Posted on 07/15/2012 1:01:43 AM PDT by Nachum
Thursday night's terror scare on a Delta Airlines flight from New York to Madrid began when an air marshal became suspicious of a passenger of Pakistani descent who had just left a lavatory, and ended with a heavily armed SWAT team storming the plane, only to find no terrorist and no bomb.
It was another false alarm in the air that had some in law enforcement questioning the judgment of federal air marshals. And over the new two weeks, prior to and during the London Olympics, there will be teams of marshals on virtually every U.S. carrier flight into or out of the major cities of Europe and the Middle East.
"I think reasonableness did not prevail on this flight," said ABC News consultant Brad Garrett, a former FBI agent, "and crying wolf too many times will then not help you when you have a real crisis."
Delta Flight 126, which left JFK airport at 8 p.m., was about 45 minutes into its trip when a federal air marshal saw a Pakistani-American man exit a lavatory. Inside the lavatory, the air marshal found two short pieces of wire with their ends tripped off, covered by a piece of dark straw. The marshal concluded, wrongly, that that they could be components for a bomb.
At the same time, a female passenger from Argentina began to have breathing difficulties, and other air marshals thought, again wrongly, that she could be a decoy, meant to distract the crew while someone else assembled a bomb.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I always expect to see two pieces of wire with their ens tripped off in an airplane lavatory. Always.
There's nothing wrong with "crying wolf" when it comes to airplanes and after most passengers have been fondled by the TSA. The Marshall did good. He did his job.
From the article:
"She said the greatest hardship turned out to be waiting "about four hours" for access to a restroom. "
She should count her blessings that she was able to wait to use the restroom. She could have been in a morgue waiting for her own funeral.
Hey Brad Garrett . . .Personal message from me to you . . . "GO POUND SAND!"
1_Rain_Drop, I agree with you. Two things, First, I doubt that we (general public) have all the facts. Secondly, being from the industry, it was the FAILURE on the part of the FBI and political correctness that contributed to 9/11. That being said, more importantly, the crew appears to have reacted exactly as THEY HAVE BEEN TRAINED.
We don't guess, we don't totally analyze using our own narrow perceptions. If in doubt, take ALL precautions.
Brad Garrett major fail. I don't listen to All oBama Crap (ABC) anymore. Thank you for reminding me why.
At the same time, a female passenger from Argentina began to have breathing difficulties, and other air marshals thought, again wrongly, that she could be a decoy, meant to distract the crew while someone else assembled a bomb.
How many Marshals were there?
From the sound of it at least 3.
Dry Run
Quite possible.
Brian Ross and Obama are neck and neck when it comes to engaging my personal regurgitation reflex.
Worthwhile: A hint from the world’s most secure airline
http://www.wnd.com/2010/01/120838/
P.S. Rain Drop I know what your name means, first-hand!
Flying from Madrid to JFK tomorrow on delta, I’m glad to see they’re vigilant. Delta hasn’t been attacked yet and none of the attacks have come from Spain, although security is not that tight here and the country is stuffed with muslims. I’ve always thought the next attempt might be on Delta coming from or going to Spain.
Dry run. I’d rather have our guys err on the side of keeping us alive than have them worry about being embarrassed.
“Flying from Madrid to JFK tomorrow on delta”
___________________________________________
My last Delta flight was in 2004, Paris to Atlanta.
Crappy and snotty flight attendant, charging just for a coke.
It is sad that no US carrier has more then 3 out of 5 star
rating, but two Muzie carriers have 5 stars. One is Qatar
which I have used on my last 3 Europe/Philippine flights.
I hope you have better luck.
Exactly. Hopefully the 'false alarm' comments from the former FBI guy are intended as 'misdirection' too.
I travel Delta all the time and I like it. I’ve never had a really bad experience with Delta, knock wood. Now US Airways and Continental...spare me!
“At the same time, a female passenger from Argentina began to have breathing difficulties, and other air marshals thought, again wrongly, that she could be a decoy, meant to distract the crew while someone else assembled a bomb.”
Yea, I always run into Pakistanies stripped off wires and women with breathing problems on my flights. Yep, all the time.
Obviously the goal was to figure out whether there were marshals on the plane (which is assured if you’ve got Pakistanies on board).
I’m so happy that I am at the stage in life where I’ve been everywhere foreign that I wanted to go, and now, I can drive anywhere I have a reason to go.
Barring an emergency with one of my kids and their family, my plan is to never board another airplane. I never enjoyed being cramped in a tiny space with a bunch of complete strangers. I am the same way about cruise ships...maybe I’m the weird one, but I’m enjoying life.
As we are retired, we have plenty of time to drive wherever we have a yen to go. This is one beautiful country, and if you get off the interstates and take the back roads, you will be very surprised at some of the things and places that you discover.
We are a year or two from there ourselves.
Just looked at a VW diesel yesterday. Long trips burn a lot of fuel.
Sounds like a dry run to get the timing down.
How much time can be spent in the john before raising suspicion.
The bits of wire may be for training purposes to make sure you don't leave any traces of what you are doing because it will raise suspicion.
Translation: whore.
Even the news people admit they already know what their "consultants" will say. And their consultants are very careful to say what is expected.
Any reasonable person who steps into an airplane lavatory and finds evidence someone is doing some wiring is going to have an "oh crap" moment. Even an ABC news consultant.
Really? And we know this how? We weren't told what the wires in the restroom were all about and we weren't told the woman who had the medical distraction was perfectly innocent. Not that they'd have told us the truth if there was something going on. We also weren't told why there were at least 3 marshalls aboard when many flights supposedly don't have even one. Smells like a dry run and we had a heads up.
Blue Highways...
“I travel Delta all the time and I like it.”
_____________________________________________
Well, Delta USE to be great.
I had friends and a neighbor that were Delta pilots.
One in Atlanta flew Delta’s first 747 flight to Paris.
For an American carrier, I guess they are average, but
no US carrier is now a world class airline.
http://www.airlinequality.com/StarRanking/ranking.htm
Better to be safe than sorry.
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