terror plot foiled in '02?

[LosMediasBlancas]

I vaguely remember mention of this:

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11254053/

[Balta1701]

Hmph, the current Mayor of L.A., and former city councilman, seems to have first heard about the "terror plot" during Bush's speech this morning. That's troublesome.

[Balta1701]

Today's gaggle:

 

Q Scott, I wanted to just ask a follow-up about the LA plot. Is there something missing from this story, a practical application, a few facts? Because if you want to commandeer a plane and fly it into a tower, if you used shoe bombs, wouldn't you blow off the cockpit? Or is there something missing from this story?

 

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know what you're referring to about missing. I mean, I think we provided you a detailed briefing earlier today about the plot. And Fran Townsend, our Homeland Security Advisor, talked about it. So I'm not sure what you're suggesting it.

 

Q Think about it, if you're wearing shoe bombs, you either blow off your feet or you blow off the front of the airplane.

 

MR. McCLELLAN: There was a briefing for you earlier today. I think that's one way to look at it. There are a lot of ways to look at it, and she explained it earlier today, Alexis, so I would refer you very much back to what she said, what she said earlier today.

Good point...don't you usually blow up a plane with a bomb, not hijack it with one? Edited February 9, 2006 by Balta1701

[Gene Honda Civic]

The Rock says you're welcome. Again.

[EvilMonkey]

You CAN threaten to blow up the plane with a bomb if the people don't do as you say, so yes, you CAN hijack a plane with a bomb. Probably not the smartest way to do it, since you would be dead, but so would they.

[kapkomet]

You can have a 'shoe bomb' with just enough force to blow through the cockpit door - and not the shell of the plane.

[NorthSideSox72]

You can have a 'shoe bomb' with just enough force to blow through the cockpit door - and not the shell of the plane.

 

This is not realistic. Those doors are now pretty secure. With the metal locks and cross members, you'd either have to have a bomb with enough force to destroy the metal bolt, or one pwerful enough to destroy the entire rest of the door, leaving a large hole to pass through. Either way, that's a powerful explosion, and it would to a lot more than blow up the door. You'd probably do all kinds of electrical and structural damage to the cockpit and bulkhead, and quite possibly make the plane unflyable (or send it crashing to the ground).

[YASNY]

This is not realistic.  Those doors are now pretty secure.  With the metal locks and cross members, you'd either have to have a bomb with enough force to destroy the metal bolt, or one pwerful enough to destroy the entire rest of the door, leaving a large hole to pass through.  Either way, that's a powerful explosion, and it would to a lot more than blow up the door.  You'd probably do all kinds of electrical and structural damage to the cockpit and bulkhead, and quite possibly make the plane unflyable (or send it crashing to the ground).

 

How's talking about 'now'? We are talking about '02. Just a few months after 9/11. The odds are that those doors weren't upgraded that quickly. So, maybe it was realistic at that point.

[YASNY]

Hmph, the current Mayor of L.A., and former city councilman, seems to have first heard about the "terror plot" during Bush's speech this morning.  That's troublesome.

 

Oh, it's been reported today that the Mayor was notified by the DHS, by phone, before the speech was given. Now, his problem is that he wasn't notified by the White House. So, when it comes down to it, he's full of it.

[kapkomet]

This is not realistic.  Those doors are now pretty secure.  With the metal locks and cross members, you'd either have to have a bomb with enough force to destroy the metal bolt, or one pwerful enough to destroy the entire rest of the door, leaving a large hole to pass through.  Either way, that's a powerful explosion, and it would to a lot more than blow up the door.  You'd probably do all kinds of electrical and structural damage to the cockpit and bulkhead, and quite possibly make the plane unflyable (or send it crashing to the ground).

Don't tell me what's realistic. I worked for an airline and spent countless hours around jet airliners of all types. A 'shoe bomb' depending on how it is (for lack of a better word) calibrated would work just about right. Those doors are not made to withstand much at all, they're not reinforced. I don't care what deadbolts or locks have been put in place - those doors are extremely thin and can be taken out rather easily without causing much other damage.

[Balta1701]

Oh, it's been reported today that the Mayor was notified by the DHS, by phone, before the speech was given.  Now, his problem is that he wasn't notified by the White House.  So, when it comes down to it, he's full of it.

So the mayor of the city which supposedly faced a potential attack shouldn't learn about those things say, when he becomes mayor, so as to allow for preparation if a potential target is ID'd?

[NorthSideSox72]

Don't tell me what's realistic.  I worked for an airline and spent countless hours around jet airliners of all types.  A 'shoe bomb' depending on how it is (for lack of a better word) calibrated would work just about right.  Those doors are not made to withstand much at all, they're not reinforced.  I don't care what deadbolts or locks have been put in place - those doors are extremely thin and can be taken out rather easily without causing much other damage.

 

No offense, but I don't see how you can think a blast strong enough to blow out that door, even if its made of thin plastic, isn't going to cause damage to what is behind it. Only in Hollywood does a blast destroy its target and not disperse energy outside the surface of contact.

[YASNY]

So the mayor of the city which supposedly faced a potential attack shouldn't learn about those things say, when he becomes mayor, so as to allow for preparation if a potential target is ID'd?

 

My point was ... He lied! Was that so hard to understand?

[Cknolls]

So the mayor of the city which supposedly faced a potential attack shouldn't learn about those things say, when he becomes mayor, so as to allow for preparation if a potential target is ID'd?

I thought it was the federal gov't who was responsible ala Katrina not the locals.

 

 

This guy is so full of s*** I can smell him in chicago.

[Gene Honda Civic]

Fox News' fair and balanced coverage of the "liberty" tower (That's what Bush called it. They were planning to attack our liberty!) being blown up by aliens in the movie Independence Day.

[Rex Kickass]

Don't tell me what's realistic.  I worked for an airline and spent countless hours around jet airliners of all types.  A 'shoe bomb' depending on how it is (for lack of a better word) calibrated would work just about right.  Those doors are not made to withstand much at all, they're not reinforced.  I don't care what deadbolts or locks have been put in place - those doors are extremely thin and can be taken out rather easily without causing much other damage.

 

From what I gather is that in most planes, the cockpit doors have been replaced with something much more secure than was in the past. But I could be wrong.

[AngelasDaddy0427]

HAHA...

This was so funny... Bush was so desperate he resorted to pulling this story completely out of his ass... It's so obviously fake... It's as if he were reading the cue cards off a retarded 12 year olds imagination...

[southsider2k5]

Fox News' fair and balanced coverage of the "liberty" tower (That's what Bush called it. They were planning to attack our liberty!) being blown up by aliens in the movie Independence Day.

 

That is actually what it was named in 2002 when it would have been targeted.

[kapkomet]

From what I gather is that in most planes, the cockpit doors have been replaced with something much more secure than was in the past. But I could be wrong.

 

Part of the US fleet has been changed, most has not.

[YASNY]

That is actually what it was named in 2002 when it would have been targeted.

 

Correction. It was called the Library Tower.

[YASNY]

Part of the US fleet has been changed, most has not.

 

And in 2002, even less had been changed.

[NorthSideSox72]

Part of the US fleet has been changed, most has not.

 

You may indeed have worked in the airline industry before, but you are way off base on this one. All US airlines secured those doors according to FAA standards years ago:

 

http://www.bestsyndication.com/Articles/20...06_airlines.htm

 

Again, you'd need a serious blast to do this, and you'd do a lot of colateral damage.

 

Now, for some terrorist, that may not be a risk they mind. Either they get in, or the plane goes down. But there are smarter ways they could do it, and there are bigger vulnerabilities.