Attendant charged with sabotaging jet safety equipment
A flight attendant has been charged with sabotaging emergency equipment on 14 Northwest Airlines commuter flights - including at least five from Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport.
The sabotage delayed or canceled Northwest Airlink flights and even forced one New York-bound flight to turn back to Milwaukee in midair on Wednesday. No one was injured in the incidents.
FBI agents arrested Steven R. Hirtzinger, 23, of Chaska, Minn., Wednesday night after two incidents on flights from Mitchell. He appeared in federal court in Minneapolis on Thursday. The case moves to Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Hirtzinger is accused of tampering with oxygen tanks, breathing masks, fire extinguishers and other equipment on Northwest Airlink regional jets operated by Pinnacle Airlines of Memphis, Tenn. He has been suspended and banned from airports.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1309299/posts
That's scary. My brother-in-law is a pilot for Northwest Airlink. I'll see if I can find out anything more the next time I talk to him.
On the topic of airlines, does anybody have second thoughts about the baggage problems in Philadelphia? Most likely it was simpply disgruntled USAir employees. But I really wonder about the massive nature of the problem and also why ASAir moved all the luggage out of Philadelphia to sort it. In a related issue, has anybody else had big problems recently with overnight air delivery?