Monday, November 30, 2009

Dry run for terrorists?


Old NFO has a very worrying report on his blog about what appears to have been a 'dry run' or test by wannabe terrorists on a US airliner. Go read, and ponder.

Has anyone had similar experiences? If so, please let us know in Comments.

Peter

8 comments:

Jenny said...

no similar experiences, but only fly occasionally.

Until it's confirmed by another source or the company itself, it's not possible to say much.

If it *IS* true though, it's not scary. It's disgusting and infuriating. Not for the dry run - you have to expect jihadi murderers to act like jihadi murderers. It's what they do.

The infuriating part is that - if true - AirTran REPLACED THE CREW after the PIC made the safety call to cancel the flight. That's NO DIFFERENT than if they'd replaced the crew and told a new pilot to fly anyway after being told the airframe was damaged and unsafe to fly.

That's what the PIC is FOR - to make that kind of safety call. IF true, AirTran's actions aren't just annoying everyday harmless PC. It's recklessly endangering their passengers.

I hope we hear a good explanation soon, because that's a mighty serious trespass.

Shrimp said...

I haven't personally experienced such, but I've only been on one set of flights since 27 Aug 2001.

What I have heard (from a guy who recently retired from US Air) is that this kind of thing has happened before and will probably continue to happen until we put a stop to it.

He personally witnessed one such "test." Repeatedly using the bathroom prior to takeoff, refusing to take their seats, refusing to buckle and put away their trays and phones. The outcome in that flight was that the five men were removed from the flight. I never asked about the details (flight number, date, etc) so I cannot provide corroboration, but I have no reason to not believe this man.

Scary stuff, and it makes you wonder what would have happened had no one intervened. Was it designed to go all the way, or was this merely a test to push buttons, seeing how far they could push it, and what was acceptable and what was not?

raven said...

here is another eyewitness account- cannot vouch for its veracity

http://espositosmusings.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/air-tran-flight-297-incident1.pdf

Billll said...

A strong blow against a weak opponent will serve to drive him from the field without a protracted battle.

That's how they think.

Unknown said...

Arrogance against a female is a normal trait to a religion that despises women whilst claiming to protect them, the problem being that if you are not muslim you are keffir, thereby being nothing.

As a sceptic I ask the question...why, in this age of technology is there no mobile phone imagery of the event?

Shrimp said...

John,

Just a guess---Probably because everyone else on the plane had done as they were asked, and turned them off or put them away, since they're not supposed to have them on.

This of course, assumes that there really isn't any at all, and we have no way to know that. There may well be some, but it may not have come to light as yet.

dave said...

Peter, I suggest you review this one carefully; there is evidence to suggest the original story is inaccurate. To wit: http://www.ajc.com/business/airtran-hero-wasn-t-226517.html

Mario in PY said...

Go over The Cranky Flier who at http://crankyflier.com/2009/12/07/was-there-a-terrorist-dry-run-on-an-airtran-plane-i-think-not/ has a very good analisys of this incident. His blog is very good for airline related stuff.