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Why Terrorists Use Bombs On Planes

BALTIMORE )WJZ)--  Tonight President Obama is now saying that it's possible a bomb brought down a Russian airliner as it was flying over Egypt.

The doomed plane broke apart minutes into the flight, killing all 224 people on board.

Investigators are analyzing the flight recorders and say it could take another month before we know for sure what caused the crash.

But if it was a terrorist attack, WJZ's Alex DeMetrick reports, it renews old fears of planes being used for mass murder.

There is a very simple reason terrorists attack planes.

"The biggest bang for the buck is bringing down a plane," said Michael Greenberger, an expert on homeland security with the University of Maryland.

That strategy began in 1988, when a bomb killed 270 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland.

Then on Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked planes became missiles and suddenly no one was safe.

Fear revived later that year when Richard Reid tried setting off shoes packing with explosives.

Now a decade later, a Russian jet may have been brought down by a bomb over Egypt.

"Where the plane had stayed before it took off was notorious for the lack of good security," Greenberger said.

Terror feeds on fear and sitting helpless thousands of feet up, helps lays the groundwork.

"As happened on 9/11, places actually go down, that elevates people's fears," he said.

Greenberger said fresh fear is connected to the Egyptian airport, if security was lax there. Confidence goes up at airport's with tighter security.

"But if it turns out placing the bomb here had nothing to do with lack security at that airport and could happen at other airports, all bets are off," he added.

Although Russia maintains it will take months to determine the cause of the crash, Greenberger believes it will take far less time, if there was a bomb.

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