Man Tries to Light Shoes on Fire During Flight

I just heard about this on AM radio on my way home from fetching chinese takeout for dinner.

You think of this guy copying the infamous wannabe shoe-bomber and tell yourself two things..

1) Either he did it to try to take down the plane.. OR

2) He did it to get attention.

And in both cases, the guy is a friggin idiot.

-ChriS

Am I missing the quote that he indeed had explosives? I haven't seen confirmation of that, just that he tried to lite his shoe. Can someone point it out?

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
Light his shoes on fire? Doesn't airport security scan your entire body and all of your items? Now, to me he must be a nut or he know how to hide his bomb in shoes pretty well.

As a terrorist and non-citizen I'm sure he exercised his right to not be scanned except by the useless wand and even then he was probably scanned by a fellow extremist (whoops what do we call them now -- Nice Impaired?)

Originally posted by ExPostFacto
Am I missing the quote that he indeed had explosives? I haven't seen confirmation of that, just that he tried to lite his shoe. Can someone point it out?

No, you haven't missed it. People are just jumping to conclusions. Either way he sounds like a nut.

Shouldn't laugh, but someone's comments reminded me off this...
just over 3 minutes in

Live stream from DIA airport, via KDVR 31 news...



www.kdvr.com...

Looks like Qatar is going to have a lot of explaining to do.
This should get their embassy closed for a while and passports rejected.
I hope.

reply to post by ararisq


If there are corrupt police. There could be corrupt air port workers.

TSA says airplane being taken to Hanger #1 at DIA, according to KDVR 31 News... Bringing passengers out now, as we speak to the baggage claim area...

I praise the Air Marshals. They do a thankless job, and it is hard to stay alert and ready to respond.

No doubt they took abuse from the perpetrator, and will no doubt be second guessed by bosses and politicians and media.

Good job!

8:00 pm pst: Reported on all networks. They have narrowed it down to two conclusions.
1) Super diplomat shoe bomber terrorist or
2) Needed a cigarette or was holding that fart too long.

Im sure it will end up being whatever they want to make it out to be. A story like this will fuel plenty of political posturing.

Passenger said to have been coming out of the bathroom, and was overheard to say he was lighting his shoes on fire..... awwww C'mon


Snippet from Denver 7 News.....




"Two F-16 fighters, under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), intercepted the flight at approximately 6:45 p.m. Upon intercepting the aircraft, the F-16s escorted the aircraft until it landed safely without incident at approximately 6:50 p.m. where the plane was met by local law enforcement."

[edit on 7-4-2010 by freetree64]

From Associated Press:

Unlike the Christmas Day bomb attempt on an Detroit-bound airliner, officials say it is not immediately clear what the man was trying to do — something harmful like start a fire or explosion, or something as innocent as smoke a cigarette.

Officials insisted Wednesday night it was still too early to tell whether the incident was an attempted act of terrorism or a giant misunderstanding.

hosted.ap.org...

I noticed Yahoo went from "Breaking News - Man Attempts to Light Shoes on United Flight" to "Breaking News - FBI Probes Disturbance on United Flight". Quite a difference between a disturbance and playing with fire/shoes/other.

Originally posted by AwakeinNM
I am wondering if this is a bit of theatre put on by the administration. Air marshalS? More than one on the same flight? How coincidental. It may be legit, who knows yet, but I found that part strange.

Either way, get ready for strip searches and naked scanners everywhere. Maybe this is the Pearl Harbor of the nudie scanners?

FYI - 2 Air Marshals on a flight is not an uncommon practice.

Just saw the breaking news story on the 10:00 news, they were saying he went to the bathroom and lit a cigarette and was confronted when attempting to put it out on his shoe. Not sure if this holds water or not, but that is what they reported 10 minutes or so ago.

Nate

This site here says
"early reports are that an Islamic radical attempted to blow up a United Airlines flight from Reagan National Airport to Denver tonight with a shoe bomb."

reply to post by Acid_Burn2009


Makes sense to me. I can't see a diplomat risking his cushy job to for the Bin Laden crew. People sneak cancer sticks on planes all the time.

I just saw on the news that initial reports say that no explosives of any kind were found on the man. They did find cigarettes and something to light them with but that was all they said he had on him. I would have to guess that means that the idea that he had a bomb was based on the fact that something was smoking and nothing else?

Seems likely to me. I think that people are going overboard with immediately saying he is a radical fundamentalist. The only thing that confuses me on the issue is this:

If the man was really attempting to control his nic fit and sneak a smoke in the lavatory, why would he claim diplomatic immunity? It's just a smoke and him being caught is just a fine (I believe, please correct me if I am mistaken)...so why would he be so quick to claim diplomatic immunity? To avoid a fine? Dude, you got caught. Man up and pay the fine because you couldn't wait to land for a smoke.

Qatar is, as far as I knew, friendly towards us. I know a lot of military go there for some mid-deployment R&R.

Nate

[edit on 7-4-2010 by Acid_Burn2009]

Originally posted by Acid_Burn2009

If the man was really attempting to control his nic fit and sneak a smoke in the lavatory, why would he claim diplomatic immunity? It's just a smoke and him being caught is just a fine (I believe, please correct me if I am mistaken)...so why would he be so quick to claim diplomatic immunity? To avoid a fine? Dude, you got caught. Man up and pay the fine because you couldn't wait to land for a smoke.

Nate

[edit on 7-4-2010 by Acid_Burn2009]

There's more than a fine for it now. I've seen people get threatened with jail time for sneaking a smoke on a plane. That's probably why he freaked out.

This guys must be a nut if he tells an air marshal
"I'm lighting my shoes on fire."
and doesn't really have a bomb.
Sounds very odd to me
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