Flight diverted to Boston over passenger disturbance

Post-9/11 Era Forum

Wednesday, August 16, 2006; Posted: 10:43 a.m. EDT (14:43 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- 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.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Disturbance diverts London-D.C. flight

BOSTON - Fighter jets escorted a diverted London-to-Washington, D.C., flight to Boston's Logan airport Wednesday after a distraught passenger pulled out a screw driver, matches, Vaseline and a note referencing al-Qaida, an airport spokesman said.

United Flight 923 landed safely, Logan airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said.

The flight, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members landed safely, UAL Corp. spokesman Brandon Borrman said. Borrman said a female passenger was spotted engaging in some "suspicious" activity, but he could not immediately say what the activity was.

State Police and federal agencies took control of the plane after it landed.

Passengers were seen coming off the plane on the tarmac and being loaded onto a bus. Orlandella said their carry-on luggage was being checked. The flight was from London's Heathrow Airport to Dulles.

Last week, British authorities said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from London to the United States.

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-HECK!

I'm telling you.... THIS is why you won't get me on ANY international flight. Ain't happening... no way, no how!

Hells no, wouldn't anyway.

I swear, I would be so on edge I would choke out anyone who even looked at me cross on a plane. There would be Spanks On A Plane for anyone's face that pulled some stuff.

-HECK!

Even more information, now discrediting previous reports:

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Disturbance diverts London-D.C. flight

BOSTON - Fighter jets escorted a London-to-Washington, D.C., flight to Boston's Logan airport Wednesday after the pilot declared an emergency because an apparently claustrophobic passenger caused a disturbance, a federal official said.

The federal security official said there was no indication of terrorism and denied reports that the woman had a screw driver, matches and a note referring to al-Qaida.

The female passenger aboard United Flight 923 said she was claustrophobic and became very upset and got into some kind of confrontation with the flight crew, said George Naccara, federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration for Massachusetts' airport.

The disturbance — coming just a week after authorities in London said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights — was enough to concern the pilot to issue an alert, which activated two fighter jets to escort the flight into Logan, Naccara said.

Naccara said he did not believe any items she was carrying were the cause of the outburst. An airport spokesman previously said the woman was carrying lotion, a screw driver and matches, but backed off the statement, and Naccara said it wasn't true.

The flight, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members landed safely, UAL Corp. spokesman Brandon Borrman said.

State Police and federal agencies took control of the plane after it landed.

Passengers were taken off the plane and loaded onto a bus. Naccara said the passengers were being interviewed. He had no information whether passengers had helped to subdue her.

Passenger luggage was removed from the plane and put on the tarmac, where it was rechecked by security officials and trained dogs.

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-HECK!

So let's review: a woman gets claustrophobic and jet fighters scramble to divert the plane. Super duper Dubya, super duper

-HECK!

Oh yeah... way to use our tax payers money. She was claustrophobic... and they went ballistic?

I'm all for protecting people... and trying to divert terrorism. But, damn, did they go a little overboard this time?

Now see this is why people are scared to get on a plane. Some lady who is claustrophobic get's into a sealed tube and starts panicking next thing we know F - 16's are chasing the plane across Boston this war on terror is making people crazy.

If she's claustrophobic you dope her up to the eyballs and tie her up before the plane takes off not in mid flight.

See? All this fuss for nothing... no real danger, just some nutball passenger freaking out... no big deal... even if it was a big deal, wouldn't keep me off the plane.


Have you ever noticed it's always United Airlines? What's the deal with that...

Should we be worried that the staff on this plane or airport security couldn't tell the difference between a panic attack and a terrorist attack?

And what did the pilot or whoever radioed in say and how did, "Woman on board having a panic attack and getting aggitated," get translated to security alert, launch the F-16s.

Maybe passengers getting on planes these days should be offered valium instead of booze.

Who knows what the lady was doing. Could have been screaming "we're all going to die! OMG!"

Well I think thew women was running about and screaming, I would imagine they tired everything before they had to tie her up. Also new aviation rules mean that none of the staff in the cockpit can leave and they have to listen to what the cabin crew say, so if a member of the cabin crew said that there was a women behaving irrantinally or acting crazy and fighting with staff and then take into account what has just happend and the fact that United is Al quedas airline of choice I think the pilot acted properly. Remember he or she did not ask for the F - 16's.

IUn truth it is the womens fault if you are ;caustrophobic don't get in a damn confined space.

Just herad on the newws that a plane has had to make and emergency landing in the south of Italy due to a bomb scare. all I know now is that it was an Excel flight from London to an Egyptian diving resort and a bomb scare was announced the plane made an emergency landing and was tracked by the Italian air force.

I think we are going to get a few stories like this in the next few week's, people are still in a high stae of alert and like 7/7 on the trains it will calm down eventually.