Northwest Airlines Flight 253: Difference between revisions

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Northwest Airlines Flight 253
A Northwest Airbus A330 with Delta Air Lines livery, similar to the one involved in the incident aboard flight 253
Location	Romulus, Michigan, United States
Coordinates	42°12′29″N 83°21′22″W / 42.208°N 83.356°W / 42.208; -83.356
Date	Friday, December 25, 2009 approximately 12:30 p.m. (UTC-5)
Attack type	Failed bombing
Weapons	Pentaerythritol tetranitrate
Deaths	0
Injured	2 passengers and the suspect

Northwest Airlines Flight 253^[1][2][3] is a daily transatlantic flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) in the Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Michigan, United States, which also operates as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 6253.^[4]

On December 25, 2009, an individual attempted to destroy the aircraft as it was about to land.^[5] Two people were wounded in addition to the suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian. He was taken into custody and charged by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with placing a destructive device upon and attempting to destroy a civil aircraft of the US.^[6][7]

The aircraft involved was a Northwest Airlines Airbus A330-300 twinjet, with 279 passengers, 8 flight attendants, and 3 pilots aboard.^[8][7] It left Amsterdam around 8:45 a.m. local time (0745 UTC), and was scheduled to arrive in Detroit at 11:40 a.m. EST (1640 UTC),^[9] but actually landed around 1 p.m.^[7][10] The aircraft was painted in Delta Air Lines' livery, as Northwest is currently operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.^[11][12]

Witnesses reported that after the plane entered US airspace, a passenger later identified as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian man, went into the plane's lavatory for about 20 minutes, and after returning to his seat at 19A (near the fuel tanks and wing)^[13] complained that he had an upset stomach.^[7][14] He was then seen pulling a blanket over himself.^[7]

About 20 minutes before the plane landed, he secretly ignited a small explosive device consisting of a mix of flammable powder^[8][15] and liquid.^{[7][16][17][18]} He apparently had taped a packet of powder to his leg or groin, and used a syringe containing chemicals to cause a chemical reaction; though there appears to have been an explosion, and the lower part of his body caught on fire, the device failed to detonate properly.^[7][19][17] Passengers heard popping noises resembling firecrackers, smelled an odor, and saw the suspect's trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire.^[7] A passenger said: "there was smoke and screaming and flames. It was scary."^[20]

The substance he tried to detonate was reportedly more than Template:G to oz of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a powerful plastic explosive.^[21] It is among the most powerful of explosives, in the same chemical family as nitroglycerin, and is the same explosive that al-Qaeda member Richard C. Reid (the Shoe Bomber) tried to detonate Template:G to oz of in his shoes during an American Airlines flight in December 2001.^[22] The suspect apparently carried it onto the plane in a soft plastic container, possibly a condom. However, much of the packaging was lost in the fire.^[23] The substance was analyzed at Quantico by the FBI.^[24] An FBI affidavit filed in the Eastern District of Michigan^[6][7] indicated that preliminary findings reflected that the device contained PETN,^[25] and that authorities found the remains of the syringe.^[6][7] US Representative Peter T. King said that the device was deadly, and somewhat sophisticated.^[5][26] The explosives were reportedly sewn into the suspect's underwear. They failed to cause much damage because the detonator was either too weak or did not make good contact with the explosive material.^[27]

There were not any air marshals on the flight.^[28] Several passengers and crew members noticed the attack, and saw one passenger run forward and tackle and overpower the suspect, keeping him down in a hold until after the plane landed^[29][30] while flight attendants extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher and blankets.^{[7][31][32][33]} That passenger, Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch director of a media company based in Amsterdam, suffered burns to his hands while stopping the suspect. He was later taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center.^[30] The suspect, having been immediately subdued, was isolated from other passengers and restrained.^[7][17][34] A passenger removed a partially smoking syringe from the suspect's hand. A passenger reported that the suspect, though burned "quite severely" on his leg, seemed "very calm" and like a "normal individual."^[31] A flight attendant asked the suspect what he had in his pocket, and the suspect replied: "explosive device".^[7]

When the attack triggered a fire indicator light within the cockpit, the pilot requested rescue and law enforcement. The incident was initially declared an in-flight emergency, before being deemed an attempted terrorist attack.^[17] The plane made an emergency landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, (a suburb of Detroit) almost immediately thereafter, just before 1 p.m. local time.^[7][35]

The suspect, who had earlier arrived in Amsterdam on KLM Flight 588 from Lagos, Nigeria,^[36] is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab,^{[19][16][37][38]} the youngest of 16 children^[39] of prominent former Nigerian minister and banker Alhaji Umaru Mutallab.

Abdulmutallab holds a degree^[39] in mechanical engineering from City University London where he was president of the Islamic Society.^[8][17][40] His last known address is believed to have been a $4 million apartment on Mansfield Street, Central London near the college,^[30] which was searched by the London Metropolitan Police.^[41] Abdulmutallab is believed to have been strongly religious since he attended high school, at the British International School in Lome, Togo.^[30] where he was known as a devout Muslim and for preaching about Islam to his schoolmates.^[42] His father had agreed to his request to study Arabic in Yemen. His family became concerned in August 2009 when he called them to say he had dropped the course, but was remaining in Yemen. The Washington Post reported that several days later he sent a text message to his family, severing all ties with them.^[39]

His father made a report to the US Embassy on November 19^[39] regarding his son's extremist religious views, and told the embassy that Abdulmutallab had disappeared and may have traveled to Yemen.^[43][40] Acting on the report, the suspect's name was added in November 2009 to the US's Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, a database of the US National Counterterrorism Center, but not subsequently to the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database, the terror watch list that feeds both the Secondary Screening Selectee list and the US's No Fly List.^[44] The suspect's name had come to the attention of intelligence officials many months before that,^[45] but no "derogatory information" was recorded about him.^[46] A Congressional official said that Abdulmutallab's name appeared in US reports reflecting that he had connections to both al-Qaeda and Yemen.^[14] The suspect said he had made contact with al-Qaeda through the internet, with a radical imam.

The day following the incident, attorney Kurt Haskell, another passenger at Schiphol, said he had seen a "well-dressed man" ask airline employees if Abdulmutallab could board Flight 253 without a passport, suggesting Abdulmutallab was a "refugee from Sudan". Haskell and his wife then did not see Abdulmutallab until the incident on the plane.^[47] Abdulmutallab does have a visa valid from June 2008 to June 2010,^[48] with which he visited the US twice,^{[citation needed]} including Houston, Texas, in 2008.^[46]

Two days after the incident, Abdulmutallab was released from the hospital in which he had been treated for burns sustained during the attempted bombing. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, he is currently being held at an undisclosed location.^[49]

While in custody, Abdulmutallab told authorities he had an extremist affiliation, and that he had been directed by al-Qaeda.^[50] A counterterrorism official told The New York Times on December 25 that his claim "may have been aspirational".^[26] But US Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment, said on December 26 that a federal official briefed lawmakers about "strong suggestions of a Yemen-al Qaeda connection" with the suspect.^[51]

Abdulmutallab said that he obtained the device in Yemen, along with instructions from al-Qaeda as to how to use it. Authorities have not yet confirmed his statements. Abdulmutallab's father also said he had traveled to Yemen.

The senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Pete Hoekstra, said officials in the Obama administration and officials with law-enforcement information access told him the suspect "may have been in contact with ... Anwar Al Awlaki. There are reports that he had contact and that he was recently in Yemen. The question we'll have to raise is was this imam in Yemen influential enough to get some people to attack the US again."^[52][53][54] Al-Awlaki is the former imam linked to al-Qaeda, three of the 9/11 bombers, Nidal Malik Hasan (the suspected Fort Hood shooter), and a Toronto terror cell, among others.^[55][56] Al-Awlaki regularly addresses British university Islamic societies by video links.^[57] Hoekstra added in an interview: "The suspicion is ... that [the suspect] had contact with al-Awlaki. The belief is this is a stronger connection with al-Awlaki" than Hasan had.^[58] On December 27 The Washington Post reported that Hoekstra said that credible sources told him the suspect "most likely" has ties with al-Awlaki.^[59][60] "That's a rather significant connection," said Hoekstra.^[61]

Similarly, Fox News reported that Sky News sources said the suspect had links with al-Awlaki.^[62] And University of Oxford historian Mark Almond, Visiting Professor of International Relations at Turkey’s Bilkent University, wrote on December 27 that the suspect was "on American security watch-lists because of his links with Yemeni firebrand Anwar Al Awlaki".^[63]

According to The New York Times on December 26, Abdulmutallab told FBI agents he contacted a radical Yemeni cleric online (who was not believed to be al-Awlaki) who connected him to the al-Qaeda affiliate.^[46]

Hoekstra also said that the target of the attack may not have specifically been Detroit, but a destination similar to Detroit (which is Northwest's hub), with many incoming international travelers. The attack occurred over the city because the plane had not flown over US land prior to that time.^[64] In addition, an attack of this type (injecting chemicals into a substance to cause a chemical explosion) has not been used in previous terrorist plots, and it is possible that the attempt was a test to see if such materials could pass through screening, and how much damage the blast would cause.^[23]

The attack occurred on Christmas Day, and was near the eighth anniversary of the day Richard Reid's attempt to blow up a plane--also using PETN explosives--in Reid's case hidden in his shoe. The Taliban also released a video of Bowe Bergdahl, a captured US soldier, on the day of the attack.^[32]

Jasper Schuringa, a resident of Amsterdam and passenger on the flight, was widely credited for intervening and physically restraining the suspect. Using a headgrip,^[65] he prevented the suspect from further manipulating his explosive device and dragged him to the forward part of the cabin, where the suspect was handcuffed. Schuriga incurred burns in the process. He was later interviewed by a number of news sources.^[66][67]

Born in 1971, Schuringa is a Dutch film director of low-budget Dutch films, and is credited as the assistant director for National Lampoon's Teed Off Two.^[68] Vice Prime Minister Wouter Bos called Schuringa on behalf of the Dutch government, conveying compliments and gratitude for his part in overpowering the suspect.^[69][70] Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders called Schuringa "a national hero" for his actions, and said that "he deserves a royal honor", which Wilders said he would ask the Dutch government to award.^[71][72]

While the plane itself suffered relatively little damage,^[73] the suspect suffered third-degree burns and two other passengers were injured.^[50][74] When the plane landed, the suspect was handed over to Custom and Border Protection officers, and taken into custody for questioning and treatment of his injuries in a secured room^[75] of the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.^[7][19][17] Two other passengers incurred minor injuries.^[19][74]

FBI agents arrived at the airport after the plane landed.^[76] The plane was moved to a remote area so authorities could re-screen the plane, the passengers, and the baggage on-board.^[77] A bomb-defusing robot was first used to board the plane.^[19] The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) interviewed all passengers.^[32]

The investigation into the incident is being managed by the FBI.^[38] It was not immediately known how the suspect managed to smuggle the incendiary device past airport security, and what training he received, if any.^[78] An investigation was initiated into whether the attempted attack was part of a larger, possibly worldwide plot.^[79]

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident by an aide while on a vacation in Kailua, Hawaii, and spoke with officials from the Department of Homeland Security.^[77] The White House said that Obama was actively monitoring the situation, and had instructed that all appropriate measures be taken.^[80] The White House called the attack an act of terrorism.^[16] However, Attorney General Eric Holder has not declared the incident an official terrorist act.^[81] Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was also briefed, and was monitoring the incident.^[76] The day after the attack, members of the U.S. Congress pledged to hold hearings to investigate how the device passed through security and whether further restrictions should be placed on air travel.^[9] The House Homeland Security Committee and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee both announced that they would hold hearings in January 2010.^[6]

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the UK would take "whatever action was necessary" in response to the attack. The day after the incident, British police sealed off Mansfield Street, in Marylebone, London, where the suspect reportedly lived in a family-owned flat.^[27]

The incident raised concern regarding security procedures at Nigeria's major international airports in Lagos and Abuja, where tests for explosive materials are not conducted on carry-on baggage and shoes, and where bags are allowed to pass quickly through x-ray scanners.^[82]

A police spokeswoman at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol declined to comment about security procedures at the airport, where large numbers of passengers are processed en-route to North America from Africa.^[83] A Dutch military police spokesperson said that Abdulmutallab did not go through passport control, and the Dutch counter-terrorism agency NCTb said that it had started a probe into where the suspect originated.^[84] A preliminary investigation, however, found no security lapses, and despite being listed as having a potential terrorism connection, the suspect had a valid US visa.^[85]

Members of the Second Chamber (Lower House) of the Dutch parliament demanded an explanation from Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin, given that the plane that took off from The Netherlands, asking especially how the suspect managed to smuggle explosives on board, despite the reportedly strict security measures at Schiphol Airport.^[86][87]

Delta Air Lines, which owns Northwest, said that its Detroit group did not handle security for the flight,^[76] and released a statement calling the incident a "disturbance," and saying that Delta was "cooperating fully with authorities".^[88]

On December 26, a criminal complaint was filed against Abdulmutallab in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by Theodore James Peisig or Peissig, an FBI special agent, charging Abdulmutallab with placing a destructive device in proximity to and attempting to destroy a US civil aircraft.^[7] The U.S. Attorney's Office assigned federal prosecutors Jonathan Tukel, chief of the counter-terrorism unit, and Eric Straus, former chief of the same unit, to the case.^[41] Abdulmutallab was arraigned later the same day at the University of Michigan Hospital burn unit. He was officially charged by U.S. District Court Judge Paul D. Borman in a hospital conference room.^[89] Based upon these charges, Abdulmutallab faces up to 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.^[90][91]

Borman set a detention hearing for January 8, 2010.^[48] Abdulmutallab was assigned public defenders Miriam Seifer and Jill Price.^[90]

The US government did not raise the Homeland Security Advisory System terrorist threat level, orange at the time (high risk of terrorist attacks),^[32] following the attack.^[17] However, the Department of Homeland Security said that additional security measures would be in place for the remainder of the Christmas travel period.^[77] The TSA detailed several of the measures, including the restriction of movement and access to personal items during the last hour of flight for all planes within US airspace. The TSA also said that travelers would see more officers and dogs around airports.^[8]

British Airways said that passengers flying to the US would only be permitted one carry-on item.^[92] Other European countries increased baggage screening, pat-down searches, and random searches for all passengers traveling to the US. A spokesperson for the Dutch airport used by the attacker said that heightened security would be in place for "an indefinite period".^[93]

On December 27, 2009, another incident occured during Flight 253, when the crew requested emergency assistance with a Nigerian passenger who had become "verbally disruptive".^[94][95][96] The crew questioned the passenger after other passengers expressed concern that he had been in the bathroom for over an hour. It was later found that the man was a businessman and had fallen ill, suffering from food poisoning, during the flight.^[97] Although President Obama was also notified of the second incident, an official called it "non-serious".^[96][98]

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• TSA and DHS Statements on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 - Transportation Security Administration
• Statement by Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Sara Kuban—Dept. of Homeland Security Press Release, Dec. 25, 2009
• Complaint affidavit for United States of America v. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab