London and CNN News Break

Ok. I'm quite sure that some of you are also the type of individuals who make efforts to track world events outside your own back yard, so I thought I'd make a pre-emptive post before anyone freaks out on the blog.
In case you aren't aware, I am posting the information from the CNN site below.

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- British police say they have disrupted an apparent plot to blow up planes in mid-flight, prompting authorities to raise the nation's threat level to "critical."

The highest possible alert level, raised on Thursday by the British Home Office, means "an attack is expected imminently," and authorities have said no hand luggage would be allowed onto planes from UK airports. (Full story)
Major delays are expected at key airports around the world, with Brussels Airport in Belgium among the first to cancel flights to the UK, news agencies reported. London's Heathrow airport was closed to most European flights Thursday morning following a heightened terrorist alert, officials said in a report from The Associated Press. London's Metropolitan Police said a months-long intelligence operation by the anti-terrorist branch and security service resulted in several arrests overnight, according to a Scotland Yard news release. The aim of the alleged plot was to explode devices carried aboard planes in handheld luggage -- especially on flights from Britain to the United States, according to Scotland Yard. "This is a major operation which inevitably will be lengthy and complex," Scotland Yard said in a statement. Britain's Home Secretary John Reid called the alleged plot significant and said it was designed to "bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life." "We are doing everything possible to disrupt any further terrorist activity. This will mean major disruption at all UK airports," Reid said, adding the move to raise the alert level was "precautionary." Hand luggage will not be allowed into the cabin of a plane and passengers will only be allowed to take a wallet, travel documents and other essential items in a plastic bag. "All passengers must be hand searched, and their footwear and all the items they are carrying must be X-ray screened," a BAA statement added. (Full story) Across the Atlantic, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raised its alert threat to the highest level of "severe," or red, for commercial flights originating in the United Kingdom and bound for America. Meanwhile, the threat level has been raised to "high," or orange for all commercial flights operating in or coming to the United States, a DHS statement said. "Due to the nature of the threat revealed by this investigation, we are prohibiting any liquids, including beverages, hair gels, and lotions from being carried on the airplane," the statement said. Investors were quick to dump airline shares when markets opened on Thursday, with British Airways falling 3.5 percent and Ryanair skidding 3 percent. The alleged terror plot comes more than five years after Briton Richard Reid attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001, only a few months after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. Passengers thwarted his plan, and the plane landed safely in Boston. Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in October 2002 and is serving a life sentence at the nation's super-maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado. In Washington, FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said the agency is aware of the "ongoing situation in London" and will issue a statement later. [Link]

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So, now that you've heard about it, how does it affect us? Well, not too much actually. The only big deal that's going to cause trouble for our team is the fact that I have a team flying over in the next week and now it's going to be REALLY tough to get them here with all their gear. As a precautionary measure, LHR (London Heathrow Airport) is on Uber-crackdown and isn't letting ANYTHING on board their planes at this point. Basically, no tools, no liquids in containers, no solvents, no high-tech equipment, etc.

None of us, with the exception of Tom Hadry, were planning on flying home anytime soon anyway, and by the time we get in the air again, this incident will be long past. Tom was going to fly home to spend some time with his baby on his birthday, but that might be a problem. Gregg was going to fly to London for a vacation for 3 days, and I can pretty much bet those plans are nerfed at this point, but ALL of us are fine over here and in no danger. No one's throwing bombs at us, threatening to blow us up, or causing any other problems for us.

I'm not sure what we'll do for travel arrangements to come home at this point. It seems that LRH is going to be impassable for a team like us for quite awhile because of all the gear we carry, but we'll most likey be ok on Alitalia Airlines, since they depart to the USA via Milan, Italy rather than London. I'll update you as I know more. I just don't want anyone's friends, parents, loved ones, etc freaking out about us over here.

Hope you're all doing well. I'll do some more research on the issue and post more later as the news reaches me. The advantage to getting news on the Internet from this location is that we usually get directed to the European news sites, which are much less "flavored" than the American news and usually contain much less propoganda. Updates will follow.

Love you all.

Tommy