Posted on 09/11/2002 1:08:18 PM PDT by Illbay
- "Sky Marshalls Have Subdued One or More Men On Flight"
Still Trying To Figure What's Going On. This is at terminal A...
(09-11) 13:04 PDT HOUSTON (AP) -- An American Airlines jet returned to Bush Intercontinental Airport on Wednesday after reports of a disturbance on board, officials said.
FBI spokesman Bob Doguim said authorities were looking into the possibility someone may have tried to hijack the flight. But a government official familiar with the incident said later that there's no evidence of that.
"We do not believe there was a hijacking attempt on that flight," the official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
This flight was en route to DALLAS!
Not Denver as earlier reported.
Makes sense; Dallas is of course the regional hub for AA.
Meanwhile...
Sept. 11, 2002, 3:13PM
Drama at Bush Airport may have been a false alarm
Associated PressAn American Airlines flight was escorted back to Bush Intercontinental Airport by F-16 fighters this afternoon after a disturbance that the FBI initially though could be a hijacking. An airport spokesman said, however, that the incident may have been a false alarm.
Houston airport spokesman Ernie DeSoto said that a crew member apparently spotted what might have been a straight-edge razor in a passenger's pocket and told the pilot, who notified law enforcement authorities and returned to Houston.
The disturbance appears to have been a false alarm but the crew decided to be more safe than sorry, he said.
Initially, FBI spokesman Bob Doguim said the incident "appeared to be an attempted hijacking," but he cautioned that was not confirmed.
Flight 1720, with 50 passengers, departed Houston for Dallas at 12:28 p.m. but returned to Bush Intercontinental at 1:08 p.m. after reports of a disturbance on board. The flight's ultimate destination was Nashville, Tenn.
"The captain returned to Houston due to a potential security incident," said American spokesman Todd Burke. "We did have two federal air marshals on board. Our reports indicate the passenger involved has been removed from the aircraft."
Doguim said he did not want to speculate on what exactly happened on the plane.
"We should find comfort in the fact that there were federal air marshals on that flight and the quick response from personnel assigned out at the airport," Doguim said. "There's no need to alarm anybody with misinformation. We have it under control."
Earlier today, another airliner was diverted to Fort Smith, Ark., because four passengers behaved strangely on the flight, including at least three who locked themselves in a restroom, possibly shaving their body hair.
No injuries were reported.
Federal officials, speaking on a condition of anonymity, said the incident was not believed to be related to terrorism.
However, KSTP-TV in Minneapolis, where Northwest Airlines is based, quoted an unidentified source as saying the men were "shaving themselves clean." A source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that people aboard the airplane gave investigators similar accounts.
After last year's terror attacks, documents found in the luggage of attack leader Mohamed Atta gave what appeared to be instructions for the suicide hijackers: "The previous night, shave the extra hair from the body (and) pray."
The men appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, said Jim Harris, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Scott Brenner said some people were detained by the FBI at Fort Smith, but he didn't know how many. The FBI office at Little Rock said the men were taken off the plane but their whereabouts were unknown.
The Bush administration had raised the nation's terror alert warning to its second highest level Tuesday -- code orange -- signaling a "high risk" of attack on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Airbus took off from Memphis at 8:47 a.m. Central time and was scheduled to arrive at Las Vegas at 10:19 a.m. Pacific time.
Alcoholics Anonymous? From the sound of this, there could be some connection.
I've seen nothing referring to anyone shaving their body hair.
I've just seen "shaving themselves clean." If they were shaving all their body hair, did they do it in the cabin, disrobing for all to see? Did someone go in the bathroom to watch them?
Shaving themselves clean could refer to cleanly removing a beard, etc. etc.
As I noted before the "pouring a powder into an air duct" from several months ago that got a plane held on the runway for 5 hours was based on the report of another passenger, and it turned out to be confetti contained in a greeting card that the passenger in question opened.
Don't trust ANY basic facts in any breaking incident. And when the basic facts change, it's not a gubbmint coverup everytime, either.
So we have three men in a bathroom shawing each others body hair. Strange, very strange, these Arab party animals...
Check your local CompUSA.
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