I sure hope the FBI is collaborating with the experts over at the TSA.

Because most of these surface to air missles are heat seeking TSA will probably come to the conclusion that aircraft can no longer produce heat, then they will spend some $$$ and find out what causes heat on the airplane. A couple weeks and much research later they will come to the conclusion that fuel in fact produces heat.

Therefore, No commercially operated flight in the United States will be allowed to carry fuel.

#33 BOAKYAG

They can carry all the fuel they want as long as it's all divided into 3oz clear containers. Or maybe they'll demand that aircraft run on breastmilk.

Maybe some tried to fire it but it malfunctioned somehow. Unfortunately, it seems like it is only a matter of time before something like this happens.

An AT-4 has a picture of a soldier on it. It was probably just an expended AT-4 launcher that every body that who has served in an infantry unit has in his attic.

The good news about manpads is that they are not designed to shoot down airplanes...they are designed as a last-ditch defense for soldiers who are being attacked by tactical aircraft. They are intended to do at least enough damage to make the aircaft go away and stop bothering you.

The heat-seek feature works well, because most tactical airplanes have their heat sources (engines) together near the center of mass where all the tactical goodies are...in addition to getting both engines, you have a shot at avionics, control, and tactical systems as well.

Modern airliners tend to keep their engines away from the the other important stuff. It is no coincidence that the A-10, the best close air support plane ever made, has engines on pylons too.

The high level terrorists (al queda) are VERY conscious of public relations...they do not want to look like incompetent idiots on CNN. For this reason they rarely attempt "hail mary" type operations...too much risk of humiliating failure. They would not be inclined to attempt to use the wrong tool (a manpad) to shoot down a 757...they know darn well that it flys just fine on one engine and the end result would be a lot of press coverage about heroic airline pilots.

32 memory items? Damn! Who do you work for?

I don't have an AT-4 in my attic from my time in the grunts... I do however, have a empty TOW missle encasement...

Actually an RJ would be a MUCH better target than a large airliner...it is similar in size and configuration to what the manpad is designed to hit, and has all the important parts located together.


A heavier airliner would probably just perform an single engine no-flap LDG, as has been demonstrated.