Passengers’ Quick Action Halted Attack

nyt ^ | 12/27/09 | By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC LIPTON

[RobbyS]

From what I have read, he got too jumpy to execute well.

[calex59]

Not true. The Dutchman got the perp after the fact. What kept the plane from blowing up was the poorly constructed bomb. They jumped on the perp, hosed him down with a fire extinguisher and it was too bad they couldn't have let him burn a few minutes longer but of course they were on an airplane. The most the Dutchman accomplished was helping to put the fire out.

Had the bomb detonated as planned, no one could have done anything to stop it. This was a total security failure from start to finish.

[Riodacat]

No, Schuringa tackled the guy during the attempt to ignite the device.
The device did not have to detonate to do the kind of damage to take the plane out of the sky.
Had the fire not been put out quickly, it would have consumed the plane
Schuringa burned his hands taking the device from the perp and called for fire extiquishers.
Others who subsequently assisted in extinquishing the flames were bit players.

[calex59]

NO, he grabbed the guy after it went pop(that was the failure to detonate properly)and his leg caught on fire. Yep, stopping the fire was important but if the bomb had detonated properly, and it was detonated, then nothing could have been done. The fire was never any danger to the plane. Fire extinguishers were out and being used quickly.

I am glad the Dutchman acted to subdue the perp but he did NOT stop the explosion. A poorly constructed bomb, or the stupidity of the terrorist(unclear which), saved the passengers.