26 DEC 2009 _______________________________________ *Explosive device set off aboard airliner *Reports: NWA passenger was trying to blow up flight into Detroit *Man Attempts to Set Off Explosives on Detroit-Bound Airplane *Nigerian Abdul Mudallad 'attempts to blow up American airliner' *Preliminary Data *AMR Jet Had to Use Jamaica Runway Lacking Some Approach Lights *Officials Probe Pilot History, Airport Safety *************************************** Explosive device set off aboard airliner Man Attempts to Set Off Explosives on Northwest Airlines Plane Flight originated in Amsterdam, Netherlands, ended in Detroit, Michigan (CNN) -- A passenger ignited a small explosive device on a Northwest flight Friday from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, according to a federal government bulletin. A senior administration official said the White House is considering the incident an attempted terrorist attack. The passenger was immediately subdued, according to Susan Elliott, spokeswoman for Delta, Northwest's parent company, Elliott said earlier that the suspect had ignited several small firecrackers. The incident resulted in some minor injuries, she said. A passenger, identified as a Nigerian national, was later placed in custody and is being treated for burns suffered in the explosion, said the bulletin, obtained by CNN from a source familiar with the investigation. The passenger "is claiming to have extremist affiliation and that the device was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used," according to the bulletin. The FBI is investigating the incident, said bureau spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold. President Obama, who is spending the holidays in his home state of Hawaii, was briefed on the incident during a secure phone call with aides and instructed in a subsequent discussion with security advisers "that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel," White House spokesman Bill Burton said. The president made no changes to his schedule, Burton said. The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Friday saying that air passengers "may notice additional screening measures put into place to ensure the safety of the traveling public on domestic and international flights." One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. "All passengers have deplaned and out of an abundance of caution, the plane was moved to a remote area where the plane and all baggage are currently being rescreened," the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement. Passengers from the flight were being interviewed. The Northwest plane, an Airbus 330, landed shortly before noon. It was carrying 278 passengers. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/12/25/airliner.firecrackers/index.html **************** Reports: NWA passenger was trying to blow up flight into Detroit A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism. AP said it learned that early indications were the passenger said he was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda. The counterterror official said the passenger was being questioned this evening. It was not immediately clear why the passenger wanted to attack the flight that was arriving from Amsterdam. The passenger created a disturbance by lighting what was reported to be firecrackers -- or perhaps a "powdery substance" -- onboard the flight, injuring himself and several other passengers, according to Delta Airlines The passenger was subdued. FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold confirmed today that agents are at Metro. ABC News reported on its web site that the man is Nigerian and claimed he was directed by Al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight over U.S. soil. The man was apparently already on the government's no-fly list of suspected terrorists, ABC News said a senior intelligence official told them. The Northwest plane, an Airbus 330, landed around noon Detroit time and was carrying 278 passengers. Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said most of the passengers were still being held at the airport as of 4:30 p.m. But later, Syed Jafry of Holland, Mich., a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, emerged from the airport and said he was a passenger on the flight. He said people ran out of their seats to tackle the man. Jafry was sitting in the 16th row when he heard "a pop and saw some smoke and fire." Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him." Jafry said there was a little bit of commotion for about 10 to 15 minutes. He said the way passengers responded made him proud to be an American. But passenger Richard Griffith of Pontiac said he was unaware of the incident until departing the plane. He said he was sitting in the back of the plane and did not "see or hear anything." His wife and daughter, who had been waiting for him at the airport since about 11:40 a.m., said they saw a person they believe to be the suspect being transported from the airport. Dawn Griffith said he was "young looking" and was handcuffed to a stretcher, with his hands bandaged. President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. It said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii. Delta's Susan Elliott said she could not release any information on the passenger's gender, age or background. One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She would not say what the injuries were. Because Delta Airlines in Detroit did not handle security for the flight, Elliott said she could not answer how the items that were ignited got on the plane. She said Delta has a hub in Amsterdam and this one was among several flights today. The Homeland Security Department said passengers may see additional screening measures on domestic and international flights because of the incident. "We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.tsa.gov for updates," the department said. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident and is closely monitoring the situation. The department encouraged travelers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement officials. http://freep.com/article/20091225/NEWS05/91225022/1318/Reports-NWA-passenger -was-trying-to-blow-up-flight-into-Detroit ***************** Man Attempts to Set Off Explosives on Detroit-Bound Airplane Suspect Claims al Qaeda Terrorism Link, but FBI, Investigators Are Suspicious The man said he was directed by al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight, over U.S. soil, ABC News has learned. Authorities have no corroboration of that information, and the credibility of the suspect's statements are being questioned, officials said. The suspect was identified as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who according to federal documents is an engineering student at University College of London. He was flying from Nigeria to the United States for a religious ceremony, according to his entry visa, which was issued June 16, 2008 and was good until June 12, 2010. The government had no immediate plans after the incident to raise the threat level, a federal government source said. The suspect had been in a law enforcement-intelligence database but was not on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official. http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/explosives-northwest-airlines-plane-amsterdam-d etroit/story?id=9423871 ****************** Nigerian Abdul Mudallad 'attempts to blow up American airliner' President demands increased travel security after Christmas Day incident The suspect, Abdul Mudallad, was on Northwest Flight 253, owned by Delta The FBI was last night investigating a suspected Christmas Day attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight after an apparent explosion on board a passenger jet from Amsterdam to Detroit. A Nigerian man, reported to be claiming links to al-Qaeda, was taken into custody with burns after allegedly trying to detonate explosives on Northwest Flight 253. A federal "situational awareness" bulletin said: "The subject is claiming to have extremist affiliation and that the device was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used." President Obama was notifed of the apparent attack while on holiday in Hawaii and received updates throughout the day. He ordered airline security to be tightened, particularly for in-bound flights to the United States. The suspect was identified as Abdul Mudallad, 23, described in US federal documents as an engineering student at University College London. He was reportedly on a US intelligence "watch-list" but not on the US Government's no-fly list. He began his journey in Nigeria on board KLM Flight 588 and made a connection in Amsterdam on to Northwest 253. According to ABC News his visa stated that he was travelling to the US for a religious ceremony. Initial reports were that the suspect had lit firecrackers on board the Airbus 330, which was carrying 278 passengers. However, a senior US counter-terrorism official said later that the man had actually been planning to blow up the aircraft but the explosive device had failed. The aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing shortly before noon when a smoke detector alarm went off. Delta Airlines, which owns Northwest, said that a passenger caused a commotion as the flight was getting ready to land in Detroit. The man was subdued immediately, it said. According to ABC News, the suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to detonate the powder. Syed Jafry, of Holland, Michigan, told the Detroit News that he was sitting in the 16th row when he heard "a pop and saw some smoke and fire". Mr Jafry said that people ran out of their seats to tackle the suspect. Dawn Griffith, from Pontiac, Michigan, who was waiting to meet a passenger, told the newspaper that she saw a "young looking" man being taken from the airport handcuffed to a stretcher with his hands bandaged. The Nigerian suspect suffered second-degree burns and was being treated at the University of Michigan Medical Centre, where authorities were questioning him. On landing, the Northwest flight was directed to an isolated part of the Detroit airport as police and firemen responded. Passengers were interviewed by investigators as police wearing anti-bomb gear boarded the aircraft. The White House last night described the incident as terrorism-related. "We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism," a White House official said. The apparent attack was reminiscent of the failed effort by Richard Reid, the British "shoe-bomber", to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami just before Christmas 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoe. Passengers on that flight complained of smelling smoke. Reid was found to be trying to light a match, and was subdued by passengers so that the aircraft could land safely in Boston. Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and is now servicing a life sentence at the Super-Max jail in Colorado. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6968218.e ce **************** Preliminary Data Date: 25-DEC-2009 Time: ca 11:30 Type: Airbus A330-323X Operator: Northwest Airlines Registration: N820NW C/n / msn: 859 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 278 Airplane damage: None Location: nr Detroit-Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, MI (DTW/KDTW) - United States of America Phase: Approach Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport (AMS/EHAM) Destination airport: Detroit-Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, MI (DTW/KDTW) Narrative: A passenger on board a Northwest Airlines flight NW253 reportedly set off firecrackers as the flight was approaching Detroit-Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, MI (DTW/KDTW) following a flight from Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport (AMS/EHAM). The passenger was subdued. Some passengers sustained minor injuries. (aviation-safety.net) **************** AMR Jet Had to Use Jamaica Runway Lacking Some Approach Lights Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The American Airlines jet that overshot a Jamaican runway at night had to touch down without the aid of approach lights darkened all this month because they're not working properly. A 400-meter (1,312 feet) stretch of white lights over the water from the shoreline near the Kingston airport is out, while a 50-meter segment on land near Runway 12 is functioning, Operations Director Stanley Smith said yesterday. The system is supposed to be replaced by the end of January, he said. "It is an aid, but is not really the main lighting system for the runway," Smith said in a telephone interview. "All the runway and threshold lights, the primary system, are working fine." Approach lights are among the tools pilots use to orient themselves at night, along with runway markings and precision landing instruments. U.S. and Jamaican investigators said they will study whether the lack of lights played a role in the Dec. 22 accident in which Flight 331 plowed through an embankment and a fence when it couldn't stop after landing in the rain. The Boeing Co. 737-800 came to rest with its nose on a road separating the airport from the Caribbean Sea. The 148 passengers and 6 crew members survived, with 80 people treated for injuries at hospitals and released and 7 admitted, according to AMR Corp.'s American. An advisory to pilots was issued before Nov. 30 about the darkened approach to Runway 12, and a duplicate notice was issued on that date, according to the Web site of Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport. No Complaints Smith said there hadn't been any complaints from pilots because of the loss of approach lights. The lights were knocked offline by an underwater glitch in the electrical system, he said. "Everything will be taken into consideration," said Nicole Robinson, an information services manager for the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority. "All of this, all of that, would have to be investigated." The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is assisting Jamaican authorities in the probe, would be aware of the light failure described by the airport and the pilot advisory, said Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the NTSB. "I doubt that's information we wouldn't have or that wouldn't be part of the investigation," Holloway said. "I don't see that as a mystery to us." Tim Smith, a spokesman for Fort Worth, Texas-based American, declined to comment. Sam Mayer, a spokesman for the airline's Allied Pilots Association union, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-25/amr-jet-had-to-use-jamaica-runwa y-lacking-some-approach-lights.html ****************** Officials Probe Pilot History, Airport Safety By ANDY PASZTOR Investigators trying to unravel why American Airlines Flight 331 skidded off the end of a runway in Kingston, Jamaica, are likely to pursue a two-pronged strategy: They are poised to dig into the training history and actions of the pilots, as well as some previously identified safety deficiencies at the airport. Crash experts from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to people familiar with the probe, already are examining how a veteran captain, with some 15,000 total flight hours and 22 years of experience at American, got into such trouble. Preliminary indications are that the Boeing 737 was approaching the runway through an intense storm. But the plane was equipped with advanced windshield-simulation technology -- dubbed heads-up displays -- designed to clearly depict the runway and its surroundings in spite of poor visibility. The devices specifically are used to alert pilots when their plane might be flying too fast during the descent for a safe outcome, or the crew is planning to touch down at the wrong point on a runway. American spokesman Tim Smith said that due to low visibility and perhaps other factors Tuesday night, the airline's internal safety rules would have required the use of such a heads-up display during the landing. While the identities of the cockpit crew haven't been made public, American disclosed Wednesday that the captain had more than 2,200 hours in command of 737 airliners. Investigators, among other things, are expected to look into air-traffic-control conversations with the aircraft and detailed weather data to determine whether the crew may have been surprised or distracted by a wind shift or suddenly reduced visibility. On a separate track, according to people familiar with the probe, the safety board is poised to examine why Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport hasn't installed protective barriers or other safeguards to keep planes from careening off the ends of runways. Despite years of criticism on this score from the International Civil Aviation Organization, an arm of the United Nations, the airport doesn't have any specially designed barriers able to gently slow down and absorb the energy from planes if they overrun strips. Similar complaints have been leveled against airports in several other Caribbean nations, as well dozens of major airports in Central America and South America. The Kingston airport, according to U.S. safety experts, also lacks certain kinds of grooves made to channel water off and help the brakes of landing aircraft grip better in an emergency. While the nearly 9,000-foot-long strip on which Flight 331 touched down is long enough to comfortably land a twin-engine 737 under normal conditions, safety experts and pilots said it quickly could turn difficult if a tailwind ended up boosting a plane's ground speed, or standing puddles caused a plane's wheels to slide around on a cushion of water. Neither board investigators nor officials of American, an AMR Corp unit, have publicly talked about such issues. But outsiders weighed in almost immediately, arguing that more accident-prevention techniques should have been employed at Kingston. "There are various technical solutions out there" to avoid runway overrun accidents like the one Tuesday night, said Mark Rosenker, the former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "This simply doesn't make any sense," he said in an interview Wednesday, because many other airports around the world have demonstrated the effectiveness of techniques to keep planes from hydroplaning on landing strips, and prevent them from dangerously careening into nearby areas. The pilots were examined in a hospital and drug tests were administered soon after the accident, but airline officials said they didn't suffer any significant injuries. The captain complained of pain in one arm, according to Mr. Smith, the American spokesman, but it wasn't broken. On Wednesday, board investigators began interviewing some of the flight attendants on the flight, but Mr. Smith said he didn't believe the pilots had yet been interviewed. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126162537134503859.html?mod=article-outset-b ox ************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC