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After United 93, Air Travelers React to Threats
WMAL ^ | Dec 26, 2009 | AP

Posted on 12/26/2009 8:11:25 PM PST by HokieMom

DETROIT (AP) -- They heard a pop that sounded like fireworks. They saw a glow of flame followed by a rush of smoke. And that was enough for passengers on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to pounce.

From several seats away, Dutch tourist Jasper Schuringa says he jumped to extinguish a fire ignited by a quiet man who just moments before allegedly told passengers his stomach was upset and pulled a blanket over himself. Schuringa said his first thought wasn't to signal a flight attendant or wait for an air marshal to break cover, but rather, "He's trying to blow up the plane."

"I basically reacted directly," Schuringa said Saturday in an interview with CNN. "I didn't think. I just jumped. I just went over there and tried to save the plane."

Aviation safety experts once would have called Schuringa's actions a mistake and cautioned passengers against fighting back during hijackings and other crises in the air. That was before the Sept. 11 attacks and the actions of passengers on United Flight 93, who learned while aloft about the hijacked jets that slammed earlier that day into New York's World Trade Center.

They staged a cabin revolt against the al-Qaida terrorists who had taken control of their flight and died when their plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa. But they succeeded in keeping the jet from destroying another building that day, and their story became legend.

"I don't think people are going to sit back and let somebody kill them in the process of fulfilling their extremist agenda or whatever it happens to be," said Dave Heffernan, who helps oversee self-defense training for commercial flight crews at Valenica Community College in Orlando, Fla. "People have talked about it. They've thought about it. They have a plan of action."

(Excerpt) Read more at 630wmal.com ...


TOPICS: War on Terror
KEYWORDS: flight253; letsroll; schuringa
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1 posted on 12/26/2009 8:11:26 PM PST by HokieMom
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To: HokieMom

Those passengers where just racist people....I bet Obammy was infuriated that they would attack a brother for no good reason./s


2 posted on 12/26/2009 8:15:42 PM PST by Dallas59 (No To O -Time is going by really really really really slow.)
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To: HokieMom

Judo neck holds , applied with prejudice


3 posted on 12/26/2009 8:16:20 PM PST by LeoWindhorse
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To: HokieMom

A Christmas Miracle!!


4 posted on 12/26/2009 8:16:33 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: HokieMom

Well done, Jasper and others. Just saw him interviewed on TV with his hand bandaged.


5 posted on 12/26/2009 8:16:59 PM PST by GnuHere
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To: Dallas59

The fellow passengers acted stupidly


6 posted on 12/26/2009 8:17:40 PM PST by al baby (Hi Mom sarc ;))
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To: Dallas59

But, wait! Weren’t these people supposed to have stopped attacking America once Obama came into office? At least that’s what the MSM told us in so many words. Just ask Chris ‘Tingles’ Matthews.


7 posted on 12/26/2009 8:20:50 PM PST by T Lady (The MSM: Pravda West)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: al baby
"The fellow passengers acted stupidly"

How do you know this to be true? You were on board, and saw the whole thing?

9 posted on 12/26/2009 8:23:40 PM PST by InkStone
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To: Dallas59

So when you heroically subdue a terrorist on a plane, do you stop, catch your breath and congratulate each other, or do you start looking for other possible terrorists up and down the aisles?


10 posted on 12/26/2009 8:25:19 PM PST by moroque11
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To: T Lady

Well...we can’t upset Europeans anymore...they’ll protest again. We can’t have that....


11 posted on 12/26/2009 8:26:20 PM PST by Dallas59 (No To O -Time is going by really really really really slow.)
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To: moroque11

In the World of Obammy? You start looking for a lawyer and hope the Whitey House doesn’t come after you.


12 posted on 12/26/2009 8:27:30 PM PST by Dallas59 (No To O -Time is going by really really really really slow.)
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To: potlatch

13 posted on 12/26/2009 8:29:47 PM PST by devolve ( . . . . . . . . . woodpile alert - "My muslim faith....." - "Kobe" Osama . . . . . . . . . . . .)
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To: InkStone; al baby

Wake up and smell the sarcasm.


14 posted on 12/26/2009 8:30:50 PM PST by Eaker (Where I'm from, "Gang Colors" is Realtree and Mossy Oak. You know what I'm saying hoss. Rule.308.)
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To: Dallas59

My God, Man! Let’s hope nobody gave him a bloody lip!

That might have been cause for Obama to quit his golf game and give a talk to the American people.


15 posted on 12/26/2009 8:30:59 PM PST by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
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To: InkStone

Man you need to get up to speed my friend


16 posted on 12/26/2009 8:31:02 PM PST by al baby (Hi Mom sarc ;))
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To: Eaker

Wow ya think


17 posted on 12/26/2009 8:32:46 PM PST by al baby (Hi Mom sarc ;))
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To: HokieMom

People have talked about it. They’ve thought about it. They have a plan of action.”>>>>>>>>>>>

Every patriot passenger should wear an extra long leather belt with a large cowboy style buckle, and learn how to use it.


18 posted on 12/26/2009 8:32:51 PM PST by Candor7 ((The effective weapons Against Fascism are ridicule, derision , truth (.Member NRA))
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To: HokieMom

What ever happened to air marshals, anyway.....


19 posted on 12/26/2009 8:33:41 PM PST by clintonh8r (Oath Keeper and Manhattan Declaration signer)
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To: HokieMom
This terrorist should have fallen out of bed.
20 posted on 12/26/2009 8:37:08 PM PST by teletech (Say NO to RINOS!)
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