Deja vous all over again, and again without a name or description of the "unruly" passenger:
Fighter jets scrambled again because of unruly airline passenger
January 8, 2010 5:49 p.m. EST
(CNN) -- In the second such incident in three days, fighter jets escorted a diverted commercial flight on Friday after an unruly passenger caused alarm onboard.
The military sent up two F-16s in response to reports of an unruly passenger aboard AirTran Flight 39, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement.
The passenger had become belligerent and refused to leave the restroom, airline spokesman Tad Hutcheson told CNN Friday. The passenger appeared to be intoxicated, he said.
The flight, bound for San Francisco, California, left Atlanta, Georgia, at 9:48 a.m. ET, according to AirTran's Web site.
NORAD dispatched the fighters at 1:44 p.m. ET, escorting the aircraft to a safe emergency landing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, officials said. The passenger was detained there and FBI agents from Denver, Colorado, were called to question passengers, Hutcheson said.
The other passengers were scheduled to continue their trip at 4:30 p.m. ET, he said.
On Wednesday, NORAD escorted a Hawaii-bound plane back to its origination point of Portland, Oregon, when an unruly passenger in coach became "uncooperative," a Hawaiian Airlines official said.
10 comments:
breaking news on fox some kind of disturbance coming in to heathrow and they arrested some load mouths on an in bound plane
Couple more drunks, or so I read. Between the drunks disrupting the flights and the de-icer fluid causing fumes in the cabins it's a wonder anything gets off the ground lately.
And of course, with no names or descriptions, there is no way to tell whether they actually were just drunks.
AirTran released a statement Friday afternoon that said the flight was diverted because of a "disruptive and allegedly intoxicated passenger onboard."
After safely landing, the aircraft, which was carrying 132 passengers and five crew members, then taxied to a remote location of the airport to be searched with police dogs, AirTran officials said, according to a report by an Atlanta TV station.
The FBI was called to the scene and is overseeing the law enforcement response, AirTran officials said.
link
Since Obama treats terror related "incidents" as criminal matters in US courts . . .and this "incident" is being handled by the FBI as a "law enforcement" issue . . .there is absolutely nothing to concern us here. Right?
". . .No determination has been immediately made about whether to file charges, said Kathleen Wright, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Denver. The person was “disruptive” and may have “placed hands on one of the flight attendants,” Wright said." link
Unless the airlines press charges and levy exhorbitant fines, this will only continue. On second thought, it shouldn't be left to the airline to choose whether or not to press charges. The minute fighter jets from NORAD are dispatched, charges (financial and legal) must kick in. Actually, make that treble damages as in thank$ for the trouble.
Three arrested in Emirates security incident
British police say three people have been arrested in a security incident aboard an Emirates passenger jet at London’s Heathrow Airport.
A police spokesman said the three - all believed to be male - were removed from the jet, which was preparing to fly to Dubai.
The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with policy, said officers were searching the plane but had found no hazardous material.
"Nothing has been found," he said.
Witnesses told television channel Sky News that several armed police officers boarded the plane and arrested the men.
"Basically the police just swarmed the guy and rushed him out," passenger Cameron Mclean told Sky News by phone.
"We’ve been told not to stand up. ... We’re going to be moved to a safe place."
The police spokesman said he believed the passengers had been removed from the plane.
A Heathrow spokesman said no passenger was harmed and that the airport - Europe’s busiest - remained open. He declined to provide further details.
Venezuela sent jets to intercept US plane - Chavez
No immediate response from Washington.
CARACAS, Jan 8 (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez said he ordered two F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice violated Venezuelan airspace on Friday in what he called the latest provocation in the South American nation's skies.
Brandishing a photo of the plane, which he described as a P-3, Chavez said the overflight was the latest incursion in Venezuelan skies by the U.S. military from its bases on the Netherlands' Caribbean islands and from neighboring Colombia.
"They are provoking us ... these are warplanes," he said.
There was no immediate response from the U.S. Defense Department or the White House.
Chavez said the F-16s escorted the U.S. plane away after two incursions lasting 15 and 19 minutes each.
The perceived threat of U.S. intervention has become a central element of Chavez's political discourse and a rallying cry for his supporters.
Foes say Latin America's loudest U.S. critic is hyping the idea of a foreign threat to distract Venezuelans from domestic problems such as economic recession, rampant crime and inadequate public services.
The socialist leader surprised the diplomatic world in December when he accused the Netherlands of abetting potential offensive action against his government by granting U.S. troops access to its islands close to Venezuela.
The Dutch government says the U.S. presence on Curacao and Aruba -- where about 250 Air Force crew and ground staff are based -- is only for counternarcotics and surveillance operations over Caribbean smuggling routes.
ooo rah! Felony charges for Salem passenger on PDX-Maui flight
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Joseph Hedlund Johnson, a 56-year-old Salem man, will face felony flight interference charges for "unruly behavior" aboard a flight from Portland to Maui, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office
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Johnson was unhappy he couldn't stow a carry-on bag under his seat, the FBI said. The pilot grew concerned during the flight because the 56-year-old filled out a comment card with phrases about death and crashing, an FBI agent said in court documents.
Johnson also drew suspicion by holding his carry-on bag closely and saying he didn't want to stow it where he couldn't get to it, the agent said.
Johnson was not jailed. He is expected to appear in court Monday.
UK Daily Mail report from Heathrow
I'd be tempted to call Johnson a damned old fool if he weren't younger than me. Leave the "old" part out.
These may all have been "innocent" incidents, by which I mean the perps were not jihadists but run of the mill a-holes. "Felony flight interference" is now a phrase with bigger teeth than it had a couple weeks ago. But as the late President John F. Kennedy once said, "There is always some sonofabitch who doesn't get the word".
Now if we could just drug Chavez and stick him on a plane from Caracas to, say, Fargo, clue in everyone else on the flight, then sit back and watch the fun when he wakes up.
image of Johnson
what's in a name? CJ have a sibling ?
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