Man may just have been smoking on flight from D.C. to Las Vegas
Suspicious passenger subdued on flight
This is amusing in certain ways, if the guys story is true, he was just being a jerk and sneaking a smoke during a DC to Las Vegas flight. From what they have found so far, it seems to be the truth. He put out the cigarette on the sole of his shoe when caught - not the brightest move. so, did the crew and passengers overreact? Not by the guidelines I'm sure, but I doubt the idiot Diplomat will light up on a commercial American flight again. So, read the story and tell me what your take is. Noble heroes reacting to a threat to their lives, or blind fools who wouldn't stop to listen and endangered our relations with Qatar, do we care about them? Somewhere in between? Anti-smoker violence?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36243847/ns ... _security/April 7: NBC's Pete Williams reports on breaking news of an airline passenger who was subdued by a federal air marshal on a flight from Washington D.C. to Denver.
Suspicious passenger subdued on flight
NBC's Pete Williams reports on breaking news of an airline passenger who was subdued by a federal air marshal on a flight from Washington D.C. to Denver.
A passenger was subdued by a federal air marshal during an incident aboard an airliner flying from Washington to Las Vegas on Wednesday night, sources told NBC News.
Federal officials told NBC News that the man, a Qatari diplomat, may just have been smoking in a restroom of the jet. But the FBI was investigating whether the man attempted to ignite something aboard the plane.
United Flight 663, a Boeing 757 with 157 passengers and six crew members aboard, landed safely at Denver International Airport, airline and airport officials said.
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A half hour before landing, a flight attendant smelled smoke just as a passenger was coming out of a restroom and alerted an air marshal, federal officials told NBC. The marshal confronted the man, and there were initial reports that the man said he was trying to light his shoe.
But NBC News reported that the man said he was putting out a cigarette, which he smoked in the restroom, on the sole of his shoe.
A search of the man found no explosives, and a search of the plane with bomb-detecting dogs also turned up no explosives.
Sources told NBC News that the passenger who was subdued was a Qatari diplomat in his mid-20s who was assigned to the embassy in Washington. The man may have full diplomatic immunity.
After the pilot declared an emergency, military jets scrambled and escorted the jet into Denver, where the plane remained in a secure area, NBC affiliate WRC reported. Denver was a scheduled stop on the flight from Reagan National Airport to Las Vegas.
The incident follows an attempted bombing on Christmas Day by a Nigerian man who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight to Detroit from Amsterdam. The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was burned in the incident, which was foiled by passengers.
The Christmas attempt led to airport clampdowns and mandatory screening of air travelers from 14 countries. Qatar is not among the 14.
Last week, the United States announced new security measures to replace the mandatory screening.
The 14 countries were those on the U.S. list of "state sponsors of terrorism" — Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria — as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Nigeria — U.S. partners in the fight against al Qaida — were angered at being on the list.
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