The DoD is considering supplementing airport security with uniformed military personnel. The US Army is also exploring the possibility of placing Delta Force members on board commercial flights.
I just heard a report on NBC that the 10 people detained had no connection to the WTC/Pentagon events.
One of them was a pilot (an actual pilot) who had identification from his brother who happened to live at an address in Boston that the terrorists had used.
The remaining nine had stickers on their luggage that made the airport personnel suspicious. It turns out that they were all connected with an event given by the Boeing Corporation (manufacturer of the 757 and 767) to which the stickers related.
Maybe so, but I forgot to mention that some plastic handled knives were also confiscated. Makes one think, doesn’t it? It’s entirely possible that the authorities are trying to downplay any possible connection to prevent further panic.
The confiscated commercial pilot’s certificate was from a flight school in Florida. No mention if it’s the same school being investigated because of the other hijackings.
Sorry, meant to delete “other” before submitting. Poor choice of words.
The 10 that were detained (not arrested) are reported to have been released pending further investigation.
Just a clarification about “pilot’s certificates”. An actual pilot certificates (you r license) is a little grey piece of paper that fits in your wallet. The documents I saw on the news last night were “suitable for framing”. They’re basically diplomas from the school where you took your training. The school can have them printed up especially for them, or generic “pilot certificates”, “solo certificates”, etc. can be bought through pilot supply stores.
Real pilot certificate (the grey piece of paper) are ugly, especially compared to documents issued by other countries. I think we should have more durable plasic cards, similar to drivers licences, with the pilot’s photo on them and a hologram for counterfeit protection. I’ve never been asked to display my license, although the FAA does perform random “ramp checks” to make sure pilots are documented. I’m not sure we need counterfeit protection, but a photo ID would certainly look nicer.
As for the bags mentioned above “the only a pilot would have”, these too are widely available at pilot shops and many private pilots have them.
CNN.com has reported that both the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the plane that hit the Pentagon have been recovered.
Here’s what I want to bitch about…
I cant stop thinking about when the movie True Lies came out, it was considered extremely racist because the terrorist bad guys in it were Arabs. IS IT CLEAR WHY NOW???
To me, in his announcements, Bush might as well be saying:
*[Compassiionate political voice]
“Mary…had a little lamb. It’s fleece, was white…as snow…”
[/Compassiionate political voice]*
I just STILL cant take the man seriously and he isnt really saying anything. I wish Truman or Th. Roosevelt or Jackson were Pres…they would be pissed and SHOW it. I want to see my Pres PISSED…that above all would console me and make me feel like he is going to do something about this.
Through this whole mess, the image that had made me the sickest is that of the children in the Middle East cheering and clapping. I would like to hear what they would say if all of their families and 5000 of their countrymen were blown to bits. I cant believe I live in a world where children cheer and clap when thousands of people die.
I dont expect anyone to agree with me about all of this, I just neeeded to vent.
Officials are concerned that the cockpit voice recorded recovered from the Pentagon is so damaged they might not be able to retrieve any useful information.
I understand you need to vent (and venting is just fine, honestly), but this isn’t the appropriate forum. There are several threads going on in the Pit - please join one of them. Thanks.
For the record, I heard an official news report that the people who were detained were released and that they were NOT connected in any way to the terrorists, that they were NOT armed with plastic knives or for that matter ANYTHING, that they did have papers on them they should not have had, but that those papers were NOT falsified airline credentials or any other terrorist-y things, the papers were illegal in terms of immigration, NOT a security risk, that these people were cooperating FULLY with investigators. This report came from the mouth of an FBI official early this afternoon.
Amazing to me how misinformation seems to get a lot more widely spread than the facts do.
Let’s do our part to keep the rumors under control.