Posted on 10/10/2001 6:08:34 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
Jet Diverted After Cabin Incident
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Delta airliner bound for California was diverted to Shreveport with an escort of two military planes Wednesday after a passenger passed a threatening note to a flight attendant, the FBI said. Flight 357, with 148 people aboard from Atlanta to Los Angeles, landed safely after what the airline described as a ``passenger incident.'' Edward A. Stephenson, 36, of Venice, Calif., was arrested and charged with interfering with a flight crew member and attendants, FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne said. The passenger's note was in response to an announcement by the pilot that they would be taking a different flight path because of bad weather, U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan said. ``The passenger handed a note to the flight attendant that contained language that the pilot should not divert from the original flight path, and some other language which seemed bizarre,'' Flanagan said. ``It didn't make a lot of sense, but at the same time it was alarming.'' The man did not make any physical threats, Flanagan said. The Boeing 757 reported a problem at 2:43 p.m. and landed 26 minutes later. Stephenson appeared disoriented when he was taken off the plane, police said. Thorne said prosecutors planned to seek a mental evaluation of the suspect. Delta spokeswoman Cindi Kurczewski said there were 139 passengers and nine crew members aboard the jetliner. She said the plane was diverted ``due to a passenger incident,'' but referred questions to authorities. The flight was escorted by two military planes, an F-16 fighter and an A-10, airport director Roy Miller said. The flight continued on to Los Angeles less than two hours after landing in Shreveport. On Monday, two F-16s were sent to escort an American Airlines jetliner to Chicago after a deranged man burst into the cockpit. Passengers tackled him, and the flight landed without incident. One day later, a passenger on the same American flight from Los Angeles became intoxicated and unruly, striking a flight attendant. The FBI said the 31-year-old Australian was forced into his seat and several passengers helped guard him until the plane landed in Chicago. |
I have a proposal: Require that each one of these morons reimburse the taxpayers for the jet fuel the F16s require, the salary of the pilot(s) and the depreciation on the jet.
Can you name any commercial airliner that can withstand about 5 seconds of a Warthog's Gatling Gun? Two seconds?
That thing had to be going full throttle just to keep up with the Delta on final.
Intercepted by an A-10 - what infamy. ;)
"I need my medicine. I need it BAD, man"
If I'm on the plane when it happens...you get a 6'3" 200-pound ex-jarhead doing Riverdance on your face with his Size 12 combat boots. Nothing personal, just business :o)
That said, they are slow as dogs in the air. It would have trouble intercepting a taxiing Cessna.
Ya, I saw that too. AS far as I know there are no windows that passengers may open on american airliners. Who is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the american sheeple. The terrorist or our government. What were they really trying to open and escape hatch?
Lol -- "WTF"?
Intentional humor, or Freudian slip?
They certainly refined their technique over what they'd done in 1993
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