Posted on 12/25/2002 9:20:54 AM PST by gitmo
Joke empties plane
Man ticketed and sent home as passengers scurry to resume travels
As he boarded a commuter plane at the Dane County Regional Airport Tuesday morning, 33-year-old Steven M. Wiese of Cottage Grove peeked around the cockpit door and made a joke: "I hope you haven't been drinking."
The pilot didn't think it was funny. Neither did the other passengers.
"(The pilot) could see the other passengers' heads popping up like gophers coming out of their holes," said Lt. Michael Krembs of the Dane County Sheriff's Department. "The whole plane could hear. He said it really loud."
In an instant, Wiese's holiday travel plans were ruined. The flight was delayed. The other passengers had to re-book on other flights on Christmas Eve. And the pilots were checked to make sure they indeed had not been drinking.
Wiese and his wife have not flown since their honeymoon nine years ago. He had planned a trip to New York as a surprise Christmas gift for her.
"I shouldn't have said it. I regret saying it," Wiese said Tuesday afternoon. "I meant it as a joke. I had a smile on my face. But they took it the wrong way."
Atlantic Coast Airlines flight 6302, with 26 passengers aboard, was delayed. The crew reported to a medical facility to be tested for alcohol and drugs, in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
"Since 9-11, you can't joke about anything in an airport," Krembs said.
Wiese apologized to his fellow travelers as they got off the plane at the Madison airport and lined up at the ticket counter, hoping to be re-booked. Then he and his wife got in line, too.
"The deputies pulled them out of line and said, 'Oh, no. You're not going anywhere today,' " Krembs said.
The deputies then ticketed Wiese for disorderly conduct. He must pay a $225 fine.
That's not all.
The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office will discuss the incident after the holidays and decide whether the man should face the more serious charge of interfering with a flight crew, a federal felony that carries a maximum 20-year prison term, said Monica Shipley, FBI spokeswoman.
All of the other passengers were re-booked to their final destinations, said Rick Delisi, spokesman for Atlantic Coast Airlines. The members of the flight crew all tested negative for alcohol and other controlled substances. Their plane departed more than four hours late, at 2:05 p.m.
Delisi said the pilot followed the proper procedures.
"The crew is never meant to ask whether (people are) joking or what their motivations are," he said. ". . . People just don't realize the seriousness of what they're saying."
For Wiese, that realization came at a high price - and not just the cost of the non-refundable plane tickets. Instead of taking the trip, he and his wife now plan a quiet holiday at home trying to recover from the ordeal.
Wiese has weighed in his mind exactly what he should have done differently.
"I should have said, 'Merry Christmas.' "
A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 25, 2002.
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The incident at the Dane County Regional Airport is not the first time a passenger has gotten into trouble for making a comment regarded as inappropriate.
A female passenger was kicked off an America West Airlines flight in San Francisco July 8 after she asked, "Have you checked your crew for sobriety?"
A Massachusetts man was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $500 this year when airlines workers asked if he was carrying anyone else's items and he said, "Like one of those ticking cardboard boxes?"
A Delaware man was sentenced to six months in prison in 1998 for forcing a jet to make an emergency landing after joking about having explosives in his carry-on bag.
A Miami woman was arrested in 1999 for swearing at flight attendants when she blocked a meal cart and was told to move.
I hope you were not lumping me in with the comment "statist", as I find this reaction by the airline ridiculous. As a paying customer, he should have the right to ask any question he wishes regarding his safety.
The whole country needs an enema.
Good point. I once noticed that one of two large food racks that were rolled in didn't get latched to the braces in the floor. I stupidly didn't say anything and on takeoff the darned thing began rolling rapidly down the aisle. Several of us unbuckled and kept it from crashing into the rear of the compartment. It was heavy and picking up speed down the steep incline. The stewardesses would never have been able to stop the fool thing. They speculated that it could have gone right through the bulkhead back there.
Now I would point out anything that doesn't look right to me. Even a problem with the pilot. Better jailed than dead.
Hope you are having a Merry Christmas.
Do these words have any meaning to you, or do they just get in the way of a good rant, Eric?
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