Posted on 12/27/2004 6:39:10 PM PST by Straight Vermonter
A flight attendant has been charged with sabotaging emergency equipment on 14 Northwest Airlines commuter flights - including at least five from Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport.
The sabotage delayed or canceled Northwest Airlink flights and even forced one New York-bound flight to turn back to Milwaukee in midair on Wednesday. No one was injured in the incidents.
FBI agents arrested Steven R. Hirtzinger, 23, of Chaska, Minn., Wednesday night after two incidents on flights from Mitchell. He appeared in federal court in Minneapolis on Thursday. The case moves to Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Hirtzinger is accused of tampering with oxygen tanks, breathing masks, fire extinguishers and other equipment on Northwest Airlink regional jets operated by Pinnacle Airlines of Memphis, Tenn. He has been suspended and banned from airports.
His attorney, Fred Bruno, said Hirtzinger will plead not guilty. Bruno noted that Hirtzinger was the one who reported most of the tampering.
But Pinnacle managers became suspicious when they noticed that nearly all of the sabotage occurred on flights where Hirtzinger was the sole flight attendant, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court in Milwaukee.
The lone exception was an Aug. 24 flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Norfolk, Va., and Hirtzinger had worked on the last flight using that plane, the complaint says.
Acts of sabotage started Aug. 8 and continued through Wednesday, but they paused when Hirtzinger wasn't working, the complaint says. Pinnacle has inspected its entire fleet and found no other problems, airline spokesman Phil Reed said in a prepared statement.
According to the complaint, prepared by the Transportation Security Administration's Milwaukee office:
Once the pattern emerged, Pinnacle assigned a mechanic to inspect the emergency equipment on the jet to be used for Flight 2820 from Milwaukee to La Guardia Airport in New York City on Wednesday morning. The inspection found nothing wrong.
But before taking off with Hirtzinger aboard, the crew found the seals broken on the emergency breathing equipment for the pilots. After a delay, the airline decided the equipment was still usable, and the flight took off.
While in the air, however, the crew found an oxygen tank leaking and turned back to Milwaukee.
The plane passed another inspection and then took off for Minneapolis-St. Paul that afternoon. The complaint doesn't name the flight, but an airport schedule shows Flight 2816 is the only afternoon flight using a regional jet.
When that flight arrived, another mechanic inspected the jet and found the fire extinguisher disabled, even though the Milwaukee-based mechanic found it working before the plane left.
Previous incidents involved a Sept. 11 trip on Flight 2820; Flight 2822 from Milwaukee to La Guardia on Dec. 4; Flight 2828 from Milwaukee to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.; and flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Omaha, Neb.; from Harrisburg, Pa., and Casper, Wyo., to Minneapolis-St. Paul; and from Indianapolis to La Guardia, the complaint said.
The complaint also mentions flights on Dec. 13, Dec. 14, Monday and Tuesday, but it doesn't identify them by route or number. Reed said he had no information on them.
Nothing in the complaint suggests a motive for the tampering, and Reed said he couldn't speculate on what the motive might be.
Because of the Christmas Eve holiday, authorities at the U.S. attorney's offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis and the Milwaukee FBI office were not available for comment Friday. Agent Paul McCabe, an FBI spokesman in Minneapolis, referred questions to the Milwaukee FBI office.
Wasn't there an attendant a few months ago that faked a bomb threat?
Don't they give these people a psych test to assess their sanity before hiring them?
Welcome to Asylum Airlines!
Bump.
One less gay steward.
A black woman in Tennessee? SWA flight? Details murky, here, too.
Lock this person up and throw away the key. Unbelievable.
Blue State
He was probably having domestic trouble with his boyfriend.
Queer Eye for the Fly Guy?
Obviously one banana short of an entire fruit plate!
More union shenanigans?
Not all male FAs are gay, but the stereotype sure isn't based on nothing. On at least one major airline, all male FAs are nicknamed "Brooth" (i.e., "Bruce" with a lisp). They appear to be cool with it and think it's as funny as the other crew, but who really knows?
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
This is a hero complex thang........FA was looking for attention and got it..........BTW are ya aware of Mcgees loss......?
My 26 y.o. son is a pinnacle Airline captain and told me about this.
<< Don't they give these people a psych test to assess their sanity before hiring them? >>
Nope.
Not any more.
And never with today's low bidder hires.
Only a quota check-off.
Crazy?
Could be.
Hitler was a poofter, too.
1. Hero complex -- Lord save us from those guys. He gets attention all right. Maybe not what he expecte.
2. Trav's dad -- yeah. I used to have the email from when he was sending us chapters of EFAD in progress, couldn't find it last night, busy today but will FReepmail him tonight. I had no idea our frog had so many sibs! Is he sure he's not Afghan?
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
He had to be tough with that many sisters......:o)
Hope it goes easy for him and his family.
Stay safe !
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