Fireworks set off aboard airliner

[Rockville]

(CNN) -- A passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, caused a brief disturbance Friday at the end of the trip by igniting firecrackers, a Delta Air Lines spokeswoman said.

The passenger was immediately subdued, according to Susan Elliott, spokeswoman for Delta, Northwest's parent company. The incident resulted in some minor injuries, Elliott said.

One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said.
The FBI is investigating, bureau spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said.

The Northwest plane, an Airbus 330, landed around noon ET. It was carrying 278 passengers.

The Transportation Security Administration had no immediate comment.

CNN, December 25, 2009 3:01 p.m. EST

[Rockville]

This is making news around the globe.
How could this have passed the security checks?

[Nozem]

according the news(RTL4) the man said that he handeled in name of the people in afghanistan.and also that this man was on the list of potentional terrorist and was not suposed to fly.....
also this man was injured and nobody else...

w'll see what the news brings about this

greetings Ton

[Rockville]

Officials: Possible terror attack on U.S. jetliner

Nigerian man tries to light powdery substance on Detroit flight, officials say

A 23-year-old Nigerian man tried to light a powdery substance aboard a Northwest Airlines flight before landing in Detroit on Friday, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News.
Two people noticed the attempt and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News.
The man is being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.
The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, counterterrorism officials said.
The man was subdued by the crew of Flight 253 from Amsterdam, one counterterrorism official said. The official said the man left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, then boarded the Northwest flight in Amsterdam on Friday.
Flight 253 was an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers. The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane was taken to a remote area of Detroit Metropolitan Airport and all passengers deplaned and were rescreened along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said.
President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials are treating this as a possible terrorist attack and are taking it “very seriously,” counterterrorism officials said. An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure there no similar attacks, Burton said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.
On Dec. 22, 2001, passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami subdued a man who was attempting to detonate explosives in his sneakers. Richard Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in 2003 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cousin, Ramzi Yousef, were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories.

NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 5:43 p.m. ET Dec. 25, 2009

[B767-300ER]

I am glad that a friend of my didn't profile flight NW253 yesterday. I think some of her collegues have something to explain (G4S Aviation Security (AS), High Risk Flights (HRF))

[SPL]

I am glad that a friend didn't profile flight NW253 yesterday. I think some of her collegues have something to explain (G4S Aviation Security (AS), High Risk Flights (HRF))

Why is that? You don't know what happened. Maybe he had things that were allowed, but the combination made it dangerous?
Only speculations at this moment. Maybe the security staff did their job as was expected?


Groeten Martijn

[Nozem]

Source: http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


White House: Jet incident was terrorist act


Nightly News

Nightly News
ROMULUS, Mich. - A Nigerian man tried to light a powder aboard a commercial jetliner before it landed Friday in Detroit in what senior U.S. officials called an attempted act of terrorism.

Flight 253 with 278 passengers aboard was 20 minutes from the airport when it sounded like a firecracker had exploded, witnesses said. Passengers saw the attempted attack, and one of them jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News.

Stricter security measures were imposed on airline travel, but those were not specified.

The man had “some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite” in a bag strapped to his body, U.S. officials told NBC News. Other officials told NBC station WDIV-TV of Detroit that the device was a mixture of powder and liquid, which failed to ignite when the passenger tried to detonate it during the plane’s descent into Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

Federal officials identified the man as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, of Nigeria, who was traveling one way, without a return ticket. Dawn Griffith, who was waiting for her husband on the plane, said she saw the man being carted away on a gurney or bed, with his bandaged hands handcuffed to the railing.

The man was being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.

In terrorism files? On Rep. Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, who was briefed on the incident, said Abdulmutallab was known in federal counterterrorism files and may have been on the government’s list of suspicious passengers banned from flying in the United States.

King said the incident raised troubling questions about airline security. “It must be looked into” how Abdulmutallab was able to sneak a “somewhat sophisticated device” on board, he said.

Abdulmutallab told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States, counterterrorism officials said.

A counterterrorism official said Abdulmutallab, who was subdued by the crew of Northwest Air Lines Flight 253 from Amsterdam, left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday and boarded the flight in Amsterdam on Friday.

The timing of the attempted attack could be significant. It was eight years ago this week that a similar attempted attack was launched by a British member of al-Qaida who tried to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami by igniting explosives in his shoes. And the attempted attack comes on the same day that the Taliban released a video of a U.S. soldier it is holding captive in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaida was responsible for the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

News organizations, including msnbc.com, initially reported that the government had raised the terrorism alert for flights after the incident. Those reports were inaccurate; the flight alert had been at orange before the incident.

A pop, and then smoke There was nothing out of the ordinary until Flight 253, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers, was on final approach to Detroit. Although the jet bore the insignia of Delta Airlines, it was operated by Northwest.

Then came the disturbance in the passenger cabin, and that is when the pilot declared an emergency, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, in an e-mail message.

"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands told The Associated Press. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."

At least one passenger acted heroically.


The plane landed at 11:51 a.m. ET. The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane was taken to a remote area of the Detroit airport and that all passengers left the plane and were rescreened, along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said, before they were allowed to go on their way.

President Barack Obama, who is on vacation in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the White House.

An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure that there no similar attacks, Burton said. Officials would not discuss the security measures, but they said passengers across the country should expect some delays Friday night.


U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.

In addition, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his cousin Ramzi Yousef were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple

[Nozem]

not mentioned earlier : ship involved was N820NW

Greetings Ton

[T7]

I am glad that my girlfriend didn't profile flight NW253 yesterday. I think some of her collegues have something to explain (G4S Aviation Security (AS), High Risk Flights (HRF))

Why is that? You don't know what happened. Maybe he had things that were allowed, but the combination made it dangerous?
Only speculations at this moment. Maybe the security staff did their job as was expected?


Groeten Martijn

This might be a new powder that securityscans can't see yet..reports say it was from Yemen..

It is more strange that this person -where they say he has connections with Al Qaeda and his name is in databases connected to terrorism- gets a visa for the US. After arrival at Schiphol and checked in for his next flight, he is also accepted on the flight to the US where authorities should have had his name on the no fly- or watchlist.

[B767-300ER]

I am glad that a friend of my didn't profile flight NW253 yesterday. I think some of her collegues have something to explain (G4S Aviation Security (AS), High Risk Flights (HRF))

Why is that? You don't know what happened. Maybe he had things that were allowed, but the combination made it dangerous?
Only speculations at this moment. Maybe the security staff did their job as was expected?


Groeten Martijn

Martijn,

I can't (am not allowed to, due to company-restrictions on that) write down here how G4S AS HRF works on this kind of flights. One thing is for sure: If the man travelled on his own name it had to be recognized by someone that this man wasn't allowed to fly to the states.. If the man travelled under al false name, the false passport had to be recognized by someone. So someone made a mistake.
I do not mention the things he was allowed to travel with, just his indentity, and the failure about that.

[SPL]

Niels,

As said by the American Authorities, this man was on the List. When travelling to the States he needed a Visa. When requesting, he shouldn't be allowed to travel. Somehow it was allowed. Is it possible, that the staff for the Security check, can trace him as a passenger not allowed to travel?

The attack was maybe not a total success, but everybody is scared again. Travelling is back again to the days after 9/11.....


Groeten Martijn

[B767-300ER]

Niels,
Is it possible, that the staff for the Security check, can trace him as a passenger not allowed to travel?

Yes, they can. They have to!

The attack was maybe not a total success, but everybody is scared again. Travelling is back again to the days after 9/11.....
Groeten Martijn

I Know, today full 100% controles of all AA, US, CO, DL and NW passengers.

[aviodromefriend]

The news the man was on the no fly list has been denied by the authorities of the US.

Furthermore, it was said the man was working with ingredients coming from what is known in the Netherlands as "rotjes". Just curious if the White House lap-dog JPB will now announce a full ban on fireworks...

[SPL]

Gents,

- so he was not on the 'no-fly-list'.
- he had something with him that was not forbidden. And which was hard to find on the check.

How do you say that in English, he found a gap in the whole? Like the liquids incident in London a few years back, I think this will happen every once and a while. New tricks will be found and then forbidden... Result 100% checks (for now).


Groeten Martijn

[Le Addeur noir]

I am glad that a friend of my didn't profile flight NW253 yesterday. I think some of her collegues have something to explain (G4S Aviation Security (AS), High Risk Flights (HRF))

Why is that? You don't know what happened. Maybe he had things that were allowed, but the combination made it dangerous?
Only speculations at this moment. Maybe the security staff did their job as was expected?


Groeten Martijn

Martijn,

I can't (am not allowed to, due to company-restrictions on that) write down here how G4S AS HRF works on this kind of flights. One thing is for sure: If the man travelled on his own name it had to be recognized by someone that this man wasn't allowed to fly to the states.. If the man travelled under al false name, the false passport had to be recognized by someone. So someone made a mistake.
I do not mention the things he was allowed to travel with, just his indentity, and the failure about that.

Having flown on Delta/Northwest to the States several times recently,I can vouch their security is tight.You will never have 100% security.

This affair could well herald further restrictions on what can be taken on flights.

As in several previous(and attempted) terrorist cases,there is a London connection to the extensive Islamic terrorist network active in the United Kingdom,that despite repeated arrests continues to thrive.