Posted on 04/21/2006 11:15:37 PM PDT by Pyro7480
United Airlines Flight Diverted to Denver
DENVER - A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was diverted to Denver International Airport, airport officials said.
Two F-16 fighter jets from Buckley Air Force Base scrambled to escort the plane as it flew into Denver Friday, according to Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, a spokesman for NORAD.
"They followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen," he said.
Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega was arrested after the plane landed around 4:30 p.m., FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso said.
Three Secret Service agents traveling between assignments who happened to be on the plane helped detain the passenger, said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren.
After the A-320 Airbus landed, it taxied to a remote part of the airport where the passengers got off and were bused to the terminal.
None of the 138 passengers or six crew members was injured, airport spokesman Chuck Cannon said. The flight was headed to Sacramento, Calif., from Chicago.
Authorities searched the aircraft for explosives and re-screened luggage and passengers before they reboarded the plane, which took off for its original destination around 7:30 p.m., Kelso said.
Thank you, Flight 93, for your example. Your memory and spirit lives on.
Yes, but it's sad that the passengers are the ones who have to take security into their own hands. A little common sense at the terminal wouldn't hurt.
Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega? Any bets on his citizenship status...
Unless he had a fake ID, he's probably has a green card.
You are so correct! What I see is that people have realized they are not helpless - even in the air.
What sort of common sense would allow the folks at the terminal to know that this guy would claim to have a bomb once the plane had taken off?
WOW!
"A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers"
YES!!!!!
Just doing the self-service jobs Americans SHOULD be doing....
Nice backup, huh?
My formula is simple and inexpensive:
Let the machines deal with explosives. Let the passengers and flight attendants deal with the assholes. Problem solved.
It is that simple. 99% of the security we have today, without all the overhead. No jihadi has the game to take on a planeload of passengers who think said jihadi wants to hijack a plane. Short and brutal that struggle would be.
They rolled!
JOSE 
A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was diverted to Denver International Airport, airport officials said.
A very indirect way of saying "if the airplane were hijacked they would have shot it down rather than let it endanger high-value targets"
Nice graphic but it was a United airlines flight. Can you redo it for us? Thanks.
Do we have to have that on EVERY SINGLE DAMN THREAD on FR???
Can't you control yourself?
Of course we do. The border trolls say it anytime there is the a thread about someone with a Hispanic surname.
I know what you mean. Filipinos often have Spanish names, for example.
FGS, it's ridiculous. If people want to discuss it, there's a billion threads they can post on.
People are sick of it.
But, but, how could anyone possibly get a fake ID past the skilled airport screeners at Homeland Security?
(Chuckle) You do have a point. :-)
Very funny.
Now if you can just work in something about Terri Schiavo, life will be complete.
Pretend it is a United jet
Or squint or put on shades
I use AA on my 911 WTC graphics
So many airlines
So little time
I have the F16s too but I don't like clutter
...A spokesman for United Airlines, Brandon Borrman, said there were reports that Ortega was traveling with others, but he did not know if they were family members.
Officials in Denver and with the FBI declined to say how Ortega was acting during the flight or what may have caused him to attempt to open an emergency door.
I like your graphic and I love your tagline!
It doesn't say but I hope that "subdued" means that they beat the living crap out of the guy...
He sure picked the wrong flight for his threat.
New government policy or upgrade?
Our taxpayer money in action.
Why I ALWAYS have a roll of duct Tape in my carryon. Makes a great restraint or gag. A million other uses on vacation too. Don't leave home without it......
Donna Bell didn't think much about the man roaming the aisle of her Sacramento-bound flight Friday, until he tried to open the emergency exit door and shouted that he had a bomb hidden in his camera. "Had he opened the door, we'd all be dead," said Bell, who was returning from a trip to Holland.
Bell, who lives near Visalia, said she was relieved to land in Sacramento after the airliner's cabin and cargo hold were searched by bomb-sniffing dogs during a stop-over at Denver International Airport. No explosives were found.
(SNIP)
Witnesses said Pelayo-Ortega then swung at the flight attendant before he was put in a choke hold and thrown to the floor by crew members and passengers, including three Secret Service agents traveling between assignments. The agents wrestled Pelayo-Ortega away from the door and duct-taped him to his seat.
Pelayo-Ortega was being held Friday night at the Denver Police Department pending federal charges, said Monique Kelso, FBI spokeswoman.
"It is premature at this time to say what the charges will be," she said. "We probably will not know until Monday."
Authorities did not disclose Pelayo-Ortega's age, city of residence or other personal information.
Joe Peña, a senior airman at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, said the in-flight fracas went by quickly, but he described the scene like a bar fight that passengers standing and craning their necks to get a look.
"I heard a bunch of commotion, and I heard somebody yell 'What are you doing' and 'Get down,' then I saw the guy put into a chokehold, put on his back and pinned down so he couldn't move," Peña said in Sacramento, after hugging his tearful wife, Candy.
(SNIP)
COMPLETE 
"Had he opened the door, we'd all be dead,"
Those doors can't be opened in flight.
It pays to have duct tape available. One can always find a use for it.
Amen.
Looks like somebody got up on the wrong aide of their keyboard this morning.
As I've said since 9-11, there will not be a successful hijacking of a U.S. flight for a very long time. Passengers will assume they're dead already, so they'll fight back almost immediately.
If the plane would have been full of Liberals they would have negotiated with this "disturbed" person until the plane ran out of gas.
Then the US and European press would have applauded the passengers for being willing to die rather than resort to violence.
Then there would have been hundreds of funerals with all the Democrats standing up and bashing Bush for his lack of security at the airports.
Such a missed opportunity for Democrats.
Seperating the spine at the base of the skull works well too, and it won't pull hair out like the removal of the duct tape.
And a roll of available duct tape too. ya just gotta love all that serendipity in one place.
He'd also have superhuman strength. Those doors are impossible to open in flight.
I hate to break the news to you, but there's no requirement that one must be a US citizen in order to fly.
If I'm ever on a flight where some freak pulls this bologna, the word "subdued" in subsequent news reports will be a euphemism for "had the living sh!t beat out of him".
Don't leave home without it :)
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