Posted on 04/22/2006 2:07:00 PM PDT by traumer
DENVER -- With three Secret Service agents aboard and the pilots fully in control of a United Airlines jetliner being diverted to Denver, two F-16 fighter jets scrambled to intercept the flight merely escorted the plane into Denver International Airport.
But the apparatus that could ultimately have lead to the plane with 138 passengers and six crew members being shot down -- put in place after 911 -- was fully operational Friday, with agencies that included the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security on an open phone line monitoring the flight.
Had the plane "been judged as a threat by the highest levels of our government, they could make the decision to have the plane shot down," said Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, a spokesman for NORAD, a U.S.-Canadian military command based outside Colorado Springs that monitors missiles, aircraft and space objects and warns of threats.
President Bush would ultimately make the decision.
Authorities said Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega -- whose age and hometown were not immediately released -- tried to open an door on the Airbus A-320 en route from Chicago to Sacramento, Calif., and then claimed to have a bomb forcing the emergency landing in Denver.
"Had he opened the door, we'd all be dead," passenger Donna Bell of Visalia, Calif., told the Sacramento Bee.
Fellow passengers on the plane subdued the man and three Secret Service agents on board heading between assignments helped detain him, said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren. "That saved us," Ian Grossman of Chicago told the Bee. "You don't know what will happen if a guy like that is loose in the cabin."
The Bee reported that passenger Joe Pena, a senior airman at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., described the incident as like a bar fight. "I heard a bunch of commotion, and I heard somebody yell 'What are you doing' and 'Get down,' then I saw the guy put into a chokehold, put on his back and pinned down so he couldn't move," Pena said in Sacramento, after hugging his tearful wife, Candy.
President Bush, who is protected by the Secret Service, on Saturday was scheduled to tour a fuel-cell technology plant in West Sacramento, Calif.
A "shoot-don't shoot" scenario didn't develop because the plane was following all FAA instructions. One of the last resorts would have included the fighter pilots either talking to or attempting to talk to the pilot of the airliner, which didn't happen Friday, Kelly said
The fighter jets out of Buckley Air Force Base east of Denver "followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen," Kelly said.
Since Sept. 11, fighters have been scrambled or if already airborne diverted 2,300, said Kelly. The Transportation Security Administration said it did not have numbers on how many flights have been diverted.
The Boeing 767 airliner, carrying 183 passengers and 14 crew members on which would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid was on in December 2001, was escorted to Boston by two fighter jets.
With the fighter jet escort, the United plane landed at about 4:30 p.m. in a remote area of the airport where it was searched. Passengers were bused to the terminal and questioned by authorities and Pelayo-Ortego was arrested.
No one aboard Flight 735 were injured, said United spokesman Brandon Borrman.
Pelayo-Ortega was in a Denver jail awaiting federal charges. FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso said he will be charged on Monday.
Kelso said authorities searched the aircraft for explosives and re-screened luggage as well as the passengers before they were allowed to re-board the plane, which left for its original destination at about 7:30 p.m.
Copyright 2006 by KTVU.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Heck...what is the home country?
just doing the hijackings americans won't. what's the problem? probably here under the guest terrorist program.
Air travel isn't boring any more...
I think I'll just drive.
I have signed up for news alerts on this guy...
Nothing new yet.
I am just waiting for the first sorry SOB to say this was a raciast incident.
Glad to see passengers willing to take down whack jobs when this happens.
Is anyone going to key in on this guys last name. C'mon...lets rag everyone with a Hispanic surname.
I saw one of the passengers that subdued this idiot interviewed on KCRA last night. Awesome guy. He thought of the flight 93 passengers while this was happening. His little boy said my Dad is superman. Very awesome.
Pleople scared slitless
when they slaw the flighter jets
outslide their lindows . . .
While the 'news' didn't specifically state an exterior door, I thought that one could not open an exit door on a pressurized aircraft.
They said they flight was on the way to Sacramento. Somehow I feel some compassion for this fellow.
Actually it is nearly impossible to open a door once in flight. The difference in air pressure prohibits it. You would have to be below 10,000 feet to even have a chance on getting a door open.
It sounds more like a nut case than a terrorist.
With three SS agents to hold him, it sounds as if they went a bit overboard on this, although better safe than sorry.
Awwwww don't pick on him.... he just thought there was free cervesa in the basement.
He was probably one of those - waving mexican flag in the recent demonstrations - demanding his RIGHTS... !!
I'm going to go waaaaaayyyyy out on a limb and guess he's Filipino.
From a møøslimb part of the Philippines...
"Had he opened the door, we'd all be dead," passenger Donna Bell of Visalia, Calif., told the Sacramento Bee.
You can't open a cabin door inflight because of the pressure differential. Why does the "press" use quotes like this?
Unless the Hijacker was a real dolt.
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