On December 22, 2001, three months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Richard Reid, 28, a British citizen and Al Qaeda member, attempts to detonate homemade bombs hidden in his shoes while aboard American Airlines Flight 63 headed to Miami from Paris.
During the flight that included 197 passengers and crew members, Reid—who came to be known as the “shoe bomber"—used matches in an attempt to light his black hightops on fire while in his window seat. Smelling sulfur, a flight attendant saw what he was doing and fellow crew members and passengers were able to restrain him. He was sedated and strapped down with belts, and the plane was diverted to Boston’s Logan International Airport, where he was taken into custody.
