Just in case you didn’t have enough to worry about. A report has surfaced that nearly a dozen commercial airliners have been siezed by Islamic militants in Libya. And guess what? The 9/11 anniversary is just about a week away.
ETA: It hasn’t gotten much attention in the American media, but Libya has pretty much totally fallen apart since the Arab Spring. Think Somalia.
With September 11th just around the corner, terrorism experts are more than a little concerned that 11 airliners have gone missing from the Tripoli airport. The planes started disappearing in August but it has been a very underreported news story. I wonder if that is part of the reason the Brits have been going on high terrorism alert in the last couple of weeks. Islamic radicalists and airliners do not traditionally mix very well.
I wonder what models of airplanes they are? Certainly any place in Europe would be in range of pretty much any commercial airliner. Some of the larger planes could probably reach the east coast of the US, but I don’t know if those sorts of planes would be landing in Tripoli.
ETA: Libya itself is a very under-reported news story. The whole country has degenerated into Somalia-like levels of anarchy, but you rarely ever hear a word about it in the US media.
Are there any sources for this story besides the Free Beacon?
The Daily Mail.
Basically it’s the fleets of Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways. It also isn’t ISIS but a group called Libyan Dawn, affiliated with Al Qaeda (what a relief).
If you are skeptical about all the cites that seem to be caught in an infinite loop of references, I did find this article from early August on a french aviation news site that talks about two A-320’s being stolen around that time. It sounds like the U.S. government just really hasn’t wanted this to be announced for whatever reason.
http://airinfo.org/2014/08/04/airbus-a320-afriqiyah-airways-libye-djihadistes/ (in French)
August 4, 2014 "Two Libyan airliners that were stationed at the Tripoli airport have not been found after several days of searching. Their disappearance is seen as a potential threat to the safety of residents of the Mediterranean and North African countries in particular.
Mr. Clay beat you to it but you have the better thread title.
I’m not too worried about flying bombs hitting the U.S. The reason the 9/11 attacks worked was that the aircraft involved were legitimately scheduled ones that were hijacked. It’s not impossible, but it wouldn’t be as easy to fly an aircraft from abroad in order to attack the U.S. I’m sure any suspicious aircraft would be intercepted before it reaches the ADIZ. Failure tom comply with directives may well result in a shoot-down.
I don’t know about European countries’ plans for intercepting unauthorized aircraft.
Yep, I note that the Daily Mail’s only cited source is the Free-Beacon. That article about the missing Airbus A320s is the first thing I’ve seen that didn’t cite F-B.
The Daily Mail photos show some serious damage - one of the A320’s has its tailcone blown off, for instance. Plus, there’s the problem ISIS has at the Syrian airbase of pilots and mechanics, even with planes reasonably intact. Maybe this hasn’t received a lot of press because they’re not much of a threat?
Where exactly do you hide 11 stolen airliners? Do these terrorists have massive underground hangers or something?
I’m going to refrain from panic at least until this is covered by a reputable news source. And possibly afterward as well, depending on what they have to say about it.
Remember, we learned from that recent incident that the Swiss ask that any aircraft incursions take place during normal business hours.
I’m inclined to call BS on this until some credible airline confirms that they have lost a plane. I don’t think small airlines have more than 2 or 3 planes, and would be virtually shut down by a lost plane.
Here is some talk about 12 planes that were damaged by a rocket attack. Which is not the same as saying there are 11 airliners in Tripoli that would be airworthy enough for terrorists to use them on an intercontinental flight. But they might be different versions of the same event.
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6125950/1/
The Daily Mail has a reputation for making shit up.
I won’t worry much until I see it in a real news outlet…
something other than WND and nutjob blogs.
Isn’t that the group that Hans read about in Time magazine and called for their release in the first die hard movie? Double checks, no that was Asian Dawn, but close enough that when combined with daily mail my bs alarm goes off.
Yeah, this is a perfect example of trying to generate a panic. I can’t help but think that some ATC would wonder who the hell that random unscheduled plane is and where they’re coming from, and then call NORAD about it tout suite, once the plane didn’t respond or didn’t check out.
Not anyone can operate an aircraft, so I would not be so worried.