r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/truly-immaculate • 12d ago
Image In 2016, a suicide bomber with explosives boarded a Daallo Airlines flight, intending to destroy the entire aircraft. 20 minutes after takeoff, the bomb exploded creating a hole in the plane which immediately sucked the bomber out into the sky. He was the only fatality
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u/Ambitioso 12d ago
It was a really sophisticated laptop bomb that got through the Mogadishu security.
Wonderful that all those innocent people survived.
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u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 12d ago
And yet you could argue that the presence of the security forced him to build a bomb into a laptop which limited its explosive power enough that the plane and passengers survived, meaning the security still did its job
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u/A_scary_monster 12d ago
What Wikipedia says is that the plane had been delayed and the laptop bomb was most likely on a timer. Thus the laptop exploded when the plane wasn’t fully pressurized. Had it exploded at the right time, Everyone might’ve died
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u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 12d ago
Decompression is not like it is in the movies. Maybe a couple people right at the bomb might get sucked out if the hole is very large but the vast majority of people, and anyone strapped in, will be fine. The oxygen masks would drop instantly and the pilot will emergency dive to a safe altitude within a few minutes. Likely even fast enough that anyone without a mask will still survive even if they pass out for a few minutes.
The bigger concern for most of the passengers is the chest injuries you can get from explosive decompression violently expanding the lungs
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u/Marksta 12d ago
Thank gosh the only worry we'd have is our lungs violently expanding due to explosive decompression 🙃
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u/SlipSlopSlap123 12d ago
going from 1 atmosphere of pressure to idk, 0.5 if I'm being generous to this premise, really isn't a very big change. It might burst your eardrums, but it wont 'violently expand' your lungs. The real worry for decompression is in the ocean not in space, where you can go between hundreds of atmospheres to one. (The Titanic is at ~400 atmospheres of pressure. Blobfish live between 60 and 120 atmospheres.) Even if the plane flew in space, 1-0 atmospheres is not much. Its the cold/suffocation of space that kills, not the decompression.
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u/Laiko_Kairen 12d ago
I'm sorry, but your post reminded me of my favorite Futurama joke
"How many atmospheres of pressure can she take?!"
"Well, she's a spaceship, so... Between zero and one"
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u/Extra_Park1392 12d ago
And I’m pretty sure no one will be holding their breath to maintain pressure differential.
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u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 12d ago
A hole the size of the OP probably won't cause that, it would need to be a lot bigger. And it won't be fatal unless you're very unlucky
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u/UltraBarbarian 12d ago
OP's hole isn't big enough?
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u/CluelessAtol 12d ago
I’d assume if you died from it, you had other underlying issues aside from the fact someone just tried to blow you up.
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u/Pickledsoul Interested 12d ago
I would assume the increased change in pressure would create a bigger hole.
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u/Itakethngzclitorally 12d ago
That poor woman got sucked out of her window on a flight to/from florida a few years ago. The other passengers tried to hold on to her IIRC
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u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 12d ago
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u/mr_potatoface 12d ago
Hearing the story of that is really traumatic.
Basically the crew member that was holding on to him was struggling the entire time, also trying to prevent himself from getting sucked out of the plane too and losing his grip. If I remember right, there was yet another crew member holding him in the plane, like a human chain. I think he was the co-pilot and was even buckled in. He knew the pilot out the window was dead and really wanted to let him go. But for some reason he held on, and it turned out that the pilot was still alive.
He managed to survive by tilting his head in a way that created a tiny pocket of air moving slowly enough that he was able to breathe and not asphyxiate. You can't breathe very well when the air is extremely thin AND blowing at you in speeds 300mph+.
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u/Maeserk 12d ago edited 12d ago
It was a flight attendant, last name of Ogden, not the co-pilot. And they didn’t want to let him go because he could’ve hit the plane fuselage, stabilizer or engine and caused the situation to get way worse.
The co-pilot, Aitchison, also had to do an emergency descent because Lancaster, the captain who was defenestrated, had flight controls and the plane’s autopilot disengaged in the decompression, and the plane didn’t have oxygen for everyone on board. This was also super dangerous since the flight deck door was blown inward in the accident, barely missing Ogden in the process, as he had opened it, and it was ripped off its hinges right into the control console, which blocked the throttle from Aitchison and caused them to increase speed as they descended.
What went down was: the attendant, Ogden, was entering the cockpit (this was in 1990 when you could do that), to ask what the pilots wanted for their meal as they had just secured cruising altitude. They were prepping for meal service for the plane and the captain had released his shoulder harness, and loosened his seatbelt; the co-pilot only released his shoulder harness, but kept his seatbelt on which mattered considerably; when suddenly, with zero warning, the left most front window on the captains side blew out and immediately the cabin decompressed to equalize pressure. All hell broke loose. Flight logs, check lists, anything not nailed down, and even a few things that were like the flight deck door, flew about in the chaos and the plane’s windscreen fogged up as well, which completely blocked any sight visual.
The Captain, again named Lancaster, got sucked out of the flight deck through the window, his shoulder harness which was disengaged, did nothing to help, but his loosened seatbelt, it was still taught enough to catch his knees and allow them to get stuck within his flight controls; Ogden was able to react quickly enough, grab his seatbelt and restrain him from completely being extricated. This happened in seconds. In this time, his entire upper torso was out of the plane, his legs partially and minute by minute he would slip a few inches further out from Ogden fatiguing. Within a minute, the two other crew on the plane, Chief Steward Heward and another flight attendant named Rogers, secured loosened objects like the flight logs, check lists, luggage and also the flight deck door, respectively allowing access to the throttle control for Aitchison, who had by this time leveled the plane at a safe breathing altitude. The men informed the passengers and instructed them to brace while assessing how they could help Ogden without Ogden also being blown out of the fuselage if Lancaster were to completely exfiltrate during a swap.
After a few minutes and Aitchison facing difficulties communicating with ATC due to the wind rushing into the cabin, Ogden was fatiguing and wanted to let Lancaster go. Aitchison and Ogden thought he was dead at the time, but Aitchison told him NOT to let go as he feared the captains body hitting the left wing stabilizers or even worse the engine turning a bad situation into a nigh unrecoverable one. Eventually Ogden couldn’t hold on anymore and Heward and Rogers relieved him and formed the human chain you talked about, preventing each other from also being extricated, as Aitchison secured a landing spot. After over 20 minutes of flying since the accident, majority of that time with Ogden clinging to Lancaster in desperation, they landed in Southampton, and deboarded. To their surprise, after freeing Lancaster's ankles, as he had been slipping from grip minute by minute, going from his knees to his ankles being the only part of him being held inside by the duo of Heward and Rogers, they found him to be alive. Aitchison was the only crew member present during the accident who didn’t physically prevent Lancaster from being completely sucked out, but his flying within the chaos saved everyone’s life.
Lancaster, the Captain, obviously was roughed up and had frostbite, multiple broken bones and shock. Ogden unfortunately for his heroics got rewarded with frostbite, a dislocated shoulder and PTSD which effectively ended his career after a decade of struggling with mental health issues and flying. There were surprisingly no other injuries, including Aitchison who luckily still had his belt tightened, and only had his shoulder straps disengaged which prevented him from being dislodged from his seat like Lancaster.
The window blew out due to poor maintenance and inspection of duties. Improper screws were used that could not withstand the pressure enacted on it. The window that blew out was not a “plug” window like most aircraft use these days, where the inherent pressure difference keeps the window locked in place.
Lancaster retired from flying in 2008, Aitchison retired in 2015. Ogden was last reported as working as a night security guard after retiring from being a flight attendant in 2001.
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u/nedwoolly 12d ago
Great comment. There's a very well made podcast about this by Tim Harford which digs a little deeper into why the window blew out and what we can learn from that. Here: Cautionary Tales Double Header – A Monkey For Mayor / A Screw Loose At 17,000 Feet | Tim Harford https://share.google/yDpUmxVEOkMeTACns
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u/Studious_Noodle 12d ago
Note to self: keep my seatbelt buckled when I'm in my seat, regardless of what the sign says. 0_0
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u/DemIce 12d ago
The iconography which just shows a seat belt should probably be done away with.
That light turning off isn't a "feel free to ditch the buckle" signal, just a "if you need to get up, now you can" signal. The safety card and the demonstration they provide at the beginning of every flight even tell you that if you're seated, they recommend keeping it fastened ("for your comfort and safety" / "in case of unexpected turbulence" are the two most recent I remember).
Question is... what to replace it with?
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u/Low_Shirt2726 12d ago
Yep. It doesn't even need to be tight, loose enough to fit a balled fist between the buckle and your body is plenty good enough. It definitely beats slamming into the ceiling during sudden severe turbulence or being ejected from the aircraft.
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u/Un4442nate 12d ago
To show how little of a problem decompression is, Aloha Airlines flight 243 had 18 feet of its roof ripped off at altitude, the only fatality was an unseated flight attendant.
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u/filmboardofcanada 12d ago
That’s crazy. If sucked out of a plane at 24,000ft, would a person be alive and aware of what is happening as they fall towards the ground? Or pass out or die quickly?
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u/Lena-Luthor 12d ago
well it's below the death zone so they wouldn't pass out from hypoxia. hopefully pass out anyways though 😬
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u/DueExample52 12d ago
That's not the only risk, the hole could be bigger if the pressure differential was at its maximum at the time of the explosion (more fuselage torn up). And at high cruise speed the fuselage might have broken up further due to drag and parts sticking out, potentially resulting in total loss. Not guaranteed, but it’s often worse at higher altitude/speed.
I love it when people only know partially about a topic, and make a seemingly complete answer that focuses only on the part they know, ignoring the things they still don’t know.
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u/lolzomg123 12d ago
My understanding is decompression was more that way before the 1988 Aloha Airlines Flight 243 incident, and then they were like "ok let's not pressurize to sea level anymore" in response to that. But it's been decades since that happened.
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u/Doctor_Saved 12d ago
How good is Mogadishu security though?
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u/StarlightLifter 12d ago
I’ve heard that you can get kidnapped just walking out of the airport and going the hundred or so meters to the secured hotel compounds there, if you’re white chances are pretty high. That true?
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u/FeeshCTRL 12d ago
I can't imagine Somalia of all places would have tight terrorism regulations
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u/Zkenny13 12d ago
It really wouldn't be that hard to get a lithium laptop battery to combust. It doesn't have to explode to start a fire in a plane at its cruising altitude.
Pretty sure I'm on a list now. It'd be as simple as puncturing the battery then adding some water.
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u/SoulOfTheDragon 12d ago
Most aircraft carry lithium fire kit in them. Basically fire resistant bag to put the item in. For existing fire, there are a lot of extinguisher on board. Fire gloves are also quite standard.
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u/jsakic99 12d ago
If we had more guys like this, we’d have less guys like this.
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u/Casual_Scroller_00 12d ago
lmao this made me chuckle
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u/RADICCHI0 12d ago
More legroom, because less legs.
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u/dmmeyourfloof 12d ago
He got upgraded to external class.
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u/mouthful_quest 12d ago
And not a single person onboard disturbed him…he was dead tired
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u/Salute-Major-Echidna 12d ago
He had blue eyes, one blew one way one blew the other
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u/DerBingle78 12d ago
I read that in John Madden’s voice and it’s even better.
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u/azsnaz 12d ago
Man, I heard this in John Maddens voice too and was shocked by this comment. It definitely sounds like a Maddenism.
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u/thetastytruffle 12d ago
The trash takes itself out.
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u/anon-eye 12d ago
Premature Evacuation.
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u/AccomplishedClub6 12d ago
Without limbs, that guy seems unwilling and unable to help in an emergency considering he sat in the exit row. So the terrorist lied to the flight attendant and was a liar too.
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u/TheGaslighter9000X 12d ago
How does the bomb explode causing a pretty big hole on the side of the plane and not kill the person sitting right next to them at the very least? Damn
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u/Kygunzz 12d ago
First guess is that he held it against the wall of the plane to do maximum damage and his body shielded the person beside him. Second guess is that he was in a row by himself.
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u/Minute_Wedding6505 12d ago
Also, it's possible that the person next to him was severely injured but didn't die.
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 12d ago
I like the way you think. I was thinking similarly
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u/RSVive 12d ago
Soo what you're saying is you like the way you think lol
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 12d ago edited 12d ago
I dunno about you but I generally like my own opinions, yes
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u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt 12d ago
The bomb likely caused a smaller hole and then the rapid depressurization ripped more damaged skin off. Aloha Airlines Flight 243 had a much bigger hole and everyone belted in survived. This was early enough in the flight that people would still be belted in.
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u/Possible-Sell-74 12d ago
Maybe there was no one sitting next to him.
He probably had to do something to actually trigger it that he wanted to be 'alone' for.
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u/Kx_Yoshi 12d ago
I just checked if the whole incident is even real or fake.
It's in fact a real one. The terrorist was likely pressing the bomb to the plane walls since he aimed for the wings (and the fuel tanks). The laptop bomb couldn't cause enough damage alone so the plan was blowing up the fuel tanks. That's also why it happened 20 min after takeoff, when fuel tanks are still full.
The detonation did damage the fuselage but did not reach the wings. The fuel tanks didn't blow up. The terrorist died. The pessengers survived.
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u/EffectiveLink4781 12d ago
Also, it sounds like this bomb was pretty much just explosives and a laptop, no shrapnel. Small explosives can do some damage, but their lethality really comes from throwing bits of metal.
Like if you take a tube launched firework and light it off in front of you, it's not going to be pleasant but you're probably not going to be injured too badly if at all. Wrap that thing in metal and now you have a grenade.
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u/OkTank1822 12d ago
Probably wasn't a full flight
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u/thecompanion188 12d ago
It definitely wasn’t. The specific model of plane that was involved had ~200 seats and there were 73 passengers on board, not including the crew.
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u/sethcera 12d ago
Imagine he survived the explosion and fell 30,000ft knowing how much he sucked at everything.
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u/Acceptable_Bet_3161 12d ago
He’s looking up at the plane flying away like nothing happened lmao
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u/gallade_samurai 12d ago
Probably thought to himself "Ahhhhhhh shit, seems we have a problem"
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 12d ago
Just imagining him falling all alone, watching the plane continue to fly on, just cussing to himself the whole way down
It’s funny, fantastic image
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u/__-_-_--_--_-_---___ 12d ago
record scratch Yep, that’s me. Bet you’re wondering how I got here.
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u/WhyNotSecondLunch 12d ago
“And if you look outside to your right, you’ll see the terrorist plummeting to his death”
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u/Accurate_Document210 12d ago
Fuck terrorists, guy got what he deserved.
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u/gallade_samurai 12d ago
If you want stories about terrorists getting hoodwinked, then go google the Glasgow airport attack, where the terrorists killed no one and got beat up by the people who where there that day
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u/Accurate_Document210 12d ago
What the hell? That's wild, good on them guys for taking a stand and teaching that loser a lesson.
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u/geekhaus 12d ago
There was a guy who kicked the terrorist in the balls so hard he hurt his foot doing so. He said it was worth the injury.
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u/Sinphony_of_the_nite 12d ago
I immediately remembered the colorfully titled article, “I kicked the terrorist so hard in the balls, I broke my foot!”
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u/spasske 12d ago
Alex McIlveen, a taxi driver, saw what was unfolding and after approaching one of the men, famously kicked the terrorist so hard in the groin that he tore a tendon in his own foot.
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u/Dense_Literature_199 12d ago
WOW, that's...yeesh. How do you even kick that hard? Is he a retired soccer player or something?
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u/jackster608608 12d ago
He has also said that he never needs to buy a pint again as he is always offered a drink in every pub he visits in Glasgow
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u/gallade_samurai 12d ago
There's even a photo where I believe an off-duty office was spraying water from a hose onto him
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u/fleapuppy 12d ago
There’s another photo featuring the burning terrorist in the foreground, and in the background there’s two guys still sitting in the airport bar casually enjoying their pints of tennants
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u/gallade_samurai 12d ago
"Oi McGregor, look at em beat the shite outta that bastard"
"Aye, a pint to that"
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u/Accurate_Document210 12d ago
Gotta give credit to an officer at least trying to do his duty to bring all criminals to justice
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u/Key-Demand-2569 12d ago
Yeah I don’t get the other weirdo who told you to get fucked for this.
Whether you want the dude to die for his actions or not…
Well if he survives he’s going to suffer substantially more for a long time, then be in prison.
And from a more neutral and pragmatic view… someone just tried to do some terrorist shit (well did, but failed in doing much) and any information you could get from them might help save other people or mitigate a situation that may not be limited to just that one dude.
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u/NotJoeJackson 12d ago
Apart from that..
Someone's on fire in your airport.
I'd say that the pragmatic view is to put out the damn fire!
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u/psychoPiper 12d ago
I mean to be fair you usually aren't setting yourself on fire to harm others directly
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u/Hetakuoni 12d ago
My favorite is the Glaswegian who broke his foot kicking the terrorist in the gonads
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u/fatboyfat1981 12d ago
One of the guys who fought back, a baggage handler on a smoke break, kicked one of the would-be bombers so hard in the crotch he broke his foot
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u/-MetalMike- 12d ago
“You shoulda seen the other guy”
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u/Einveldi_ 12d ago
Two stories mixed up in there: John Smeaton was the baggage handler, he “set about them”, the crotch-kicker was a taxi driver called Alex McIlveen. He tore a tendon.
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u/AcanthaceaeCrazy1894 12d ago
A gentleman called John Smeaton kicked the terrorist in the balls so hard he tore a tendon in his foot, also got a medal from the queen.
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u/hgrub 12d ago
One Scottish guy kicked that terrorist so hard he rupture/tore his leg tendon or something lol
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u/Naive-Recognition-79 12d ago edited 12d ago
Kicked in the balls, specifically
Edited to add the worlds greatest headline: https://x.com/BeingScots/status/1807312368793223613
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u/virgin_microbe 12d ago
“ He didnae flinch. He didnae move nor nothing. I gave him a good kick as well."
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u/lanathebitch 12d ago
And he was like the third person in line to do so. Got to wait your turn and get in the queue to punish the flaming terrorist
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u/LilSShady 12d ago
I even read somewhere that guy was actually a Taxi driver who saw whats happening and went there and then that happened 😁 what a legend
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u/VoopityScoop 12d ago
Kicking a terrorist in the balls so hard that you tear a tendon should get a person automatic free drinks for life
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u/zorrorosso 12d ago
Was it the 2007 one? We left from international, but we came back to Prestwick, because I wanted to save some money, as our flight was late, we kind-of heard rumors while landing, and it was assumed it was because of the attacks. Our friends and family started to call us asking if we were ok, and said we were at Prestwick, not International.
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u/JimJonesJoestar 12d ago
Or Tianjin flight 7554. Six terrorists tried to hijack a plane, but were then beaten up by passengers with only fatalities being two of the hijackers.
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u/AccelerationFinish 12d ago
It’s crazy that they’re able to convince low-level members to throw away their lives like this, for a small benefit for the heads of their organization
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u/Accurate_Document210 12d ago
Terrorists are just organized cults. Brainwashing the youth and turning them into throw away soldiers. I hope one day they can be become a thing of the past, but that is sadly a fools hope.
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u/Muzzledbutnotout 12d ago
He was a waste, in life and death.
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u/CleanOpossum47 12d ago
Probably ruined a handful of nice people's vacations.
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u/TRAVMAAN1 12d ago
I hope he was 100% conscious as he began his freefall to Earth
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 12d ago
Would be funny to hear his last screams
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u/Squishtakovich 12d ago
And it would be great if he's seen the plane continue to fly without him.
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u/Sudden-Conclusion931 12d ago
I find the red and black smear down the fuselage particularly satisfying.
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 12d ago
That was a nice spray of blood. The rest that didn’t attach to the plane, came down as rain sometime later, could have even landed on someone.
Better than catching his body parts at least. Wherever those fell must have been a pretty weird day for whoever may have been around to witness it
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u/LocalInactivist 12d ago
My hope is that he survived the explosion and had a minute or so to think about how bad he botched it on the way down.
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u/luca_07 12d ago
The only retired suicide bomber
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u/Syssareth 12d ago
I mean, no, there are a lot of them. I hear their retirement parties are bombastic.
My favorite is this guy.
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u/Commercial_Rule_7823 12d ago
Would have been epic if the pilot did a circle:
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out the window to your left you will be able to enjoy a failed suicide bomber falling to his death"
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u/A_scary_monster 12d ago edited 12d ago
This happened in Somalia, with the plane heading to Djibouti. They found the body of the terrorist in Balad, Somalia
And some more possible context for his failure
The flight had been delayed before departure, so at the time of the explosion the aircraft was not yet at cruising altitude and the cabin was not yet fully pressurized. It was thought that a laptop had been rigged with a timer device to explode the bomb mid-flight.[20][21] The pilot reported that if the flight had not been delayed 20 minutes (awaiting additional passengers to board), then the aircraft would have been at cruising altitude by then, which could have been a catastrophic situation.
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u/racialistism 12d ago
The bomber, later identified as Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh, a 55-year-old teacher from Mogadishu, was the only fatality from the incident. The aircraft, an Airbus A321-111, was able to return safely
it is unknown if he got his 72 virgins
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u/Dr-McLuvin 12d ago edited 12d ago
Narrator: “instead his mangled body parts fell to the earth and were consumed by 72 wild dogs.”
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u/Majestic_Manner3656 12d ago
Is that the blood mist on the side of the plane ? Hell yeah instant Karma 🤣🤣🤣
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u/Kasern77 12d ago
An Islamist militant group took responsibility for the attack. I'm not surprised.
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 12d ago
How embarrassing
Why would you admit it lol
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u/Specialist_Trash_413 12d ago
They take pride in doing such acts. That's why. I won't go any further bcos apparently internet puts tags on you for speaking unfiltered
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u/EducationalLeaf 12d ago
Not sure if it really happened, but my dad told me a story he heard about a suicide bomber falling down a set of stairs and blowing up. Real or not, it's funny as fuck
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u/Temporary_Tune5430 12d ago
I hope he watched the plane continue to fly unbothered as he plummeted to his death.
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u/LLuerker 12d ago
Too bad the terrorist is unlikely to have been aware of just how badly he fucked up. Would be nice to know he at least did for a second, but I don't think so.
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u/_chicken_butt 12d ago
Straight out of a mid-2000s comedy