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On Christmas Day 2009, as Northwest Airlines Flight 253 began its descent towards Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a 23-year-old man attempted to detonate a device containing military-grade explosive PETN.

From Abdulmutallab's student days in London, via his time in the Al Qaeda hotspot of Yemen, to the final leg of his journey on a flight bound for the USA, the timeline of this story throws up important questions. What did security services know about him before he boarded the plane? What would have happened to the 290 passengers and crew on board if the bomb had detonated successfully? What lessons have be learned? And, in the aftermath of this attack, how safe is it to fly?


Broadcast on:  BBC Two, 11:25pm Thursday 4th March 2010
Duration:         60 minutes