American Airlines Flight 63 (2001)

{{short description|Failed act of terrorism}} {{Redirect|Shoe bomb|the perpetrator|Richard Reid|other notable American Airlines flights sharing the same designation|American Airlines Flight 63 (disambiguation){{!}}American Airlines Flight 63}} {{Use American English|date=June 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox civilian attack | title = American Airlines Flight 63 | image = Richard Reid's Shoes.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Richard Reid's shoes | map = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | location = Airborne, between Paris, France and Miami, U.S. | target = Civilian airliner | date = {{start date and age|2001|12|22}} | time = | timezone = | type = Attempted suicide bombing | fatalities = 0 | injuries = 1 | victims =  | perpetrator = al-Qaeda | assailant = Richard Reid | weapon = Improvised explosive device concealed in shoe | numparts =  | motive = Islamist terrorism through suicide bombing | inquiry = | accused = | convicted = | verdict = | convictions = 8 counts of terrorism | charges = | litigation = | module = }} {{Infobox aircraft occurrence | name = American Airlines Flight 63 | image = American Airlines Boeing 767-300ER (N384AA) (7842806880).jpg | image_upright = 1.20 | alt = | caption = N384AA, the aircraft involved, 11 years after the incident | occurrence_type = Bombing attempt | date = December 22, 2001 | summary = After bomb failed to detonate properly, flight performed an emergency diversion to Boston and landed safely | site = Airborne, between Paris and Miami | aircraft_type = Boeing 767-300ER | aircraft_name = | operator = American Airlines | IATA = AA63 | ICAO = AAL63 | callsign = AMERICAN 63 | tail_number = {{Airreg|N|384AA}} | origin = Charles de Gaulle Airport | destination = Miami International Airport | occupants = 197 | passengers = 185 | crew = 12<ref name="time 09-01-02" /> | fatalities = 0 | injuries = 0 | survivors = 197 }}

On December 22, 2001, a failed shoe bombing attempt occurred aboard '''American Airlines Flight 63'''. The aircraft, a Boeing 767-300ER (registration N384AA) with 197 passengers and crew aboard, was flying from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, to Miami International Airport in the U.S. state of Florida.

The perpetrator, Richard Reid, was subdued by passengers after unsuccessfully attempting to detonate plastic explosives concealed within his shoes. The flight was diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston, escorted by American jet fighters, and landed without further incident. Reid was arrested and eventually sentenced to three life terms plus 110 years, without parole.

==Incident== {{more citations needed|section|date=December 2020}}

As Flight 63 was flying over the Atlantic Ocean, Richard Reid, an Islamic fundamentalist from the United Kingdom and self-proclaimed al-Qaeda operative, carried shoes that were packed with two types of explosives. He had been refused permission to board the flight the day before.<ref name="nyt 12-25-01">{{Cite news |last1=Belluck |first1=Pam |last2=McNeil Jr |first2=Donald G. |date=2001-12-25 |title=A NATION CHALLENGED: THE SUSPECT; Officials Remain Uncertain On Identity of Suspect on Jet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/us/nation-challenged-suspect-officials-remain-uncertain-identity-suspect-jet.html |access-date=2023-10-28 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="cnn 12-25-01">{{cite news |date=25 December 2001 |title=Shoe bomb suspect to remain in custody |work=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/24/investigation.plane/ |url-status=live |access-date=31 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020404125657/http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/24/investigation.plane/ |archive-date=4 April 2002}}</ref>

Passengers on the flight complained of a smoky smell shortly after the meal service. One flight attendant, Hermis Moutardier, walked the aisles of the plane to locate the source. She found Reid sitting alone near a window, attempting to light a match. Moutardier warned him that smoking was not allowed on board the aircraft, and Reid promised to stop.<ref name="time 09-01-02">{{cite magazine |last=Thomas |first=Cathy Booth |date=September 1, 2002 |title=Courage in the Air |url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020909/aattendants.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604162640/http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020909/aattendants.html |archive-date=June 4, 2010 |access-date=December 28, 2009}}</ref>

A few minutes later, Moutardier found Reid leaning over in his seat and unsuccessfully attempted to get his attention. After she asked him what he was doing, Reid grabbed at her, revealing one shoe in his lap, a fuse leading into the shoe, and a lit match. He was unable to detonate the bomb: perspiration from his feet dampened the triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and prevented it from igniting.<ref name="opensourcesinfo">{{cite web |date=25 July 2005 |title=Terrorist Use Of TATP Explosive |url=http://www.opensourcesinfo.org/journal/2005/7/25/terrorist-use-of-tatp-explosive.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100717041411/http://www.opensourcesinfo.org/journal/2005/7/25/terrorist-use-of-tatp-explosive.html |archive-date=17 July 2010 |access-date=18 January 2010 |website=Opensourcesinfo.org}}</ref>

Moutardier tried grabbing Reid twice, but he pushed her to the floor each time, and she screamed for help. When another flight attendant, Cristina Jones, arrived to try to subdue Reid, he fought her and bit her thumb.<ref name="time 09-01-02" />

The {{convert|6|ft|4|in|m|2|adj=mid|-tall}} Reid, who weighed {{convert|215|lb|kg}}, was subdued by the flight attendants and other passengers and immobilized by the cabin crew using plastic handcuffs, seatbelt extensions, and headphone cords. A doctor administered diazepam found in the flight kit of the aircraft.<ref name="time 09-01-02" /> Many of the passengers only became aware of the situation when the pilot announced that the flight was to be diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston.<ref name="nefafoundation">{{cite web |title=U.S. v. Reid Complaint |url=http://nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/U.S._v_Reid_Complaint.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301162226/http://nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/U.S._v_Reid_Complaint.pdf |archive-date=1 March 2012 |access-date=18 January 2010 |publisher=United States district court |via=Nine Eleven Finding Answers Foundation}}</ref>{{Additional citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Two F-15 fighter jets escorted Flight 63 to Logan Airport. The plane parked in the middle of the runway, and Reid was arrested on the ground while the rest of the passengers were bussed to the main terminal. Authorities later found over {{convert|280|g|oz|0|abbr=off}} of TATP and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) hidden in the hollowed soles of Reid's shoes,<ref name="cnn 12-25-01" /> which, if detonated, would have blown a significant hole in the aircraft and likely caused it to crash.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/artifacts/richard-reids-shoes | title=Richard Reid's Shoes }}</ref> He pleaded guilty, and he was convicted, sentenced to three life terms plus 110 years without parole and incarcerated at ADX Florence, a supermax federal prison in Colorado.

== Aftermath == Six months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, New York, on November 12, 2001, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah agreed to cooperate with American authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. He said that fellow Canadian Abderraouf Jdey had been responsible for the flight's destruction, using a shoe bomb similar to that found on Reid several months earlier. However, it was revealed during the crash investigation that pilot error, not terrorism, brought down the plane. Jabarah was a known colleague of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and said that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to participate in identical plots.<ref name="jamestown">{{cite web |last=Mili |first=Hayder |url=http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/uploads/ter_003_015.pdf |title=Securing the Northern Front: Canada and the War on Terror |date=July 28, 2005 |access-date=November 14, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081116015239/http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/uploads/ter_003_015.pdf |archive-date=November 16, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ressa |first=Maria |date=December 6, 2003 |title=Sources:Reid is al Qaeda operative. |work=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/01/30/reid.alqaeda/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 15, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070104171205/http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/01/30/reid.alqaeda/ |archive-date=January 4, 2007}}</ref>

In 2006, security procedures at American airports were changed in response to this incident, with passengers required to remove their shoes before proceeding through scanners.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 26, 2006 |title=TSA Travel Assistant |url=http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/screening/index.shtm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511230241/http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/screening/index.shtm |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |access-date=November 6, 2010 |website=Tsa.gov |publisher=Transportation Security Administration}}</ref> The requirement was phased out for some travelers, particularly those with TSA PreCheck, in 2011.<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Keefe |first1=Ed |last2=Halsey III |first2=Ashley |date=September 6, 2011 |title=Shoe removal requirement at airports to be phased out |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/shoe-removal-requirement-at-airports-to-be-phased-out/2011/09/06/gIQAknLD7J_story.html |access-date=December 21, 2019 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Also in 2011, the rules were relaxed to allow children 12 and younger and adults 75 and older to keep their shoes on during security screenings.<ref name="chicagotribune 10-09-11">{{Cite news |last=Hilkevitch |first=Jon |date=October 9, 2011 |title=TSA: Children pose little risk, can keep shoes on during security check |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-xpm-2011-10-09-chi-tsa-children-pose-little-risk-can-keep-shoes-on-during-security-check-20111009-story.html |access-date=August 13, 2020}}</ref> On July 7, 2025, these rules were completely dropped at selected airports, before being scrapped entirely at all US airports the following day.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Pohle |first1=Allison |last2=Sider |first2=Alison |date=July 7, 2025 |title=TSA to Allow Shoes to Stay On for Airport Security Screening |url=https://www.wsj.com/business/tsa-shoes-airport-security-400b0ad3?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink |access-date=July 7, 2025 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Drenon |first=Brandon |date=8 July 2025 |title=TSA lifts shoe removal requirement at US airports |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0m8p3e93m8o |access-date=2025-09-13 |website=BBC News}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|United States|Aviation}} *Pan Am Flight 103, Pan Am plane destroyed by a PETN bomb, killing 270 people – event happened exactly 13 years prior to the shoe bombing incident *Philippine Airlines Flight 434, test run for al-Qaeda Operation Bojinka, killing one plane passenger in bombing *Bojinka plot, al-Qaeda plot to blow up twelve planes as they flew from Asia to the US *Northwest Airlines Flight 253, failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing of plane *2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, failed plot to blow up at least ten planes as they flew from the UK to the US and Canada *2010 transatlantic aircraft bomb plot, failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing of plane *List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft *List of terrorist incidents, 2001 *September 11 attacks

== References == {{reflist}} ==External links== *[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1366231/Bomb-on-Flight-63.html Bomb on Flight 63] Telegraph Media Group Limited 2015

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoe bomb plot}} Category:Attacks in the United States in 2001 Category:Terrorist incidents in the United States in 2001 Category:Islamic terrorism in the United States Category:Failed airliner bombings Category:Failed terrorist attempts in the United States Category:Suicide bombings in 2001 Category:Airline occurrences Category:Uses of shoes Category:Airliner bombings in the United States Category:2001 in Boston Category:Logan International Airport Category:December 2001 crimes in the United States Category:Terrorist incidents in Massachusetts Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 2001 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 767 Category:American Airlines accidents and incidents

American Airlines Flight 63 (2001)

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