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. Passengers on the flight complained of a smoke smell shortly after 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 the airplane, and Reid promised to stop. 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 and prevented it from igniting. 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 him, he fought her and bit her thumb. The tall Reid who weighed about 215 pounds was subdued by other passengers on the aircraft and immobilized using plastic handcuffs, seatbelt extensions, and headphone cords. A doctor administered diazepam found in the flight kit of the aircraft. 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. Two F-15fighter 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 280 grams of TATP and PETN hidden in the hollowed soles of Reid's shoes, enough to blow a substantial hole in the aircraft. He pleaded guilty, was convicted, sentenced to 3 life terms plus 110 years without parole and incarcerated at Supermax prisonADX Florence.
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. This claim remains unsubstantiated by the investigation into the cause of the crash; Jabarah was a known colleague of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, and said that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to participate in identical plots. In 2006, security procedures at US airports were changed to have people remove their shoes before proceeding through scanners, in response to this incident. The requirement was phased out for some travelers, particularly those with TSA PreCheck, in the 2010s. Flight Number AAL63 continues to be used on the route from Paris to Miami.
