2001 shoe bomb attempt

The 2001 shoe bomb attempt was a failed bombing attempt that occurred on December 22, 2001, on American Airlines Flight 63. The aircraft, a Boeing 767-300 (registration N384AA) with 197 passengers and crew aboard, was flying from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, to Miami International Airport in the U.S. state of Florida.

"American Airlines Flight 63" redirects here. For other incidents onboard flights designated American Airlines Flight 63, see American Airlines Flight 63 (disambiguation).

2001 Shoe Bomb Attempt
One of the shoes containing the explosive.
Location	En route to Miami, Florida, US from Paris, France
Date	December 22, 2001 (2001-12-22)
Target	American Airlines Flight 63
Attack type	Shoe bomb
Injured	0
Perpetrators	al-Qaeda
Assailant	Richard Reid

The perpetrator, Richard Reid, was subdued by passengers after unsuccessfully attempting to detonate plastic explosives concealed within his shoes. The flight was diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston, escorted by American jet fighters, and landed without further incident. Reid was arrested and eventually sentenced to 3 life terms plus 110 years, without parole.

Incident

As Flight 63 was flying over the Atlantic Ocean, Richard Reid – an Islamic fundamentalist from the United Kingdom, and self-proclaimed Al-Qaeda operative – carried shoes that were packed with two types of explosives. He had been refused permission to board the flight the day before.

Passengers on the flight complained of a smoke smell shortly after meal service. One flight attendant, Hermis Moutardier, walked the aisles of the plane to locate the source. She found Reid sitting alone near a window, attempting to light a match. Moutardier warned him that smoking was not allowed on the airplane, and Reid promised to stop.

A few minutes later, Moutardier found Reid leaning over in his seat, and unsuccessfully attempted to get his attention. After she asked him what he was doing, Reid grabbed at her, revealing one shoe in his lap, a fuse leading into the shoe, and a lit match. He was unable to detonate the bomb: perspiration from his feet dampened the triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and prevented it from igniting.

Moutardier tried grabbing Reid twice, but he pushed her to the floor each time, and she screamed for help. When another flight attendant, Cristina Jones, arrived to try to subdue him, he fought her and bit her thumb.

The 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) tall Reid who weighed 215 pounds (97kg) was subdued by other passengers on the aircraft and immobilized using plastic handcuffs, seatbelt extensions, and headphone cords. A doctor administered diazepam found in the flight kit of the aircraft.[1] Many of the passengers only became aware of the situation when the pilot announced that the flight was to be diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston.

Two F-15 fighter jets escorted Flight 63 to Logan Airport. The plane parked in the middle of the runway, and Reid was arrested on the ground while the rest of the passengers were bussed to the main terminal. Authorities later found over 280 grams (10 oz) of TATP and PETN hidden in the hollowed soles of Reid's shoes,[2] enough to blow a substantial hole in the aircraft.[3] He pleaded guilty, was convicted, sentenced to 3 life terms plus 110 years without parole and incarcerated at Supermax prison ADX Florence.

Aftermath

Six months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, New York on November 12, 2001, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah agreed to cooperate with American authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. He said that fellow Canadian Abderraouf Jdey had been responsible for the flight's destruction, using a shoe bomb similar to that found on Reid several months earlier. This claim remains unsubstantiated by the investigation into the cause of the crash; Jabarah was a known colleague of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, and said that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to participate in identical plots.[4][5]

In 2006, security procedures at US airports were changed to have people remove their shoes before proceeding through scanners, in response to this incident.[6] The requirement was phased out for some travelers, particularly those with TSA PreCheck, in the 2010s.[7] In 2011, the rules were relaxed to allow children 12 and younger and adults 75 and older to keep their shoes on during security screenings.[8]

Flight Number AAL63 continues to be used on the route from Paris to Miami.[9]

External links

• Bomb on Flight 63 Telegraph Media Group Limited 2015

See also

• 1988 Lockerbie Bombing, Pan Am plane destroyed by PETN bomb, killing 270 people – event happened 13 years exactly prior to the shoe bomb incident
• 1994 Philippine Airlines Flight 434, test run for al-Qaeda Operation Bojinka, killing one plane passenger in bombing
• 1995 Bojinka plot, al-Qaeda plot to blow up 12 planes as they flew from Asia to the US
• 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot, failed plot to blow up at least 10 planes as they flew from the UK to the US and Canada
• 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing of plane
• 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing of plane
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• List of terrorist incidents, 2001
• September 11 Attacks

References

1. Thomas, Cathy Booth (September 1, 2002). "Courage in the Air". TIME. Archived from the original on June 4, 2010. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
2. "Shoe bomb suspect to remain in custody". CNN. December 25, 2001. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
3. Sample, Ian (December 27, 2009). "PETN – hard to detect and just 100g can destroy a car". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 8, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
4. Mili, Hayder (July 28, 2005). "Securing the Northern Front: Canada and the War on Terror" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
5. Ressa, Maria (December 6, 2003). "Sources:Reid is al Qaeda operative". CNN.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2006.
6. "TSA: TSA Travel Assistant". Tsa.gov. September 26, 2006. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
7. O'Keefe, Ed; Halsey III, Ashley (September 6, 2011). "Shoe removal requirement at airports to be phased out". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
8. Hilkevitch, Jon. "TSA: Children pose little risk, can keep shoes on during security check". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
9. "American Airlines (AA) #63 ✈ FlightAware". FlightAware. Archived from the original on 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2016-05-03.