- 2001 shoe bomb plot
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For other incidents onboard flights designated American Airlines Flight 63, see American Airlines Flight 63 (disambiguation).
2001 shoe bomb plot
One of the shoes containing the explosive.Location En route to Miami, Florida, U.S. from Paris, France Date December 22, 2001 Target American Airlines Flight 63 Attack type Shoe bomb Injured 0 Perpetrator(s) Richard Reid The 2001 shoe bomb plot was a failed bombing attempt that occurred on American Airlines Flight 63 flying from Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France, to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, on December 22, 2001.
Contents
Incident
As Flight 63 was flying over the Atlantic Ocean, Richard Colvin Reid — an Islamic fundamentalist from the United Kingdom, and self-proclaimed Al-Qaeda operative — carried shoes that were packed with two types of explosives. He had been refused permission to board the flight the day before.
Passengers on the flight complained of a smoke smell shortly after meal service. One flight attendant, Hermis Moutardier, walked the aisles of the plane to assess the source. She found Reid sitting alone near a window, attempting to light a match. Moutardier warned him that smoking was not allowed on the airplane, and Reid promised to stop.
A few minutes later, Moutardier found Reid leaning over in his seat, and unsuccessfully attempted to get his attention. After she asked him what he was doing, Reid grabbed at her, revealing one shoe in his lap, a fuse leading into the shoe, and a lit match.
She tried grabbing Reid twice, but he pushed her to the floor each time, and she screamed for help. When another flight attendant, Cristina Jones, arrived to try to subdue him, he fought her and bit her thumb.
The 6 feet 4 inch (193 centimeters) tall Reid was eventually subdued by other passengers on the aircraft, using plastic handcuffs, seatbelt extensions, and headphone cords. A doctor administered diazepam found in the flight kit of the aircraft.[1] Many of the passengers were aware of the situation when the pilot announced that the flight was to be diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts.
Two fighter jets escorted Flight 63 to Logan Airport. The plane was parked in the middle of the runway, and Reid was arrested on the ground while the rest of the passengers were bussed to the main terminal. Authorities later found over 100 grams of plastic explosives TATP and PETN hidden in the hollowed soles of Reid's black shoes, enough to blow a substantial hole in the aircraft.[citation needed] He was later convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
Aftermath
Six months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, New York, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah agreed to cooperate with American authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. He said that fellow Canadian Abderraouf Jdey had been responsible for the flight's destruction, using a shoe bomb similar to that found on Reid several months earlier. This claim remains unsubstantiated by the investigation into the cause of the crash, however.
Jabarah was a known colleague of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, and said that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to participate in identical plots.[2][3]
Security procedures at US airports have since asked persons to remove their shoes before proceeding through scanners, in response to this incident.[4]
See also
- 1988 Lockerbie Bombing, Pan Am plane destroyed by PETN bomb, killing 270 people - event happened 13 years exactly prior to the shoe bomb incendent
- 1994 Philippine Airlines Flight 434, test run for al-Qaeda Operation Bojinka, killing one plane passenger in bombing
- 1995 Bojinka plot, al-Qaeda plot to blow up 12 planes as they flew from Asia to the U.S.
- 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot, failed plot to blow up at least 10 planes as they flew from the U.K. to the U.S. and Canada
- 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing of plane
- 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing of plane
- List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
- List of terrorist incidents, 2001
References
- ^ Thomas, Cathy Booth (September 1, 2002). "Courage in the Air". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020909/aattendants.html. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
- ^ Mili, Hayder (July 28, 2005). "Securing the Northern Front: Canada and the War on Terror". http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/uploads/ter_003_015.pdf.
- ^ Ressa, Maria (December 6, 2003). "Sources:Reid is al Qaeda operative.". CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/01/30/reid.alqaeda/. Retrieved September 15, 2006.
- ^ "TSA: TSA Travel Assistant". Tsa.gov. September 26, 2006. http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/screening/index.shtm. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
External links
← 2000 · Aviation accidents and incidents in 2001 · 2002 → Jan 23 Yemenia Flight 448
Jan 27 Oklahoma State basketball team crash
Jan 31 Japan Airlines mid-air incident
Mar 03 Thai Airways International Flight 114
Mar 19 Comair Flight 5054
Mar 29 Avjet Aspen crash
Apr 01 Hainan Island incident
Apr 04 Sudanese Air Force AN-24 crashJul 04 Vladivostok Air Flight 352
Aug 24 Air Transat Flight 236
Aug 29 Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261
Sep 11 (9/11) American Airlines Flight 11
Sep 11 (9/11) United Airlines Flight 175
Sep 11 (9/11) American Airlines Flight 77
Sep 11 (9/11) United Airlines Flight 93
Sep 11 Korean Air Flight 85Sep 17 Grozny Mi-8 crash
Oct 04 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812
Oct 08 Linate Airport disaster
Nov 12 American Airlines Flight 587
Nov 24 Crossair Flight 3597
Dec 02 AFRF Flight 9064
Dec 22 American Airlines Flight 63 ("Shoe bomb" plot)Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics. Deadliest incident shown in bold smallcaps.Categories:- Terrorist incidents in the United States in 2001
- Islamist terrorism in the United States
- Failed airliner bombings
- Suicide bombing
- Accidents and incidents on commercial airliners in the United States
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 2001
- Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 767
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