[mojo2]

London-to-D.C. Flight Diverted to Boston After Passenger Disturbance
Wednesday, August 16, 2006

BOSTON — A flight from London to Washington, D.C. was diverted to Boston Wednesday morning after the pilot declared an emergency because of a passenger disturbance, the airline said.

United Flight 923 with 182 passengers and 12 crew members landed safely at Boston's Logan International Airport, United spokesman Brandon Borrman said.

A Logan spokesman said three passengers had a confrontation with the flight crew. State Police took control of the plane after it landed. All the passengers were being taken off the plane and their carry-on luggage was being checked, said spokesman Phil Orlandella.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208669,00.html

[mojo2]

United Airlines Flight #923 from Heathrow to Dulles (Washington, DC) diverted to Boston Logan Airport.

Conflicting reports:

1. A claustrophobic woman, says WBZ-TV Boston.

Posted: Wednesday, 16 August 2006 11:00AM

Flight Diverted to Boston

BOSTON (WBZ Newsroom) -- A United Airlines flight from London to Washington D-C was diverted to Logan Airport this morning following a confrontation involving three passengers.

A woman on board Flight 923 apparently became "unruly," prompting the pilot to request an emergency landing at Logan shortly after 10 a-m.

There are reports that the woman was claustrophobic and got into a confrontation with someone else on the flight. Massport's Phil Orlandella tells the Associated Press that she was carrying Vaseline, a screw driver, matches and a note referencing al-Qaida.

Fighter jets escorted the plane to a safe location at the airport. A stairway was brought out to de-board the passengers. Each passenger and their carry-on items will be inspected.

The flight -- which originated from London's Heathrow Airport -- had 182 passengers and 12 crew members on board.


2006 WBZ

2. A woman with screwdriver, vaseline, matches and a note referencing al Qaeda, according to Orlandella.

All 182 Passengers and 12 crew are safe and have deplaned.

[mojo2]

The plane is far from the terminal, I assume it is on a little used taxi-way. Bomb sniffing dog teams have arrived and at least one team had boarded the empty plane. Luggage is being lined up in seven rows on the tarmac and are apparently being readied for dog inspection.

Actually, I see a runway indication painted on the ground slightly to the aft of the plane's tail, "15 R."

See video here.

http://www3.whdh.com:80/news/articles/local/BO25439/

[badidea]

Screwdriver
Vaseline
Matches

McGuyver would build a bomb in milliseconds (and it would be worse than BigBoy)!


al Qaeda note

I hope it wasn't a print out from a MacNN thread!

[spacefreak]

From last Friday (Aug. 11: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...=1770&ct=5

Terrorists were planning to unleash a series of deadly mid-air explosions on flights between London and America on August 16, it has been revealed today... United Airline tickets dated next Wednesday were found by police at the home of one of the raided addresses.

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by badidea

Screwdriver
Vaseline
Matches

McGuyver would build a bomb in milliseconds (and it would be worse than BigBoy)!


al Qaeda note

I hope it wasn't a print out from a MacNN thread!

Hahaha!

Originally Posted by spacefreak

From last Friday (Aug. 11: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...id=1770&ct= 5

Terrorists were planning to unleash a series of deadly mid-air explosions on flights between London and America on August 16, it has been revealed today... United Airline tickets dated next Wednesday were found by police at the home of one of the raided addresses.

Fox News is now reporting the TSA has announced the event is not related to terrorism.

But with that info, spacefreak, I can understand why they'd want to be safe rather than sorry.

[davesimondotcom]

No way that this actually happened. Fox is making it all up, acting on orders from the Bush Administration.

[Dakar]

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

No way that this actually happened. Fox is making it all up, acting on orders from the Bush Administration.

Finally! Some sanity in this topsy-turvey world.

[spacefreak]

Looks like it might have been a case of a claustrophic woman freaking-out on the plane.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

No way that this actually happened. Fox is making it all up, acting on orders from the Bush Administration.

You may be partly right.

"I don't know what she had on board with her, but we have been told she did not have a screw driver, she did not have any liquids such as vaseline, and any notebook she may have had, it did not contain an al-Qaeda reference," Naccara said. "This is still playing out, of course."

"There was speculation in the beginning of all those items, but those have been proven untrue," he said. He said he had no information about matches."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/08/16....ap/index.html

[davesimondotcom]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

You may be partly right.

"I don't know what she had on board with her, but we have been told she did not have a screw driver, she did not have any liquids such as vaseline, and any notebook she may have had, it did not contain an al-Qaeda reference," Naccara said. "This is still playing out, of course."

"There was speculation in the beginning of all those items, but those have been proven untrue," he said. He said he had no information about matches."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/08/16....ap/index.html

That's the 24 hour news cycle for you - they all jump on any information they get without vetting it first.

Just like there was rumor reported as fact on 9/11 that terrorists had as many as 20 planes. Or that tens of thousands were killed in Katrina and people were committing acts of cannibalism.

None of it was true - rumor reported as fact. And it's not exclusive to ANY network or supposed bias/ideology.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

None of it was true - rumor reported as fact. And it's not exclusive to ANY network or supposed bias/ideology.

Perhaps it was blatantly made up information, reported as fact and later attributed to rumor.

News agencies making up "news" in an effort to capture market share over the story. Once it's reported that the made up "news" was incorrect they can simply attribute it to an un-named, mistaken, witness.

My guess is that she did have a screwdriver (possibly a double), Vaseline lip balm, and the note referencing Al Qaeda was a newpaper.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

Perhaps it was blatantly made up information, reported as fact and later attributed to Rumor.

I didn't say anything.

[vmarks]

Well, there was some sort of disturbance and a plane was diverted.

In my limited experience as a passenger flying with people causing disturbances, they take no chances, and planes either return to terminal if they haven't taken off yet, or they divert to a different airport to land.

The person causing the disturbance is usually escorted off the plane and charged with a felony, unless they've created a sufficient disturbance as to represent a danger requiring force.

[Nicko]

True story,

About 6 months ago, my sister was flying on a BA flight from Toronto to London and about half way over the atlantic she went to use the bathroom at the back of the plane. When she got back there she saw a man sitting on the floor with his head down like he was sleeping....when she tapped him on the shoulder he didn't move. Sure enough he was dead! He probably had a massive heart attack or something like that.

She immediately told a stuwardess about it and casually returned to her seat. There was no announcement to the passengers. The flight crew then quietly cleared the back row of the plane and placed the body across the seats...and put a blanket on him. It was only when the plane landed at heathrow and a medical crew rushed onto the plane when the doors opened that everyone found out something had happened!

Well, I guess since the poor bastard who croaked was already dead, there was no point in diverting the plane. On a consolation note, my sister did mention the guy was rather old, so it was probably only a matter of time.

I used to like air travel, now I'm just happy to get to my destination in one piece.

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by Rumor

I didn't say anything.

Very funny!