BBC - How Safe Are Our Skies? Detroit Flight 253

BBC Description:

On Christmas Day 2009, as Northwest Airlines Flight 253 began its descent towards Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a 23-year-old man left the airplane toilet, returned to his seat and pulled a blanket across his lap. He then attempted to detonate a device containing military-grade explosive PETN, a deadly bomb designed to take the plane out of the sky. With powerful eyewitness testimony and in-depth expert analysis, this timely documentary examines how alleged bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab slipped under the US intelligence radar and evaded three sets of airport security.

From Abdulmutallab's student days in London, via his time in the Al Qaeda hotspot of Yemen, to the final leg of his journey on a flight bound for the USA, the timeline of this story throws up important questions. What did security services know about him before he boarded the plane? What would have happened to the 290 passengers and crew on board if the bomb had detonated successfully? What lessons have be learned? And, in the aftermath of this attack, how safe is it to fly?

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Detroit
• Flight 253
• How Safe Are Our Skies
• BBC
• Al Qaeda
• Abdulmutallab
• Northwest Airlines
• Amsterdam

[volodymyrm1]

i hope he burned his dick off! fucking piece of shit

[shaindaman13]

This story shows how much help all this ridiculous airport security really is. It's useless and there only to give people a false sense of safety. If they come up with a method to scan for one thing then the terrorist adjust. So essentially we just end up trading out liberties for security. Not a good trade off.

[lyianx]

@shaindaman13 ooo very intelligent reply. Wow i feel so low and insulted now. Aren't you just so clever. (just a fun fact, an unarmed person doesn't make them a defenseless person ;))

[shaindaman13]

@lyianx Whatever makes you feel better about yourself. I'm not going to carry on a battle of wits with an unarmed person. Have a nice life.

[lyianx]

"If they come up with a method to scan for one thing then the terrorist adjust" yes, that's the point. Why LET them Continue attacking planes in the same exact way? Then the FAA would be the dumbasses. At least they are trying. Lets see you come up with a better security measure that "keeps our liberties". But i would rather they keep trying, forcing others to change, than be ignorant and "hope" my plane wont be hit with zero security.

[lyianx]

@shaindaman13 i can distinguish based on the awful English language, i just choose to not use different spellings for the same word. Tho i find it amusing that you feel the need to try to correct/point out spelling errors on the internet, and further that you believe something like that makes one a dumbass. If you dont like dumbass, then you can be ignorant. But saying something is "useless" is over the line, which will get over the line replies.

[shaindaman13]

@lyianx Thank you for your kind words. I am actually a Student Pilot who comes from a family of Pilots. I deal with airports regularly and have been around them my whole life. So I may not be as much of a "Dumbass" as you think. Besides, you do not know me yet you have somehow managed to formulate, in all of your wisdom, what type of person I am. So I'm content to let everyone else decide who the REAL dumb ass may be. You cant distinguish between your and you're and I'm the dumb ass?

[lyianx]

@shaindaman13 your a dumbass. It shows that they couldn't smuggle enough explosive material to bring down a plane.. Without it, we would keep getting Pan Am 103 bombings all the time.

[akhilm1009]

Saw Pele at 0.23

[GamleErik100]

He shall from now until all time be called "The Testicle Terrorist".