U.S. Teen Arrested In Plane Hijack Plot

Cops: 16-Year-Old Boy Found With Handcuffs, Rope And Duct Tape Aboard Flight May Be Suicidal

(CBS/AP)  Authorities believe a teen accused of plotting to hijack a plane was suicidal, and a judge was scheduled to decide Friday whether to keep him in custody.

The 16-year-old, who has not been identified by authorities, was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight Tuesday night at Nashville International Airport. He was being held at a juvenile detention facility.

FBI spokesman George Bolds told The Associated Press the teen had handcuffs, rope and duct tape in his bag, and was believed to be traveling alone.

"His plan had a low probability of success," Bolds said.

The teen was calm during the flight from Los Angeles and made no apparent attempt to commandeer the plane, Bolds said. He could not comment further on the teen's mental condition because he is a minor.

Authorities searched the boy's home in California and found a mock cockpit, he said.

The tip to police likely came from his parents; he supposedly used his mother's credit card to buy the airline ticket, reports CBS affiliate WTVF-TV in Nashville. Sources said he may have made similar threats to do something like this in the past.

Juvenile Court Administrator Tim Adgent said a hearing scheduled Friday afternoon would determine whether the teen should remain in custody or "if there other avenues for his release."

A message left with the juvenile public defender's office was not immediately returned.

The boy is currently facing only state charges. Nashville District Attorney General spokeswoman Susan Niland would not release the nature of the charges because the suspect is a minor.

Federal prosecutors were still reviewing the case and had not filed any charges as of Friday morning, said David Boling, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Middle Tennessee.

The FBI dismissed broadcast reports Thursday night that the teen was planning to crash the plane into a "Hannah Montana" concert in Lafayette, La.

[gunnerv1]

Numb Nuts. What a way to start your life, a felon at the sweet age of 16 (jerk).

[fettkonserv]

The teen had handcuffs, rope and duct tape in his bag.
This should have been in the Strange column.
LMAO

[fettkonserv]

Not as Funny as the Astronut in pampers. Still LMAO!

[excoachken]

What a feeble attempt at publicity by an obviously retarded youth, because the Hannah Montana Concert is already a Disaster, waiting for someone to claim it.

[scoliosuxs]

Hey, leave the poor kid alone. Hannah makes anyone over the age of 12 want to run and hide. He obviously took it a step further. I wonder if this will make it into the book of uses for Duck Tape. Seriously I hope he and his family get the help they need. Obviously he ain''t getting backstage passes to the concert.

[Krazcarl]

Yes ..I''d say this one wasn''t playing with a full deck. How did they catch on to his plan?

[hypnotoad72]

Oh come on; the kid just wanted to get kinky in his attempt to get into "The Mile-High Club".

Yes, you bet I''m being sarcastic.

Trouble is; he''s only 16. Teens usually have a myriad of reasons to kill themselves. So why try to hijack a plane and kill a bunch of innocent people?

Why couldn''t he tape his mouth shut and hang himself instead? (which is callous, and if more people applied themselves they wouldn''t want to commit suicide...)

[jetlizhan]

stupid idiot - like they weren''t gonna check his bags?? i went to florida recently and my hair spray was 1 oz over the limit and they took it from me. i can''t imagine if i''d had handcuffs, duct tape, etc.

[ironchef1962]

People were pretty upset how Miley Cyrus took advantage of her fans for the Hannah Montana tour recently. I guess some more than others...

[jetlizhan]

donyang2000 -

you''re running a very close 2nd in stupidity with this teen

[gunownerdan]

"16-Year-Old Boy Found With Handcuffs, Rope And Duct Tape Aboard Flight"

What an idiot!
Everyone knows you need BOX CUTTERS to hijack airplanes.

[easeup-2009]

Overheard in the cockpit:

"Listen, kid. I bust my butt every night. You tell your old man to drag Walton & Lanier up & down the court for 48 minutes!"

[rowdytexan2]

Are our young people starting to freak out over the constant threat of wars and destruction? Their plots seem to be getting more grandiose.

[jowand]

"16-Year-Old Boy Found With Handcuffs, Rope And Duct Tape Aboard Flight"

What an idiot!
Everyone knows you need BOX CUTTERS to hijack airplanes.
Posted by gunownerdan at 09:26 AM : Jan 25, 2008

Real question is how did he manage to get this stuff on the plane, baggage inspectors sleeping on the job again, or maybe they were focused on bottles of water.

[nolalou]

jowand, well let''s see, I know you can''t bring anything larger than a 3oz bottle of liquid on a plane, but maybe they have no rules against Handcuffs, Rope And Duct Tape!

[piercetheval]

This kid was more than likely from a well off family. No doubt absentee or working parents. The destruction o fthe family unit by forcing both parents to work in this day and age to provide what used to be a one mans job and the media/computer/videogame indoctrination and brainwashing is to blame primarily. John Prine said it all in ''70 with his song "Spanish Pipedream"..."Blow up your t.v., throw away your paper. Move to the country and build you a home. Have a lot of children, feed ''em all on peaches, teach them to find Jesus on their own." My parents believed in that philosophy and it worked for me.

[geratric1943]

Teens don''t think like adults as has been reported in many journals of psychiatry and psychology. That said, one would think that this teen would have thought things through better. I think this was an attempt to get noticed and help. I don''t know what his family is like, they could be either poor or rich but neglectful to his need of attention. Regardless, his consequence may be more than he would want to bear.

[marcodele]

This should make it easier to get Hannah Montana tickets.

[easeup-2009]

I''ll bet a lot of parents wouldn''t have minded him blowing up Hannah Montana.

They would have called it "a noble cause."

[Bearleton]

The only question are: is the kid of middle eastern descent, and a follower of some jihad movement.

[magoo2u1]

Unfortunately ours is THE only nation on EARTH that will not take his age into account nor the apparent suicidal state he''s in. He gets life here. Look it up, the only nation that holds a 15 yr old for 6 years without trial for his actions on the battlefield. Not saying they should not be punished , just not like adults.

[magoo2u1]

AND , why do you morons always want to blame the parents? This is also the only nation on EARTH that punishes some one for the actions of another. Children will do stupid things regardless of his parents teachings. I grew up in a family with four children and had a brother that was just defective from birth. The only member of the family ever arrested. IT WAS NOT MY PARENTS FAULT. Stop looking for someone to blame when someone is mentally ill or just plain mean. Grow up , loser.

[piercetheval]

magoo2u1...that''s so right on. Look at the fellow in Colorado that was virtually exonerated the other day through DNA testing whom was 15 at the time he allegedly committed his crime. A 15 year old child should be considered innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The boy is obviously delusion and in some other reality. Hopefully some spiritual or psyhcological intercession will help him out.

[Bearleton]

piercetheval - what''s made you assume this is a kid from a well off family, who needs psychological counselling? He may well be, but he could also be a self-proclaimed jihadist, twisted up by some cult or cleric.

We really don''t know a thing so far.

[Bearleton]

"stupid idiot - like they weren''''t gonna check his bags?? i went to florida recently and my hair spray was 1 oz over the limit and they took it from me. i can''''t imagine if i''''d had handcuffs, duct tape, etc."

The article said he was removed from a flight, that had already come from LA to Nashville.

That means he already came through security in LA.

So the question is, why was he checked in Nashville, while onboard the plane?

It doesn''t add up. (or the article is just lousy)

[m_asher]

Now it''s illegal to carry TAPE on a plane? How many rights is our risk-averse society willing to give up?

Oh, and to the poster who called us all "idiots", your statement that the US is "the only nation that punishes parents for acts of their children" couldn''t be more wrong. Such laws exist in dozens of nations.

[extremophil]

No, he probably wouldn''t have succeeded. But he sure as heck could have caused some trouble.

[becb3]

Wow, this is great, just think Homeland Security may get it''s first conviction !! I don''t know about you guys but it sounds like 1,000,000,000,000 of our hard earned tax payers dollars were well spent. Just think, if we get another CFR member for president just think what they could do with another trillion dollars !! Doesn''t it just make you fell all safe & fuzzy? Ron Paul is America''s only hope to regain our Constitutional & God given rights. Better wake up people, this is for real.

[bmortimer2]

Love how they don''t say his name. Hundred bucks it''s Mohammed something.

[gunownerdan]

becb3,
Ron Paul is the only candidate who tells the truth so because of this he will not be given a fair chance by the corporate-owned media.

[jetlizhan]

bearleton -

hey buddy, you''re right. something''s definitely fishy about this story.

[gliderguy52]

gunownerdan & becb3,
Why don''t you stick to the political stories for posting your political drivel? This story is about HIJACKING, not about presidential candidates or 2nd amendment rights (yeah Gunownerdan, I know your typical agenda on this board).

Now, about hijacking. Do you realize that FAA part 121 pilots (commercial air carriers) are under the same TSA regulations as their passengers? That means that your pilot is not allowed to carry a pocket knife while he/she acts as pilot-in-command of a commercial airliner? Just think! The pilot may attempt to use that 2 inch pocket knife to commandeer the aircraft from himself! Of course, he has a 12 pound fire axe at his disposal attached to the rear of the cockpit bulkhead. Or, he could just push the stick forward till the aircraft crashes....If you can trust the pilot to get you from point A to point B, you should also be able to trust him/her not to attempt to hijack his/her own aircraft. Dumb laws, taken to the extreme.

Just my 2 cents...

[gunownerdan]

Gliderguy52,
Ron Paul supports arming and training pilots so they can protect themselves and their passengers from danger.

[puparav]

I wonder what the ACLU is going to say to this matter.
maybe it is taking away the minor''s privacy...
But one thing is for sure that the federal authorities are working nonstop, for our security.

[neoconslayer]

Gunownderdan,
Ron Paul supports a arming and training pilots so they can over-react, kill and cripple innocent bystanders, and shoot their own planes out of the sky when they miss.
I think i''d like to let the pilots fly, and put some other form of security on board.
This person might over-react, etc., but since he won''t be so busy flying the plane, he''ll be better able to monitor the passengers and less likely to over-react, etc.

[barbaraf4]

Why is it that people are arrested for plotting to rob a bank, hijack a plane, or whatever crime is in the planning stage, but law enforcement cannot stop a stalker or anyother person determined to harm you or your family *until* the crime is committed?

[godseyesore-2009]

He was likely planning to join the Mile High Kinky Club

[slpdisk]

More scary propaganda.Be afraid people be very afraid.
This kid was like hey 911 made it look so easy.The official report says there were hijackers that crawled out of a cave, that couldn''t even fly a single prop Cessna took control of 757''s and hit pinpoint targets. Wow if they could do it this must be easy. See what you guys started with that cockamamie story.

[random_radar]

I think the best course of action is to stop flying.

[easeup-2009]

Slpdisk & tuckerndfw

So glad to see members of the "Black Helicopter Brigade" here! I love your brave stand against reality. I''ll bet you have lots of interesting "truths" that you saw on the internet to share.....

[gunownerdan]

If the kid really was going to hijack a plane, don''t you think he would have had a box-cutter instead of rope, tape, and handcuffs??

[gwagener]

Just a mentially ill kid attempting suiside by cop.

[neenga]

"Amd, since flyng huge airplanes is so simple, why do pilots spend years learning how to fly them? Seems to me it should be a high school vocational course."

Remind me not to be a passenger when you''re at the helm, if this is truly what you think. I challenge you to go to flight school and then say this.

[CoAMarcus]

Now, I usually don''t mind people talking about stuff they don''t know about as long as I don''t have to hear it. But with all this stuff about how hard it is to fly airplanes, I just had to say something. I am a pilot, I know how to fly both fixed wing and rotor craft, and I can tell you that is is indeed easy to do. It takes maybe 3 hours to get the basics down while flying in the air, and maybe 10 to 15 hours to figure out how to land. So, why do pilots take so long to learn to fly? They are learning regulations and rules. It is called the FAR/AIM, and we have the *** thing memorized.

So, I bet this kid could indeed fly an airplane, but I bet he wouldn''t even know when he left Class A airspace...

[mediabrat60]

gwagener, is this something new...."suiside"......?

[bobnjersey]

[Bolds said it has not been determined if the boy was trying to crash the plane. He said authorities searched the teen''s home in California and found a mock cockpit. ]

apparently the kid was able to get a mortgage to buy his own home ... it''s probably sub-prime too!

[Bearleton]

"No, those handcuffs, rope, and duct tape were probably just a part of an S&M fetish... after all...

...he was from the Los Angeles area!

:-)"

Yea, call in the ACLU, there''s clearly a reverse- sexual bias suit here.

If there perp was a 5''9" brunette hottie, the cop would have blushed, handed her back the bag and asked for her home number. ;D

[robert10000-2009]

For the comment, "the war on terror is the biggest scam in history." Yes, you are so right. Be sure to stop by the site of the World Trade Center in NYC on your next visit and check out the big hole in the ground. Yes, what a scam. They almost fooled me too.

[Bearleton]

"For the comment, "the war on terror is the biggest scam in history." Yes, you are so right. Be sure to stop by the site of the World Trade Center in NYC on your next visit and check out the big hole in the ground. Yes, what a scam. They almost fooled me too."

I live 2 miles away in Greenwich Village, so I know what you mean.

If the previous administration had taken the first bombing at the WTC more seriously, and the offer by the Syrians for that 1000 page dossier on bin Laden, maybe we wouldn''t be in this position.

[Bearleton]

"Taking the war on terror to Iraq was a scam...and a LIE!~ "

Watch 60 Minutes this week.

You see the only lie was from Saddam himself.