If the plane had a camera phone you could have a dangerous weapon. If the operator was good at the controls you got a common mans "drone"!

Nice looking model, bet it is fun to fly.

No doubt about it. It's a dangerous weapon and it could have killed and injured a lot of people. Still, for someone who wanted to take out the Pentagon its a pathetic effort. Maybe he'll get to hone his skills in the prison craft shop for the next 17 years while we feed, clothe him and dryclean his prayer rug.

So we put people in prison for thinking about doing bad things now. Wow better watch what I think next time I get cut off in traffic. I've thought about doing a lot of bad things, doesn't mean I'd go through with it. I hope they let him get far enough to prove he was going through with it or else a good lawyer will get this over turned. Unless it has to do with that pesky little UNconstitutional Patriot Act. I'm a conservative but our govt. is out of control.

Just to point out: He's not getting 17 years in prison. Ten of those are supervised release.

It seems that there are people who are missing the goal of terrorism. The goal is not to take out the Pentagon, the goal is to prove that people can be hurt or killed while at the Pentagon (no place is safe for anyone). That is why it is called terrorism. That is why it’s important to stop a “little” threat like this one.

So we put people in prison for thinking about doing bad things

he requested and took delivery of plastic explosives, three grenades and six assault rifles

is more than a thought.

Mr. Ferdaus allegedly thought to himself: oops, no holy virgins in prison. Should have become a homicide bomber instead.

Scott - as Dick noted, taking possession of weapons including PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES, with a planned out plot of bombing government buildings in a lot more than just "thinking". If you have such a problem with your freedoms in America, move to another country.

@Chorpus Christi - The article states that the 10 years of supervised release are IN ADDITION to the 17 years in prison, so a total of 27 years of either being in prison or being carefully watched for this guy.

Mr. Ferdaus allegedly thought to himself: oops, no holy virgins in prison. Should have become a homicide bomber instead.

These guys in prison become pretty desperate as time goes by. You'd be surprised what passes for a "holy virgin" after tens years or so.

He looks like one of the 9/11 terrorists. Have open eyes with the brainwashed stare. No apology just thankful he got a good deal. This is BS, he whould have gotten 25-Life which is what you get for robbing a 7-Eleven convienence store with a gun. Another Muslim practicing the religion of death.

Geronimo: Funny.

What if this clown had waited until the President had made a speech it the rose garden, it could do some damage then, you don't need to hit a building.

The guy has a physics degree. He knew that little plane couldn't carry enough explosives to do much damage. Something doesn't add up.

It seems that there are people who are missing the goal of terrorism. The goal is not to take out the Pentagon, the goal is to prove that people can be hurt or killed while at the Pentagon (no place is safe for anyone). That is why it is called terrorism.

No Don. It is called terrorism because it's politically/religiously motivated violence. We use that term to belittle their cause, and to curb support or empathy. The actual goal is unique to the individual(s) and most definitely is not some ridiculous textbook definition like "to cause fear".

He knew that little plane couldn't carry enough explosives to do much damage

I've got to disagree. As US Army ex-EOD & MI not too mention a RC Model pilot, that F-86 could carry easily a Anti-Personnel explosive device (e.g Claymore like device). RC Planes that size usually runs on gas engines (not nitro like the smaller versions) and RC Jets (yes, actual jet engines) have been around for quit some time. Heck, there's even a Drone RC plane.

If someone wants to do a bit of research google FPV RC Flying. It's actually puts one in the cockpit of their model plane. This was a big topic on RC blogs when this jerk was caught due to the affect it can have on RC model plane pilots.

As US Army ex-EOD & MI not too mention a RC Model pilot, that F-86 could carry easily a Anti-Personnel explosive device (e.g Claymore like device).

We obviously have different definitions of "much damage". A claymore does not do much damage. Especially if you're trying to blast through the side of the pentagon. You might be able to kill a few people if you hit just the right spot...but that would be difficult with a remote control plane. No, this still doesn't add up.

Allow me to clarify - I am an avid model airplane enthusiast and the public was in NO DANGER at any time. You cannot control a model airplane from a "cell phone" and would not have a "poor man's drone". FYI - "drone" is the wrong term... a drone is an unmanned airplane used for target practice, a term leftover from the WWII days. The uninformed media and public has been incorrectly identifying radio-control model aircraft as drones. Since the aircraft is under pilot control at all times via radio, it is not unmanned, therefore not a drone.

Anyway, the idiot in this article was using a large, heavy, and difficult to fly aircraft. Please note that high-powered jets such as the F-86 in this article is not easy to control, and are not good beginner models. Since the idiot was a beginner, he would have most likely destroyed the airplane about 2 seconds after it was airborne. That's assuming he got it off the ground at all. Trust me, I've been flying R/C airplanes since the late 90's and I've seen it over and over... beginners that buy airplanes well above their skill level and promptly destroy it on their first flight.

These model airplanes are extremely sensitive to weight. If the idiot added several pounds of explosives, it would have drastically increased the wing loading - which is already high on a plane like that - and it's highly likely that it would have gotten off the ground. If so, again, coupled with the idiot's experience level, it wouldn't have gotten far.

The final point I want to make is that IF the idiot got the plane off the ground and IF the idiot maintained control, it's highly unlikely that he would have been able to hit his intended target. He would have had to take off from quite a distance away and planes of that size and speed gets small in a hurry. Trying to intentionally hit something - especially from that kind of distance - is almost impossible. It's like trying to put a basketball through a hoop from 1/2 mile away.

Please understand this was a single idiot acting like an idiot who's plan was highly unlikely to succeed. The idiot made a poor choice, thankfully. I get extremely defensive of the hobby that I love and wanted to make sure the public knows that they were really never in any danger. Thank you.

His profile or look got him that much time just like the free blacks in your inner cities. Besides that particular plane is not easy to fly and control unless very experienced. The whole thing smells like a fish market. He should have sold our military secrets to Iran. He would have made money and got less time.

The radio controlled planes this guy was planning on using could not have carried enough explosives to do any real damage to either the Capitol or the Pentagon. With the amount it could carry the odds are it would have simply bounced off the cast iron Capitol dome and the thick granite walls of the Pentagon. These little RC planes are extremely weight sensitive and it is doubtful they could have carried more than a half a pound at most above their own weight. If you think in scale terms of the very limited capacity of the full size plane when compared to it's gross weight and do the math you will see that this is definitely the case. In addition, simply getting the RC plane to the target would have been a huge challenge. From any distance it would become impossible to see one of these small RC planes, let alone control it with any degree of accuracy. I mean it is not like he was going to be able to launch the thing from the national mall and fly it into the Capitol. Even from a close distance of a mile away from the target the plane would be almost impossible for him to see and control effectively. The entire plan was completely ridiculous and even if he managed to get the plane off the ground the most he would have been able to do is maybe injure or kill a few people outside the building, he certainly was not going to do anything to either building or the people inside.

If I read the story correct he got a 17 yr sentence w/ 10 yrs on supervised probation. The way I see it he will only serve 7 yrs in prison.

We obviously have different definitions of "much damage".

Yes we do. I'm not suggesting that any shape charge he could create and obtain flight with could blown a hole through any wall. However a block of C-4 is only 1.25 lbs (a Claymore is a "curved" shape charge composed of 600 bearings/BBs with C-4). So that plane flown by an experience pilot (not a beginner) could easily carry an additional 3 blocks of C-4 (3.75 lbs) fairly easy. Exploding over a crowd (as AP mines, artillery, bombs, do) could cause massive causalities.

Think about a Presidential candidate giving a speech on the campaign trail.

How about an NFL game?

You might be able to control a plane like this from a smart phone; you could certainly detonate an explosive charge from one.

Yes, the only place you could cause any significant damage would be in a crowded area. It's possible. But not real practical. There's easier ways to kill people in crowds. You could simply plant a bomb.

As for assassinating a president at a outdoor rally or something...again...it would be difficult to find to find a place where you could see to navigate that isn't already watched by the Secret Service, because such places are also good for snipers.

But at this point, we're getting a little silly. While yes, it could be used as some kind of Rube Goldberg way of killing a bunch of congregating people, it certainly would be useless against buildings.

A Massachusetts man was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday for a plot to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol building in Washington with explosives loaded into remote-control model airplanes.

What a mockery of the justice system. This punk should have been thrown into a really nice tightly closed room with an open cylinder of compressed chlorine gas.

He spoke of "a world filled with injustices," but also said "no dehumanization can serve as justification for inhumanity in other places."

Did he really think murder and destruction were reasons to justify his evil plans??? Painting this with noble words does not make it OK.

Speaking of OK, why is a seven year sentence with 10 years of (laughable) supervised release OK??? Someone needs to investigate who got to the judge.

Speaking of OK, why is a seven year sentence with 10 years of (laughable) supervised release OK

Because he didn't actually commit any violent acts. He just planned to do so.

Well as Mike said, the odds of doing much of anything this way would be very slim. You'd be hard pressed to fly this thing with a couple pounds of plastic explosives embedded in it. Range issues and other such problems like needing to have a very high skill level make his plans pretty ridiculous.

Yes he could injure some people in a crowd, but probably just as effectively or more so with a maximum flyable payload of gasoline instead of explosives. Just crash it into the crowd spreading flaming fuel. He'd have a much better chance of being successful using a large scale model rocket. Just point and shoot. A physics major ought to be able to calculate the ballistic trajectory. Good 'ol boys with no education can figure that out.

This guy might have an education but he's stupid. Seen too much TV and movies. Here's a guy with enough education to be able to scale it up to a small single engine private aircraft that could carry a whole lot of explosives. That's a proven concept that dates back 75 years and with today's technology would be far more effective. To me this guy is lazy because he should have been smart enough to come up with a much better plan. I bet he never even flew the plane. The guy probably would have blown himself up. But he'll have plenty of time now to come up with a better plan.

Maybe he'll get the mental health treatment that he needs.Once again the patience rights law that was enacted went to far so as not to allow family to force a person to get treatment for mental illness.At least he will be away from the public for 17 years.I feel empathy for his parents not be able to get him to seek help.

Yep!! One person is always indicative of an entire race.

If that were the case after Bush II the world would think that all Americans are complete idiots that can't form a sentence, just waiting to invade foreign countries and blow our own economy apart.

Dick: No, not one person. But a large minority arguably is.

Open your eyes, Dick! This is not just one person. This is just one person who is part of a larger group whose sole purpose is to create terror in the US. Did you forget 9/11? Did you read the story about the attempted Federal Reserve bombing a week or so back? Don't be ignorant, Dick! Pay attention to what is going on.

Dick, Basil,

Yes, a large minority that is "active" the rest are either behind the scenes supporters or very happy observers. Close to 0% that are against terrorism.

Just go back and watch the celebratory videos in the Arab world after 911!

Screw this guys and scum like him. There should be a new law passed that crap like this should be executed right after conviction. We shouldn't spend a dime feeding him and dry cleaning his prayer rug! We should do to him EXACTLY what they do to criminals in the Muslim world. If he loves sharia so much then he should expect to die like a dog, exactly the same way that his fellow towel-heads execute people in the Arab world. Drag him out to the street, one bullet in the head and we are done with this nonsense! Besides, it's a great deterrent.

But noooooo! We are a liberal society. So what do we do? Put him in jail for the next 7 or 17 years or whatever, where he can get an even better state-sponsored jihadist education. When he comes out of jail he'll be even more radical and have even better knowledge as to how to carry out more efficient acts of terrorism.

Something has to change!

Yep!! One person is always indicative of an entire race.

Dick - this is not a "race" of people. It's a religion, Einstein.

Since the beginning of recorded history I believe more people have been killed in the name of religion & ideology then any other cause. I may be wrong though but I doubt it.

Congrats on being a racist moron. Fat, lazy and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

So, desertboy, you can correctly spell "muslim towel heads" but get tripped up on "cought" and "casn't". Your grasp of english idioms is a little lacking as well. Your racism and marginal grammar skills keep both you AND Mr. Ferdaus out of the Model Citizen Club.

Captain: Way to work in a misquote from Animal House

Geronobull: Both you and the Captain are circling around the same sort of theme here... a racial theme.

However... it is quite a common practice especially among military personnel to refer to the enemy by any and every derogatory term conceivable.

And as a vet of the legitimate wars in the middle east (Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Desert Fox), I'll admit to having kept a "scorecard" on the butt of my rifle that read "Dead Towel Heads".

But let's keep in mind, when we're talking about terrorists we are not talking about the uniformed soldiers representing a nation. "Terrorist" is not a race, a nationality, or even an actual representation of the true beliefs of a faith. They are simply criminals, and as far as I'm concerned, can be called whatever anyone wishes. I also see no need to extend them the protections of the Articles of War or The Geneva Conventions, as again, they represent no nation, no government, wear no identifiable uniform - they're just criminal scrunge, little different than the thick film that forms around unflushed truckstop toilets.

This fellow shouldn't have been arrested, and would not have been if I'd been first on-the-scene. He should have been shot through the head and set out at the curb with the rest of the garbage.

Now, is he a reflection of the beliefs of Islam? No. He's a self-admitted wanna-be terrorist and deserves no different treatment than any other armed criminal insurgent.

Geronimo: You got my vote on that one!

Captain Hammers, you can sure tell he is educated by the NEA in America.

Clearly from the man's statements he was a total American patriot before the investigation. /sarcasmOff

9/11 - Muslim

WTC truck bomb - Muslim

Oklahoma City - Conservative Christian

USS Cole - Muslim

Olympic Bombing - Conservative Christian

Multiple Women's Health Clinic Attacks - Conservative Christian

Seems like religious extremists are to blame for most terrorist attacks. It doesn't seem to matter as much which religion has poisoned peoples minds though.

Obama four dead - Black Muslim... Madonna told me so, and she's never wrong

Captain: I agree with the sentiment of your post, but wanted to point out that McVeigh didn't consider himself religious. Extremism doesn't have to come from religion, but it most often does.

The point stands: up until 9/11, the biggest terrorist action on American soil (OK City bombing) was perpetrated by a white, non-muslim, american-born nutcase.

To where? It's doesn't explicitly say so in the article, but it looks like he's american-born, non?

If not, then you have my vote - and I don't see why it needs to be limited to terrorism, either. Any type of felony should give a non-citizen the automatic boot and a lifetime ban.

A scale model that size would carry enough payload to cause damage. your talking 6' here not the usual 1'.

It would be enough to blow a small hole in the side of a building....probably not a very big one if the wall is steel reinforced concrete. Maybe kill a few people. Nothing more. You seem to think that you could just pack that whole plane with C4 and that is it's carrying capacity. It's not. For any additional weight the thing carries, you have to consider the weight distribution, and how much lift that the thing can actually produce. My guess is that it couldn't even lift an additional 5 pounds.

And just what should be done about exploding shoes and underwear? we are talking arabs here, not the brightest bulbs on the tree.

Timothy-2140391 He wanted top blow up the Pentagram and the Capital building... Give him a metal!

I've had my eye on that "Pentagram" for a long while now. Will you pin a "metal" on me?

Well, that's another religon. In this case, they could have waited for him to steal something, then cut off his hand(s).....or get involved with a married woman, then cut off his head (but then you have to stone the woman and that is such a mess at the mall.....)

Lack of his life.