[Lower Deck]

The problem is that the incident doesn’t make any sense from a logistical standpoint. If you’re a terrorist and you’re looking to shoot down a flight out of JFK Airport in New York City, that’s hardly the place you’d want to do it. For one thing, it’s much easier to do it from a location further west — much closer to the airport. Secondly, shooting down a passenger jet thousands of feet in the air is too easy to cover up and dismiss as an “accident.”

If you're a terrorist looking to down a flight then why are you using a missile to begin with? What if you miss? In the pre-911 days it would have been easier to smuggle a bomb on board in the luggage that could have been set to take the plane down at any time. And your chances of success are much higher than shooting off a missile.

[Neidermeyer]

If you’re a terrorist looking to down a flight then why are you using a missile to begin with? What if you miss? In the pre-911 days it would have been easier to smuggle a bomb on board in the luggage that could have been set to take the plane down at any time. And your chances of success are much higher than shooting off a missile.
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Luggage ? yeah sure why not ... but being that air cargo was not screened before 09/11/2001 and was not screened for years afterwards why not simply bring a truckload of bombs to the air cargo office and mail them to a dozen different destinations? you could down a dozen aircraft with simple altimeter triggers for pennies.