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Posted on 08/03/2004 3:02:22 PM PDT by jimbo123
A London-bound Virgin Atlantic flight will depart from San Francisco this afternoon after being delayed for more than 20 hours by an investigation sparked by a passenger acting strangely.
Virgin grounded the plane, which was scheduled to leave San Francisco International Airport Monday evening, after one passenger began making the other passengers feel uncomfortable, according to Virgin and FBI officials.
The incident occurred one day after the Department of Homeland Security raised the terror alert level from yellow to orange for specific buildings in New York City, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
FBI Special Agent LaRae Quy said the problem passenger on Monday's flight aroused suspicion around 4:30 p.m. with his strange behavior, which included "taking the flotation device out from under his seat and waving it around."
The passenger, who was traveling on a passport from Yemen, was escorted off the plane.
On his way out he said something to another passenger that indicated to authorities that the two knew each other, Quy said. That passenger was also taken off the plane.
Then, Quy said, "A tour group of seven people started changing their seats," possibly to take advantage of the two newly vacant seats. The tour group was escorted off the plane as well.
The FBI then conducted a thorough search of the plane that included the use of bomb-sniffing dogs, Quy said.
Investigators detained the problem passenger and conducted a background check on the man. "We do not believe he has any terrorism connections," Quy said.
The flight was rescheduled for today because the series of security checks that were required "would have resulted in the Virgin Atlantic crew exceeding their CAA maximum duty hours," Virgin officials said in a prepared release today.
Officials said they were sorry to inconvenience the passengers, but that "We would not operate any flights unless we are totally satisfied that it is safe to do so."
The Boeing 747-400 plane will depart from SFO at 2:30 p.m. today.
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SOMEONE'S taking this seriously, aren't they?
Interesting that the article mentions they removed a second passenger (after the first guy talked to him), but the investigator only mentions that the FIRST guy had no evident terrorist connections...
Perhaps it's time to bar all citizens from 6th century Islamic nations from the airways..
If they wish to live in their dark past....force them to stay in "character"..
Allow them to travel ONLY where their stinking camels can carry them..
Semper Fi
I guess Howard Dean wouldn't approve--the timing and all, plus, of course, according to Kerry, the terrorism threat is exaggerated....
(I sure hope people think real hard about this vote--it's a real President vs. Kerry the Clown.)
About time...
Which makes me believe that something VERY VERY VERY bad is out there. In the near future.
My daughter and grandson got on a plane today....anyone reading this who is a praying person, please do so!
Sounds more like the guy was having his first experience with the delightful Western custom of getting hammered in preparation for air travel. Waving a floatation device around isn't exactly being all subtle and undercover.
I heard on my local talk radio station this AM on the way to work (KNEW I think it was. Maybe KSFO) that the tour group were Romanians and that the first guy was drunk. Maybe they had all that info wrong.
Same plane I am pretty sure though--Virign Air to London from SFO.
It almost sounds like a Monty Python Skit if it were not so series!
Yep.
That's it, no more mooselimbs on commercial planes...Sorry, you'll have to find another way to travel. We gave you a chance after 9-11 and you keep acting like terrorists. Buh-bye now.
The Yemeni wanted to flush out the air marshalls so his buddy could report back to his Al Qaeda comrades. The 5 others who were detained were carrying Romanian passports, but there is no indication as to their true ethnicity.
So why did he do all of this while the plane was sitting on the tarmac? No chance in hell that the FAM is going to reveal himself if the plane isn't even in the air.
This guy wasn't on a terrorist watch list either.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/07/14/airport.arrest/
He just was arraigned today:
http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_216123123.html
Here is something I turned up on sfgate. Not sure which is more accurate.
(08-03) 00:09 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --
A Virgin Atlantic flight from San Francisco to London was grounded Monday after an unruly passenger was removed from the plane.
The unidentified passenger was drunk and started a disturbance on the plane before it was scheduled to leave San Francisco International Airport at 4:30 p.m. for Heathrow Airport in London.
Shortly after that person was removed, passengers told the San Francisco Chronicle that five people with Romanian passports were brought to the front of the plane and removed.
Passenger Joe Snyder of Carmel Valley told the Chronicle that the flight captain announced, "There are some people on the plane that we do not feel comfortable flying with."
The rest of the passengers were then taken off the plane and the flight was canceled.
Authorities then boarded the plane and searched under seats and all over the 747 plane. Sgt. Larry Ratti, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, said one disorderly passenger had been detained but not arrested.
"My information from the officers that boarded the plane is that there was just one unruly passenger," Ratti said. "It was enough that for the safety of all the passengers we decided to search the entire plane. It's a big plane. You want to search it thoroughly, and it takes a while to search something like that."
Ratti said officers did not find anything suspicious onboard the flight.
The other passengers were offered free hotel stays Monday night and the flight is now scheduled to take off Tuesday.
Security is on heightened alert after the Department of Homeland Security announced Sunday that five East Coast financial institutions were targets of a terrorist plot.
Your story is from last night. The preceeding story is the most current.
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