11 "Missing" Jetliners : stolen from Captured Libyan Airport? (1 Viewer)

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Granted this is a Fox News story... but it's coming up on the anniversary of Sept 11th Attacks.

Little chance these Jets could be used against us here... they'd be ID'd and shot out of the sky before they even got close to our shores. However there are much softer west-friendly targets within range of Libya that could be targeted.

Not sure I buy it as an impending threat, but could be interesting to watch

Link to Story >

Islamist militias in Libya took control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners last month, and western intelligence agencies recently issued a warning that the jets could be used in terrorist attacks across North Africa.

Intelligence reports of the stolen jetliners were distributed within the U.S. government over the past two weeks and included a warning that one or more of the aircraft could be used in an attack later this month on the date marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, said U.S. officials familiar with the reports.

“There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing,” said one official. “We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.”

The official said the aircraft are a serious counterterrorism concern because reports of terrorist control over the Libyan airliners come three weeks before the 13th anniversary of 9/11 attacks and the second anniversary of the Libyan terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the Benghazi attack, which the Obama administration initially said was the result of a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Muslim video.

 

[NCCommish]

I am confident that if your identifier is off they will never find all the debris from the plane you were flying if you try to enter US airspace in a jumbo jet.

 

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I am confident that if your identifier is off they will never find all the debris from the plane you were flying if you try to enter US airspace in a jumbo jet.

Agreed 1000%

If this is even true (not convinced) it's definitely zero threat to us stateside. Would be interesting to see what would be targeted IF they were actually stolen and IF they even had enough folks to pilot them well enough to get off the ground and point them in the right direction.

 

[NCCommish]

I am confident that if your identifier is off they will never find all the debris from the plane you were flying if you try to enter US airspace in a jumbo jet.

Agreed 1000%

If this is even true (not convinced) it's definitely zero threat to us stateside. Would be interesting to see what would be targeted IF they were actually stolen and IF they even had enough folks to pilot them well enough to get off the ground and point them in the right direction.

Yeah piloting is certainly an issue. Taking off is harder than people think. I did some time in the sim for the C-141 and crashed, a lot.

 

[The Big Guy]

Yep we have such great radar systems in place that it wouldn't be possible for a plane to just go missing or anything like that. I mean if you take the transponder offline and seemed to fly dark, it isn't like that could ever happen in today's world.

Stranger things have happened. 1 in a million shot...sure. 1 in a 100 million shot even more likely. But there is still that small chance and it is something to be aware of at the least.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Sounds about as worrisome as the missing USSR nukes amiright?

 

[T Bell]

Have they checked the sofa cushions?

 

[Fennis]

I love how Fox slips in a Benghazi!!!! reference in every story they can.

 

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I love how Fox slips in a Benghazi!!!! reference in every story they can.

Their dedication is indeed impressive

 

[Fat Nick]

These 11 plus MH 370 rounds out a fleet of a dozen planes for Al Quaeda Air.

"Al Quaeda Air - Now offering non-stop one-way trips to Jannah. Check out our first-class accommodations, equipped with free WiFi, In-flight showing of Die-Hard With a Vengeance, lay-flat seats, prayer mats, and enough overhead space for all 72 virgins!"

 

[Apple Jack]

If only the US and other countries had satellites that would allow them to see where such tiny items are taken.

 

[El Floppo]

These 11 plus MH 370 rounds out a fleet of a dozen planes for Al Quaeda Air.

"Al Quaeda Air - Now offering non-stop one-way trips to Jannah. Check out our first-class accommodations, equipped with free WiFi, In-flight showing of Die-Hard With a Vengeance, lay-flat seats, prayer mats, and enough overhead space for all 72 virgins!"

just don't ####### recline... OR ELSE!

 

[mcintyre1]

If only the US and other countries had satellites that would allow them to see where such tiny items are taken.

We only see what we're pointing at. Why would we (or any other country with spy satellites) be pointing a spy satellite at a Libyan airport for no reason in early August? After that, good luck finding them unless you already know all of the places to check.

 

[quickhands]

Plus obama removed the restriction on libyans studying flying airliners in mid august.....per michael savage caller

 

[quickhands]

Oh and thanks obama for removing khadafi

 

[Apple Jack]

If only the US and other countries had satellites that would allow them to see where such tiny items are taken.

We only see what we're pointing at. Why would we (or any other country with spy satellites) be pointing a spy satellite at a Libyan airport for no reason in early August? After that, good luck finding them unless you already know all of the places to check.

####### Obama! Always using our one satellite to get yardage at the golf course.

 

[NCCommish]

Plus obama removed the restriction on libyans studying flying airliners in mid august.....per michael savage caller

Security experts say that updating Libya's military is critical to promoting stability in the country. (Earlier this month, the interim prime minister stepped down after there was an armed attack on him and his family.) Frederic Wehrey, a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force Reserve who served as a military attache in Libya in 2009 and 2011, tells Mother Jones that while the US should proceed carefully in vetting and training Libyan forces, "the notion that they're going to come here surreptitiously and use the pilot program to wage attacks is vastly exaggerated." He adds, "It's quite surprising that the opposition [to lifting the ban] hinges on this notion that Libya is a country of all extremists, whereas the military that the US is engaging with is one of the more pro-US, pro-Western elements in the country."

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for International Affairs Alan Bersin emphasized at the hearing that there are "extra layers of security and vetting" for people who come to the US to work in flight maintenance and nuclear-related fields. He also noted that helping Libyan nuclear scientists get employment that is not hostile to the United States is "in our interest."

 

[quickhands]

Probably shouldn't have helped khadafi get toppled if we wanted stability.