Jihadist target?
Another air attack thwarted? Or was this "Egyptian national" with a "disguised" lighter simply disappointed that he couldn't place a phone call? From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:
SALT LAKE CITY — A Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York was diverted to Salt Lake City on Tuesday after a man with a butane lighter alarmed the flight crew, officials said.The man, an Egyptian national heading to Cairo, was carrying a lighter that resembled a cell phone and allegedly refused to move a bag stowed beneath his seat.
Flight 1986 landed at Salt Lake City International Airport about 11 a.m., two hours after leaving Los Angeles International Airport.
The man, who was not identified, became "quite agitated" when told he could not use the phone," said Michael Fierberg, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration.
Because the lighter appeared to be disguised and the man resisted putting it away, a flight attendant notified the pilot, Fierberg said.
The plane's 139 passengers were taken off the craft to be re-screened while the man was questioned by FBI agents. He was later released, but Delta Air Lines refused to transport him to New York, Fierberg said.
A butane lighter disguised as a cellphone? Now all cellphones have to carefully checked as they can also be weapons and flamethrowers!
As there is no smoking allowed on airplanes, one doesn't have to think very hard to imagine why this passengeri was trying to Flick His Bic! Lighting up the upholstery and other flammable materials in the cabin would be a sure way commit murder-suicide.
It's sad, but true, that because the offender ios an Arab we have an even greater willingness to believe his actions have terrorist intent. We can't be too careful to ensure the safety of air travel, and if every individual doesn't abide by every rule, they should be removed from flight. Aside from personal safety, it's pretty stupid, in these times, to do anything that would attract negative attention on a flight, isn't it?
And it is also precisely because he's an arab that he knows damn well he's going to get extra attention, especially with a strange, disguised device. Getting agitated severely worsened the situation. Make him walk to NY. Dumb@ss.
I have never understood the NTSB (or was it the FAA?) and ultimately the airlines not banning lighters on flights anyway. I can't see any reason why you would allow such an item in the cabin. I read somewhere that the tobacco companies lobbied about it.
The passengers should have beaten the living crap out of this guy. He refused to move his baggage...cell phone lighter, agitation, refusal to follow flight attendants orders...
It's quite possible the guy wasn't searched because he fell out of the "random search policy."
Air Marshalls and Bouncers would be a decent idea....I know a few people that'd love to be Bouncers on flights....especially on situations like this.
Yes, DC, "IN FLIGHT" bouncers!
I'm sure he's rushed off to a lawyer claiming he was being harrassed because he's an Arab.
Re: Bob, lighters, and "tobacco companies lobbied about it"
I worked for many years for a tobacco company, and if the tobacco industry ever lobbied specifically about lighters I never heard about it. They did lobby to try to prevent the ban on smoking on planes many years ago, so maybe that's what you read about.
Rick:
Sorry to be vague on that, I just can't remember where I read it or the source. The piece I read was very specific about the tobacco companies lobbying about carrying on lighters. I could be getting things jumbled up somewhere. It might even have been a Michael Moore piece.
In any case, the NTSB, FFA and the Airlines should ban such items from the cabin, in my opinion. This way we will not have a repeat.
I was on a flight LA to London and some @sshole tried to have a cigarette in the bogs. The twat was sitting in the row in front of me. I was furious.
"I could be getting things jumbled up somewhere. It might even have been a Michael Moore piece."
Well, that would certainly explain it, wouldn't it!
El Al has sky-marshals on every flight as well as rigorous pre-flight checks on every passenger. If all Westerners had been doing the same, we well might have missed having 9/11 in the USA. Yes, forget a little lost profit (by having 5 or 6 sky-marshals on every plane) - human lives (excluding those of unrepentant Muslims) are worth a heck of a lot more!!!!
Despite the smoking ban, there are still smokers on flights. Sometimes those smokers have layovers in places where they can smoke (or at least smoke outside).
Are you saying the airlines should make every one of them buy new lighters or matches and then give them up again every time they have a layover? Or make the flight crew check all lighters and keep them in a separate place until the plane lands? It's hard enough for security to find knives and things, searching half the plane for lighters too would really slow things down. And how would you ever manage to find matches? I doubt those show up well on x-ray machines.
I didn't think Muslims were permitted to smoke...drink, or eat pepperoni.
Kathy:
So the safety of 200 passengers is contingent on the convenience of a smoker ? If that is your question, I would put safety first and not allow flammable materials into the cabin.
DC Watson observed: "I didn't think Muslims were permitted tosmoke...drink, or eat pepperoni."
Actually, both Americans and Muslins have their own social fascist cutoms. Muslims are not permitted to have alcohol or pork in public places, and Americans are not allowed to smoke in public places. Muslims give up two freedoms (they may smoke in public places), and Americans only one. Thank goodness one is not an American Muslim (no freedoms).
Ben
Thus Muslims do consume pork and drink alcohol in private? Since when (are where)?
No public smoking = fascism? You have a very liberal definition of fascism. In any case, this is not true. Each state has its own rules regarding public smoking. Some allow, some don't. Second-hand smoke is a public health issue.
Was there an update to this? Did they find anything more than the lighter on him? And, did they examine his carry-on luggage? I wonder what the final outcome was. Personally, I would be wary of anyone, in this day and age, who was not willing to open up their baggage and who held a cell phone like device. But, on the other hand, I am also worried that the airlines might become too overvigilant in their treatment of a passenger. If an update becomes available on this, please post it. Thanks
You can never underestimate the utter ignorance of numerous middle easterners...while I was living/working in Saudi Arabia, I remember an incident where a Saudia airliner full of Mecca pilgrims crashed enroute to Mecca...seems some very unsophisticated newbie flyers didn't know food was serverd on the plane...someone had tucked away a little propane burner and brought it out to cook dinner. A major fire broke out, and that was that...a huge group of Hajis had a very hard desert landing and never reached Mecca, needless to say.
No more muslims on US flights.
And to the muslim idiots that are flooding me with their e-mails,i just wish they meet their 72 virgins as soon as possible.
Hey Adela, share with us what they're saying please....are there alot of words spelled incorrectly?
Fake Muslim claims? Say it ain't so......
Guys like this are the reason I always pack a roll of duct tape in my carryon bag when I fly. Makes a great restraint and or gag for that agitated wild eyed fanatic. Don't leave home without it....
Carole, you make a good point. My brother told a story he heard about while working for the Lockheed company. Years back there was a prince from one of the Arab countries who had a lot of money and hired them to build him a plane. The inside of the plane was sumptuous, with gold leaf and everything painted on the walls. He told them he specifically wanted a barbeque pit right in the center of its interior in order that he could roast goats. The engineers at Lockheed told him they could not safely put the pit where he was asking them to put it. He insisted and they argued with him until they thought he had heard them. They put the pit a little further back in the interior than he requested.
What happened? When his plane was finished, he picked it up, not saying anything about it. On one of the early flights, he decided to roast his goat - you guessed it - exactly where they told him he could not do it. The fire melted through the floor melted the wiring, which extended down the length of the plane and BOOM! Bye, bye plane.
It is a pretty sad story, but it illustrates that the apalling ignorance of Western concepts and technology in the Muslim world can lead to many problems.
I guess airflight doesn't mix well with ignorance.
Hey, guys.
Muslims do smoke cigarettes--next to the Chinese I think Arabs may have the largest percentage of young males who smoke of any nationality.
A few years ago some anti-smoking crusader made the statement that one-fifth of them will die because of smoking.
At the time I thought that it was at best an exaggeration and at worst what my grandpa called a "damn lie." After 9/11 I started hoping that maybe it was true. Because if it was, then me and all the other guys who spent our lives working in the tobacco business (and now unemployed because of the anti-smoking crusade) can take a little comfort in the possibility that there wasn't a fifth plane--'cause we killed the would-be hijackers with cigarette smoke.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
"Oh, we know they drink, smoke, eat pork, etc.
Islam isn't a religion, it's a blood cult. They do anything sinful to please Satan.
The "peacefull Muslim" act is just that."
And this guy claimed to have read the hadith, Koran e.t.c
Even people from primary school know more about Islam than you.
No wonder why you are Islamophobic, you know nothing about Islam, all you do is quote myths, and nonesense.
I hope you keep on posting, you make the case that Islam is very peacefull very strong.
Go on Mr. Christian, show how peacefull you are.
Just like your Christian buddies in Iraq who are now under court-marshal charges for;
Making Iraqi POWs:
"stand on a box with his head covered and wires attached to his hands. CBS said the prisoner was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted"
Aswell as being forced to do and make "sexual acts"
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040429/ap_on_re_us/prisoner_abuse_iraq
News from Reuters itself, watch the news today for the shocking images of Chistian Jihad and Terrorism being uncovered.
Also search reuters/google/bbc.co.uk for Illehal Iraqi POW treatment.
Looks like Hoodie recruited Interested to stand in for him. Hmmmm. Gaze.
"Interested" writes so poorly that I can't figure out who he is referring to, but if the line, "Go on Mr. Christian, show how peaceful you are," was intended for me, I got a message for you camel breath. How do you know I'm a Christian? I just might be a heathen, a true infidel.