I have never heard of Steve Gill before I read an anonymous comment while trying to research this incident. Steve Gill's biography seems solid. Maybe someone in Tenn has listened to his show.
Atlanta Journal says there is nothing to these "accounts".
I don't know? Sounds Fishy.
Ug. Bad posting of links. Sorry.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/faa-to-investigate-cell-202143.html (Official news about flight)
http://espositosmusings.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/air-tran-flight-297-incident1.pdf (Chaplain Keith Robinson)
http://oldnfo.blogspot.com/2009/11/testing-testing.html
(first passenger account)
Still sounds “iffy” to me.
EDITED FOR HIS SAFETY
This is unbelievable… this can happeen on in America. We must not upset anybody.
This is unbelievable. The story on the web makes it all sound so nonchalant. http://www.khou.com/news/Phone-call-delays-Houston-bound-AirTran-flight-70369417.html
Then I got this email from my good friend xxx xxxxxx, a diver at the NBL facility at NASA who I used to work with. He happened to be on this same flight. In my opinion, the muslims are all getting very brave now, since they have one of their own in the White House. Read Tedd’s story below. Can you imagine, our own news media are so politically correct now that they are afraid to report that these were all muslims. Unbelievable! Thank God for people like Tedd Petruna.
Semper Fi,
A. xxx xxxx
B. -—— Original Message -——
From: XXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: undisclosed-recipients
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 11:32 AM
One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, November 17, I returned home. If you read the papers, you may have seen a blurb where an AirTran flight was cancelled from Atlanta to Houston due to a man who refused to get off of his cell phone before takeoff. It was on Fox.
That was NOT what happened!
I was in first class coming home. Eleven muslim men got on the plane in full attire. Two sat in first class and the rest peppered themselves throughout the plane all the way to the back. As the plane taxied to the runway, the stewardesses gave the safety spiel we are all so familiar with. At that time, one of the men got on his cell and called one of his companions in the back and proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very aggressively. This took the first stewardess out of the picture for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at the time. He ignored her as if she wasn’t there.
The second man who answered the phone did the same and this took out the second stewardess. In the back of the plane at this time, 2 younger muslims, one in the back aisle, and one in front of him, window, began to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it. Now, they are only permitted to do this prior to Jihad. If a Muslim man goes into a strip club, he has to view the woman via mirror with his back to her (don’t ask me, I don’t make the rules, but I’ve studied). The third stewardess informed them that they were not to have electronic devices on at this time. To which one of the men said, “Shut up, infidel dog!” She went to take the camcorder and he began to scream in her face in Arabic.
At that exact moment, all 11 of them got up and started to walk to the cabin. This is where I had had enough! I got up and started to the back where I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size say, “I got your back.” I grabbed the man who had been on the phone by the arm and said, “you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!” As I led him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed out with him. I then grabbed the second man and said, “You WILL do the same!” He protested but adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go. As I escorted him forward, the plane doors open and 3 TSA agents and 4 police officers entered. Me and my new Texan friend were told to cease and desist for they had this under control. I was happy to oblige actually. There was some commotion in the back, but within moments, all 11 were escorted off the plane. They then unloaded their luggage.
We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happened, when suddenly, the door opened again and on walked all eleven!! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic (the only way I can describe it). The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw this, she was having NONE of it! Being that I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agent there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with these men. The agent told her they had searched them and were going to go through their luggage with a fine tooth comb and that they were allowed to proceed to Houston. The captain and co-captain came out and told the agent, “we and our crew will not fly this plane!” After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. Five minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on.
Again, this is where I had had enough!! I got up and asked, “What the hell is going on?” I was told to take my seat. They were sorry for the delay and I would be home shortly. I said, “I’m getting off this plane.” The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off.
Now I’m mad! I said, “I am a grown man who bought this ticket, who’s time is mine with a family at home and I am going through that door, or I’m going through that door with you under my arm!! But I am going through that door!!” And I heard a voice behind me say, “So am I.” Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same. Within 2 minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met with more agents who asked me to write a statement. I had 5 hours to kill at this point so why the hell not. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was cancelled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6pm. I got here at 12:30am.
Look up the date. Flight 297, Atlanta to Houston.
If this wasn’t a dry run, I don’t know what one is. They wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it.
I’m telling this to you because I want you to know. The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes.
Tedd Petruna
name and phone number omitted for his safety
“Old Soldiers never die; they just fade away.” General Douglas MacArthur
Happens all the time. The airlines are continuously “probed” to see if there is potential there. It happened fairly often leading up to 9/11 (and since). The Feds know about the incidents. The public, not so much.
Realistically, the next terrorist incidents will probably NOT be airline based attacks. There are easier venues to accomplish their atrocities (shopping centers, Fort Hood, sports gatherings). There are plenty of softer methods than the old airline model that bore fruit in the past.
What’s pretty much a sure thing, is that the bad guys will be working hard at creating something bigger and nastier than what happened in 2001. The way the Administration is reverting to a pre-9/11 mentality, the “Big ‘un” will now be much more likely and more easily accomplished. More blood, more disruption, and more misplaced blame on the American people rather than upon the Muslim terrorists where it belongs.
Remember the FBI stating immediately (and reflexively now), that there was no terrorist connection to the Fort Hood massacre? So much for straight talk from the authorities. It’s PC first, and protection second. Hopefully, the next terrorist atrocity will fail based on the incompetence of the attackers. I wouldn’t rely on hope to protect us though.
I am still wondering about those Northwest Pilots who apparently ‘fell asleep’ while flying. A few days later six passengers ‘fainted’ on a transAtlantic flight. Very strange.
Just playing through that scenario mentally, I find it unconvincing. How much trouble is it to get a guy to hang up a cell phone? And who is going to take the plane back to the gate to dump the guy off? And how does it take 2 1/2 hours to deal with such a small matter?
It looks like a coverup story to me. Less plausible than the passenger account, anyway.
btrl
My thoughts.....there’s no way the whole thing went down and NO ONE got it on cell phone camera. Someone would have filmed it, just for security’s sake.