Posted on 08/17/2006 11:36:12 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
BOSTON (AP) — A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday.
Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., was to appear in federal court later Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew after disrupting United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
The flight, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members, landed safely with the escort of two F-15s after the pilot declared an emergency on board.
The scare came just a week after London authorities said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights. Federal officials quickly determined there were no indications of terrorism ties.
According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Daniel Choldin filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, flight attendants noticed Mayo about 90 minutes into the flight because she was pushing against the aircraft bulkhead. When the attendant told her to return to her seat, Mayo said she wanted to speak to an air marshal and made statements about knowing that people wanted to see what was in her bag.
FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz confirmed Thursday that authorities found a screwdriver and an unspecified number of cigarette lighters in her bag, items which are banned under new security regulations. Marcinkiewicz also confirmed that matches were found Mayo's bag.
She also had a bottle of water, which did not appear to be supplied by the flight crew. It wasn't clear how the items made it through airport security.
Since a foiled terror plot surfaced in London last week, airports have tightened security in both the United Kingdom and the U.S. Liquids and gels have been banned from carry-on luggage, and even tighter restrictions are in place in Britain. The terror plot apparently involved using such liquids to make and detonate bombs aboard planes.
Later during the flight, according to the affidavit, Mayo asked a flight attendant: "Is this a training flight for United Flight 93?" The flight attendant didn't know if she made a mistake because the flight was actually Flight 923, or if she was referring to Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11.
During that time, she was "biting her fingers, rubbing her feet and in a constant state of movement. She appeared very agitated," the affidavit said.
She wrote in a note and said to flight attendants that she had been in a country illegally, and later said she had photographs of Pakistan.
"She stated that the photographs would be awful, and she indicated that they related to the people that she had been with in the mountains of Pakistan," the affidavit said.
Her U.S. passport indicated that on Aug. 15 she had left Pakistan and entered the United Kingdom, according to the affidavit. As many as 17 people have been arrested in Pakistan in connection with the London terror plot.
Flight attendants summoned the captain, who spoke to Mayo. During the conversation, she made reference to there being "six steps to building some unspecified thing."
"She made reference to being with people associated with two words. She stated that she could not say what the two words were because the last time that she had said the two words she had been kicked off of a flight in the United Arab Emirates," according to the affidavit.
The captain and purser both believed that she was referring to al-Qaida, Choldin wrote.
About 35 minutes later, when she tried to go to the bathroom, the flight attendants directed her to a different lavatory. Instead, she pulled down her pants and urinated on the floor, Choldin wrote in the affidavit, which was based on his interviews and those of other federal officials.
At that point, the captain ordered her restrained. Two male passengers helped a flight attendant tackle Mayo and restrain her in plastic cuffs. She remained seated in the galley area of plane until the flight landed, according to the affidavit.
The outburst on the flight — just a week after London authorities said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights — prompted a massive security scare.
Gov. Mitt Romney said the woman was claustrophobic and became so upset she had to be restrained, and passengers said Mayo appeared to have emotional problems.
"She was in a frenzy," passenger Martin Drinkwater of London told The Boston Globe. "She then pulled her trousers and knickers down and squatted on the floor."
Antony Nash, 31, of San Diego, said he grew nervous watching the muttering woman seated near him, as she paced and made too many trips to the bathroom. The pilot did not make a general announcement to passengers of what was happening.
"I noticed F-15s next to the plane. I said, 'Oh my God.' And then we saw the emergency vehicles," Nash said.
Terror scares garner particular attention in Boston because of Logan's history. Members of al-Qaida hijacked two planes from Logan on Sept. 11, 2001, and flew them into the World Trade Center towers in New York.
Logan airport also was where an American Airlines Paris-Miami flight was diverted in 2001 when Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, tried to blow up the plane. He was thwarted by attendants and passengers after he tried to light a fuse leading to the concealed plastic explosives in his sneakers. He is now serving a life prison sentence.
I wonder if she took some meds to help her with the flying. My mother goes ape when she is medicated.
If she were claustrophobic she would have freaked out at the beginning of the flight and Not 7 hours later. She is psychotic not claustrophobic.
Makes you wonder why she didn't freak out on her way going TO Pakistan.
There was an executive who went psycho and deficated on a food cart in an airplane. There weren't many people in the press trying to make excuses for his behavior.
I have no sympathy or empathy left for the "disturbed".
I'm just tired, real tired of everyone's "problems"
or "feelings".
Screw em, shut em up, hand cuff em, give them a good beating and dump them in the baggage hole.
I got problems, you got problems and "feelin's", ....so what, get over it and STFU. Deal with it, get over it. Life is a bitch, so what, it's that way for all of us.
Want some cheese with that whine? STFU. And sing.
Is TSA in foreign airports for US bound flights? I was surprised last year when coming back from France through Canada, that I went through US Customs in Toronto.
Pravda. It's more trustworthy than Reuters or SeeBsViacom.
Fox had a terrorism expert on last Thursday and he was that all the ingredients necessary to blow up a plane could be purchased in airport stores inside the secure area. I am afraid TSA is woefully inept and totally lacking in the necessary vision to handle airport screening like Israel does. It is only a matter of time before tragedy strikes. Given the sorry state of airport security, it is amazing it hasn't happened in the past 5 yrs.
I think her intentions were 100% evil when she got on that flight. Too many connections to Pakistan. Her writings are anti-American. She simply chickened out. I hope Homeland Security checkes her out thorougly, and imprisons her if appropriate.
Yeah, it is like he is trying to whitewash any connection to being a looney Muslim, and instead blaming it on being claustrophobic.
If I'm on an airplane and some loon tries to open the emergency exit in flight (not the case here, but same severity), I wouldn't ask "why?", I'd be asking "what can be done to stop her?".
Palestinians are claustophobic. They need more space.
Here's a link to the thread...http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1685257/posts?q=1&&page=1#1
Time to force people to fly naked...
All others should walk.
" None of that description sounds like claustrophobia to me. ..... This statement of Romney's bothers me. "
Me, too.
LOL true, but they would probably settle for less Jews. Could make a good Miller Lite commercial. More space, less Jews.
"urinated on the cabin floor"
Yeah, that makes for a pleasant flying experience for the other passangers.
Right. Security checks should be done at the gate before boarding.
Wouldn't eliminate opportunities (like those of maintenance crews planting weapons or components) but it would do more to reduce the opportunity of passengers to bring something onboard.
Ultimately, the tide must be stemmed in the radical mosques. Security and legal prosecution will cost a hefty burden if we fight the modern crusades for 100 years in the courts.
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