The lady was overreacting,” said the source. “A flight attendant was told to tell the passenger to calm down; that there were air marshals on the plane.”
 
The middle eastern men were identified by federal agents as a group of touring musicians travelling to a concert date at a casino, said Air Marshals spokesman Dave Adams.
 
Jacobsen wrote she became alarmed when the men made frequent trips to the lavatory, repeatedly opened and closed the overhead luggage compartments, and appeared to be signaling each other.
 
“Initially it was brought to [the air marshals] attention by a passenger,” Adams said, adding the agents had been watching the men and chose to stay undercover.
 
Jacobsen and her husband had a number of conversations with the flight attendants and gestured towards the men several times, the source said.
 
“In concert with the flight crew, the decision was made to keep [the men] under surveillance since no terrorist or criminal acts were being perpetrated aboard the aircraft; they didn’t interfere with the flight crew,” Adams said.
 
The air marshals did, however, check the bathrooms after the middle-eastern men had spent time inside, Adams said.
 
FBI agents met the plane when it landed in Los Angeles and the men were questioned, and Los Angeles field office spokeswoman Cathy Viray said it’s significant the alarm on the flight came from a passenger.
 
“We have to take all calls seriously, but the passenger was worried, not the flight crew or the federal air marshals,” she said. “The complaint did not stem from the flight crew.”
 
Several people were questioned, she said, but no one was detained.
 
Jacobsen’s husband Kevin told KFI NEWS he approached a man he thought was an air marshal after the flight had landed.
 
“You made me nervous,” Kevin said the air marshal told him.
 
“I was freaking out,” Kevin replied.
 
“We don’t freak out in situations like this,” the air marshal responded.
 
Federal agents later verified the musicians’ story.
 
“We followed up with the casino,” Adams said. A supervisor verified they were playing a concert. A second federal law enforcement source said the concert itself was monitored by an agent.
 
“We also went to the hotel, determined they had checked into the hotel,” Adams said. Each of the men were checked through a series of databases and watch-lists with negative results, he said.
 
The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves.
 
Air marshals’ only tactical advantage on a flight is their anonymity, the source said, and Jacobsen could have put the entire flight in danger.
 
“They have to be very cognizant of their surroundings,” spokesman Adams confirmed, “to make sure it isn’t a ruse to try and pull them out of their cover.”

[Curval]

A bunch of Syrians doing Elvis impersonations?  The casino boss that booked them should be arrested.

[Dago]

What if they manage to go in through the front bathrooms like that... 4 terrorists lock themselves in the bathroom, then break a hole in the wall into the cockpit. The passengers would not be able to intevene without first forcing the bathroom door, and then coming one at a time through the bathroom.

You can't break through the wall of a bathroom and get into the cockpit.  Do you really think all the people at the FAA, FBI, Boeing, Airbus, and the airlines themselves wouldn't have thought of that?

Maybe because those walls are full of equipment and structure?  hmmmmm

And I would love to see 4 terrorists in one airplane bathroom.  That would be a funny sight.

Do you realize that some pilots are armed now?  And that there are crash axes in cockpits?  


dago

[Gloves]

I think what the air marshals fail to realize is that as of 9/11, the rules for passengers have changed.  They're not just gonna sit there anymore and fly into a building.  Besides, are air marshals on all flights now?  Have they got enough to cover every flight?  Since they are annonymous, how can a passenger know?  If I had seen what Jacobsen had seen, I probably would have had a reaction too.

If these guys are doing probes as suggested by the article, let the passengers at them.  Let them go back to Osama and report that when they pretended to rush the cockpit, they got the crap beat out of themselves by the passengers - especially by the little old lady who hadn't had her prune juice yet.

Glove

[Dago]

I agree with you Gloves,  I would have had a reaction too, and I think passengers next time will not sit idly by and wait to die.

dago

[Thrawn]

They did just that when the "musicians" were ****ing around.