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By Paul J. Caffera
Nov. 5, 2001 |
American Airlines
Flight 970 was supposed to be routine, a two-hour
hop from Managua, Nicaragua, to Miami International
Airport. The only thing different about the
scheduled flight leaving from Augusto Cesar Sandino
International Airport on March 31, 1993, was that it
was carrying senior-level Nicaraguan diplomats. Just
before the plane was to take off, airport
authorities received an anonymous telephone call
threatening to shoot down the Boeing 727 with a
shoulder-launched missile.
The plane was kept on the ground until security
crews could sweep the area by foot and helicopter
for any suspicious activity. The authorities had
plenty of reason for concern -- the caller had said
the plane would be shot down with a "Redeye"
missile. Redeyes, the first American-made,
shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, had been
captured by the Russians at the end of the Vietnam
War and subsequently shipped to the Cubans, who then
funneled them to Nicaragua's communist Sandinista
regime.
In the end, the flight took off without incident,
but the incident unnerved airport authorities and
American Airlines, who realized that they were
virtually powerless against the invisible threat. It
also showed how close to home the threat of
shoulder-launched missile attacks against passenger
jets has come.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
aviation experts warn that shoulder-launched
antiaircraft missiles could be used against American
passenger jets in the future. Terrorist
organizations like Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
network are already believed to own such missiles,
and some say it will only be a matter of time before
they filter into the U.S. -- if they haven't
already.
So-called Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or
MANPADS, are capable of knocking a jet out of the
sky from as far as five miles away and at an
altitude of up to 13,000 feet in as little as 13
seconds. Those aboard often have no warning before
the missile explodes as it slams into an engine,
air-conditioning unit or other heat-producing device
on the aircraft.
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