Airline Passengers Just Aren't Going to Put Up With That Crap Anymore

If wannabe terrorists think going after airliners is a winning plan, it's time to disabuse them of that idea. Based on yesterday's incident in Detroit, airline passengers aren't in the mood to allow themselves to be endangered by the world's idiots:

An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke - sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

The commotion began as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam, prepared to land in Detroit just before noon Friday. Travelers said they smelled smoke, saw a glow, and heard what sounded like firecrackers. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man, who officials say was trying to ignite an explosive device.

"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."

Smith said one passenger, sitting opposite the man, climbed over passengers, went across the aisle and tried to restrain the man. The heroic passenger appeared to have been burned.

Afterward, the suspect was taken to a front-row seat with his pants cut off and his legs burned. Multiple law enforcement officials also said the man appeared badly burned on his legs, indicating the explosive was strapped there. The components were apparently mixed in-flight and included a powdery substance, multiple law enforcement and counterterrorism officials said.

My question is if this guy was mixing his explosives in-flight, what was the guy sitting next to him doing while that was going on? Granted, he probably wouldn't have known they were explosives, but still if someone was playing Mr. Chemistry Set next to me on a flight I'm going to take note of that and mention it to the next flight attendant walking by.

We're lucky that the last couple of attempts on airliners have been carried out by amateurs, but we may not always be that lucky. We're also lucky that airline passengers learned something important on 9/11 - even before the events of that day were done - and are not going to go down without a fight.