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Author Topic: Fighter jets scrambled 2nd time in 3 days because of unruly airline passengers  (Read 13910 times)

Offline kyle172

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Fighter jets scrambled again because of unruly airline passenger
(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 on 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 city of Portland, Oregon, after a passenger gave a flight attendant a note that was interpreted as being threatening, the federal complaint and supporting affidavit said Friday.The passenger, Joseph Hedlund Johnson, 56, told the FBI he hadn't intended to scare anyone with the note, which began, "I thought I was going to die," and referenced the television show "Gilligan's Island."




Offline kyle172

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Seriously they just need to take alcohol out of the planes and airports all together and stop wasting tax money to scramble fighter jets over very minor things like this because of some drunk man goes in the lavatory and locks himself in. This is partially the airline industries fault and airport authorities for even allowing people to drink on the terminal.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2010, 06:37:36 PM by kyle172 »

Offline sykocus

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Seriously they just need to take alcohol out of the planes and airports all together and stop wasting tax money to scramble fighter jets over very minor things like this because of some drunk man goes in the lavatory and locks himself in. This is partially the airline industries fault and airport authorities for even allowing people to drink on the terminal.

While you make a good point about not selling/serving alcohol, but these people are all adults. They are the only ones who should be blamed for how much they drink and how they react to it.

Offline joeyb747

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Delta had an unruly pax on the 8th as well, resulting in a diversion:

"A Delta Airlines Boeing 757-200, registration N712TW performing flight DL-188 (dep Jan 7th) from Pittsburgh,PA (USA) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) with 166 people on board, was enroute over the Atlantic about 200nm northeast of St. John's,NL (Canada), when the crew reported an unruly passenger, turned around and diverted to St. John's for a safe landing. The passenger was taken into custody.

Police reported, that the American male (59) was drunk and cause a disturbance on board of the flight.

The airplane reached Paris with a delay of 4.5 hours."


Av Herald:

http://avherald.com/h?article=42575335&opt=1

Flightaware:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL188/history/20100108/0453Z/CYYT/LFPG