[Mark17]

It would be interesting to learn if the same number of passengers who started the flight complete it after the plane's Canadian sojourn.

Interesting question indeed. It seems to me, if the pilot says everything is OK, he immediately changes the transponder code. From what I can gather, this did not happen.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

What if the pilot went through training to perform one, very specific purpose? I hope every cavity of his/hers is scoped after this.