Exclusive for Podcrashers:
A little more than three months after the devastating attacks of September 11th, people were trying to find a new sense of normal. And for many people, that “new normal” included getting on an airplane again. But passengers and crew on one international flight would find themselves in a situation all too reminiscent of those very terrorist attacks. In this exclusive Patreon Layover episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, Shelly shares how the brave passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 63 worked together to prevent a terrorist attack. The foiled attempt revealed yet another gap in aviation safety and forever changed airport screening procedures.Sources consulted for this story:
- Associated Press. Kwame sworn in as U.S. citizen
- Associated Press. Hero who helped restrain shoe bomber in 2001 becomes citizen
- BBC News. Witness History: Stopping the Shoe Bomber
- BBC News
- Bootie Cosgrove-Mather for CBS News. Shoe Bomber Leaves Behind a Legacy
- CNN. Interview with Kwame Kwame
- CNN. Pilot feared shoe bomb suspect had accomplices
- Digismak.com. Hispanic American Airlines flight attendant averted terrorist plane attack 20 years ago shortly after the Twin Towers bombing
- NPR. It Was Shoes On, No Boarding Pass Or ID. But Airport Security Forever Changed On 9/11
- NY Daily News. Richard C. Reid, the Shoe Bomber, was subdued by flight attendants and passengers in 2001
- Theconversation.com. Airlines got travelers comfortable about flying again once before – but 9/11 and a virus are a lot different
- The Wall Street Journal. Delta bomb scare passenger stepped up, subdued suspect
- Time: Beyond 9/11: Hermis Moutardier, Flight Attendant
- Time. Beyond 9/11: Cristina Jones, Flight Attendant
- US Department of Justice. British national indicted for conspiring with 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid
- Why You Shouldn't Intervene If There's a Fight on a Plane (and What to Do Instead), LifeHacker
Credits:
Written and produced by: Shelly Price and Stephanie HubkaDirected and engineered at: Snow Monster Studios
Sound editor: Podcast Engineers
Producer: Adam Hubka
Music by: Mike Dunn
The shoes worn by the attempted bomber on American Airlines Flight 63. Source: The FBI
Flight attendant Hermis Mourtadier. Source: Time Magazine
Flight attendant Cristina Jones. Source: National Museum of American History
Passenger Kwame James. Source: Associated Press/Cleveland.com
