Posted on 12/04/2009 10:45:07 AM PST by STARWISE
Air Tran Airways Flight 297 was scheduled to leave Atlanta at 4:43PM in route to Houston Hobby Airport.
Because of my position as Corps Commander of the Houston Regional Community Chaplain Corps, I frequently wear my Chaplain jacket as I travel. Like some sort of heavenly magnet, the Chaplain jacket invites discussion with a wide variety of people who are struggling with issues in need of a comforting ear.
My connecting flight was late and the door to the jet way closed prior to my boarding. So, even though I was rescheduled on a much later flight far from C16 I settled down with a newspaper and only 1/4th of my remaining cell phone battery.
While waiting at the distant gate, I noticed on the scheduling monitors that Flight 297 had returned to gate C16 and was scheduled to leave at 5:45PM. I hurried back to gate C16 in hopes of boarding my original flight after it strangely returned to the gate.
Upon arriving at the gate I noticed that there was a look of solemn concern on the faces of the gate attendants. I asked if I could get on flight 297 when they returned to the gate.
Their faces indicated a distinct level of stress that let everyone in the seating area knew that there was a problem on board. When I approached them a few moments later I said, “I am a Chaplain. Is there some way that I can be of help?” They said, “No.” Obviously, an event had occurred that they would not talk about.
Over the next thirty minutes officials from Air Tran started arriving at the gate, flashing their badges and going down to the plane.
After 6-7 officials exited the door, suddenly it flew open and 12-15 people from the flight hurried off the plane. Anger and fear was etched on their faces as they jerked their carryon and tore into their computer bags to schedule another flight out of Atlanta.
One gentleman confronted the gate agent demanding his luggage be removed from the flight. As I spoke to him he related that when Flight 297 left the concourse the first time it began taxiing to take off when approximately 12 men of Middle Eastern appearance stood up and began dancing and singing in an Arabic dialect.
They refused to be seated when directed to do so by the flight attendants. Then, the singing stopped and some of the men took out their cell phones and began taking pictures of the other individual passengers. Again, the men were ordered to be seated by the flight crew and refused while continuing to take their pictures.
Next, the deboarded passenger related that a few of the men gestured with imaginary guns as their fingers, indicating with their triggering action that they would shoot the people on the plane.
The flight crew declared an emergency and the plane returned to the concourse. The 12 men were taken to another area of the airport and questioned. It is my understanding that their luggage was removed and checked.
Then, ten of the men were allowed to get back on the plane. That’s when the 12-15 passengers decided that they wanted to get off that plane and take other flights. This ordeal had gone on approximately 2 hours to this point.
With much concern I was allowed to go down the jet way to the plane. There I encountered a man claiming that he was from Homeland Security to assess the situation. I related to the Homeland Security man about the claims of the photos and the shooting hand gestures related by the first man to exit the plane and I told him that I was a Senior Chaplain familiar with Critical Incident Response and would wait to help him should the passengers need my help. He said, “Thanks.”
The flight crew hurriedly walked past me leaving the plane with their baggage. The flight attendants were emotionally shaken, red faced, in tears and were sobbing. A new flight crew was ordered for the flight. All remaining passengers awaited their next crew, unsure of the ultimate destiny of this flight.
When I boarded the plane the air was tense and filled with emotion. Many of the passengers were obviously upset and at wits end. Often passengers would look back then forward to assess any change in the suspicious activities of the 10 hostile Middle Eastern passengers.
Although my seat was 22D I moved to the back of the plane to gain a better view of any actions that might take place in front of me. Some of the Middle Eastern men were in the Business Class area and the remainder was seated in the back of the plane.
They spoke only Arabic and I did not understand what they were saying although a strange burst of laughter would erupt as they spoke.
I struggled to see if these men were merely tragically toying with the emotions of the other American passengers or if they intended to do more. I calmed the new flight attendants and told them where I would be seated if they or any of the other passengers needed me.
I asked the flight attendant if she did or did not know whether we had an Air Marshal on the plane. She said that they were never told when one was on board. I prayed for the peace to handle whatever might happen on the flight but kept my eyes peeled forward for any suspicious movements.
One of the other passengers in mid-plane grew restless and began to show signs of rising agitation. He got up from his chair looked back and then to the front of the plane and paced back and forth between three to four rows.
I prayed that that he would not become violent with some of the men but then he quickly sat down and remained quiet until the end of the flight.
One hour into the flight thankfully nothing had happened.
The outer skin of Flight 297’s body must have radiated with prayers ascending into heaven from the passengers…and the one Chaplain at the back of the plane.
Each of the Middle Eastern men remained quiet but frequently went into the overhead compartments to retrieve what appeared to be electronic devices and other packages from their backpacks. I was thankful when the men in the back of the plane appeared to nod off into a harmless sleep.
One of the 10 men from Business Class came back to retrieve a box marked as a Mac Notebook. He brought it to the front of the plane and put it in third compartment on the left of the plane.
There must have been four or five airline pilots in uniform on board making connecting flights through Hobby Airport in Houston. One of the pilot passengers moved the Mac Notebook box to another overhead area without anyone observing the new distant hiding place for his package.
Rest @ link
~~Ping!
What is a "Community Chaplain Corps"? Aren't these just volunteers who put on a uniform without any authority being granted by anyone (other than perhaps divine authority)?
Does the Houston Regional Community Chaplain Corps have any members other than Dr. Robinson?
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2009/12/03/what-happened-on-airtran-airways-flight-297/
interesting compilation
You don't need legilsation. You need airlines with guts. Boot the clowns, bar them from flying your airline. Airlines are private property, you do NOT have to carry anyone who wants to buy a ticket. We have a "no fly" list for a reason. These clowns should be on it.
This story is gaining traction and validity(as it should). I would have been one of those 15 passengers demanding to get off of that plane. It’s amazing that not more people demanded to get off. PC is going to get alot more people killed before this is all over. Why in the world would homeland security not arrest these muslim men for threatening passengers at least? It’s crazy!
Let them sue. Love to see what an American jury would do to their case.
Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, unless and until we decide to be cowards in chains.
It would seem to me that these “middle eastern men” could have faced federal charges for interfering with a flight crew.
^^^
This is crazy. People who get drunk and surly on planes get into trouble and are removed, yet these terrorists were allowed to reboard.
From other reports that I read, the replacement crew initially refused to let passengers off until the passengers were so adamant that they practically bullied their way off.
I'm thinking that the airlines will push back hard on passengers asking to be let off of planes, because of fears of lame excuses for wanting off. However, in this situation, having the original flight crew wanting off is enough justification for passengers wanting off, too. Perhaps the airlines would push back on that, too, saying that the flight crew was compromised by the incident and should not fly that shift, but that the passengers have no valid excuse to be let off?
-PJ
These Jihadis are getting ready to strike again!
~~~~
I feel it ... and our government is getting us ready
as their very policies pave the way for our enemies.
***
Perhaps it is the Reichstag fire that BHO wants so he can declare marshal law and suspend elections.
I rule out nothing from them.
I would have made such a hissy fit scene, that they would have thrown me off of that plane...lol! I don’t understand folks who don’t listen to their instincts in regards to this kind of stuff and meekly do whatever ‘authority’ figures tell them to do. You have ME men pretending to shoot passengers with their trigger fingers, cussing and calling the flight attendents ‘infidel dogs’ and you don’t demand to be taken off of the plane when the airline does not throw them off? WTH is wrong with folks? LOL!
Another perspective on the terrorist attempt.
I would like to hear from at least one other passenger who saw the whole incident.
OMG! A Fiddler on the Roof attack!
“As initially stated, proper and accurate investigation takes time to corroborate eyewitness accounts, which are often unreliable, contradictive and in cases like this, colored by emotion.
Having interviewed a total of seven-(7) individuals directly involved in this incident over the last several days, including two law enforcement officers who handled the after action reports, the situation pertaining to the initial 13 and remaining 10 or 11 Muslim men allowed to continue their travels was far greater than an incident involving the unauthorized use of a cell phone that resulted in a minor flight delay, as reported by the mainstream media.
According to one airline security official,
“This was a deliberate, well planned attempt to disrupt a domestic flight that was organized in advance of the boarding of these [Muslim] passengers.
The purpose of their actions appeared to be multi-faceted, not the least of which was an attempt to change their status from passengers to victims of religious profiling.
The situation was handled in a manner that we believe might have avoided an incident like USAir had in 2006, where everyone from the passengers who reported suspicious behavior to the airline was subjected to legal action by the Muslim passengers.”
While litigation might have been avoided, passengers and flight crew remain traumatized, and our air travel system was unnecessarily disrupted during one of the busiest air travel weeks in the U.S.
The agenda of the Islamists behind this incident is clear, yet no one in the media seems to have the desire to expose these ideological cretins for what they are.
Additional information about this incident is forthcoming.”
Copyright © Douglas Hagmann
Douglas Hagmann, founder & director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, and a multi-state licensed private investigative agency. Doug began using his investigative skills and training to fight terrorism and increase public awareness through his website.
Doug can be reached at: director@homelandsecurityus.com
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/17508
Douglas Hagmann did a great job in gathering the facts of this situation.
It reminds me of Fort Hood and the immediate, “this is not terrorism” which later turned out to be “terrorism.”
My question would be, “Did the people on the plane feel terrorized by the actions of the group of Muslim men?” From the description that the Chaplain gave, these American citizens were “terrorized” by the intimidation tactics and actions of these men.
When more American citizens stand up and say “I will not tolerate this” we will start to resolve the problems. Until such time, they are only going to escalate. You can’t get anywhere by appeasing the “bad guys.”
The PC crowd doesn’t care—as long as it isn’t THEM or one of THEIR loved ones involved as a possible casualty. Todd Beamer’s patriotic spirit is still alive and well. I am so hacked off at PC that I am PIC as often as possible. I teach college students. Most colleges seem to be handcuffed by PC. I unabashedly say “Merry Christmas” to students, and when they have a serious problem, I tell them I’m praying for them. I double dog DARE anyone to EVER say anything to me about it. Not to brag, but they NEED lowly master-degreed functionaries like me who teach English. If they ever want to make an issue of it, so be it.
I’ve thought from the beginning that this chaplain’s story has a ring of truth to it. I listened today to the interview on Gill’s show. What would he have to gain by constructing a story that easily could be dismantled?
God Bless You for going into the teaching profession. That makes my day just knowing that there are some conservatives ‘infiltrating’ the marxist endoctrination centers....LOL!!
Keep up the great work!
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