United Airlines Flight Diverted to Denver (Passengers Subdue Criminal)

Yahoo! News (AP) ^ | 4/22/2006 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

United Airlines Flight Diverted to Denver

DENVER - A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was diverted to Denver International Airport, airport officials said.

Two F-16 fighter jets from Buckley Air Force Base scrambled to escort the plane as it flew into Denver Friday, according to Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, a spokesman for NORAD.

"They followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen," he said.

Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega was arrested after the plane landed around 4:30 p.m., FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso said.

Three Secret Service agents traveling between assignments who happened to be on the plane helped detain the passenger, said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren.

After the A-320 Airbus landed, it taxied to a remote part of the airport where the passengers got off and were bused to the terminal.

None of the 138 passengers or six crew members was injured, airport spokesman Chuck Cannon said. The flight was headed to Sacramento, Calif., from Chicago.

Authorities searched the aircraft for explosives and re-screened luggage and passengers before they reboarded the plane, which took off for its original destination around 7:30 p.m., Kelso said.

[Pyro7480]

A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was diverted to Denver International Airport, airport officials said.

Thank you, Flight 93, for your example. Your memory and spirit lives on.

[TeenagedConservative]

Yes, but it's sad that the passengers are the ones who have to take security into their own hands. A little common sense at the terminal wouldn't hurt.

[oolatec]

Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega? Any bets on his citizenship status...

[hsalaw]

Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega was arrested after the plane landed

[Pyro7480]

Unless he had a fake ID, he's probably has a green card.

[CyberAnt]

You are so correct! What I see is that people have realized they are not helpless - even in the air.

[Bob]

A little common sense at the terminal wouldn't hurt.

What sort of common sense would allow the folks at the terminal to know that this guy would claim to have a bomb once the plane had taken off?

[onyx]

WOW!

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers"

YES!!!!!

Just doing the self-service jobs Americans SHOULD be doing....

[onyx]

Three Secret Service agents traveling between assignments who happened to be on the plane helped detain the passenger, said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren.

Nice backup, huh?

[tortoise]

We spend billions of dollars on worthless, annoying airport security implemented by droolers who could not beat a monkey at a game of checkers. All we really need to do is empower the people that fly, and there will be no problems and no hassle.

My formula is simple and inexpensive:
Let the machines deal with explosives. Let the passengers and flight attendants deal with the assholes. Problem solved.

It is that simple. 99% of the security we have today, without all the overhead. No jihadi has the game to take on a planeload of passengers who think said jihadi wants to hijack a plane. Short and brutal that struggle would be.

[Rte66]

They rolled!

[devolve]

NO WAY JOSE

[TexKat]

Ping!

A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was diverted to Denver International Airport, airport officials said.

[CounterCounterCulture]

None of the 138 passengers or six crew members was injured, airport spokesman Chuck Cannon said. The flight was headed to Sacramento, Calif., from Chicago.

One of the passengers should have been beaten to a bloody pulp. You know the one...

[zipper]

"They followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen," he said.

A very indirect way of saying "if the airplane were hijacked they would have shot it down rather than let it endanger high-value targets"

[BJungNan]

Nice graphic but it was a United airlines flight. Can you redo it for us? Thanks.

[Howlin]

Do we have to have that on EVERY SINGLE DAMN THREAD on FR???

Can't you control yourself?

[COEXERJ145]

Of course we do. The border trolls say it anytime there is the a thread about someone with a Hispanic surname.

[Pyro7480]

I know what you mean. Filipinos often have Spanish names, for example.