Posted on 12/07/2009 8:44:04 AM PST by pissant
In the age of balloon boys and party crashers, regular people just don't know what to believe any more.
Last week, I spent more than my share of hours trying to track down the truth about an incident on an AirTran flight out of Atlanta on Nov. 17.
Flight 297 to Houston, with about 70 passengers onboard, departed gate C-16 at 4:43 p.m. Until something happened that caused the pilot to turn around and come back.
Two and a half weeks later, the incident is in high dispute, thanks to some passengers who have spoken out on the Internet about what they say is a cover-up by AirTran and other transportation officials. This has been heating up since Tuesday, when one passenger's e-mail about the events he saw on the plane went viral, and the saga isn't over yet.
Initial media reports from Nov. 18 indicate the cause of the plane's turnaround was a single passenger who refused to turn off an electronic device. Some accounts said cell phone, some said video camera, but the bottom line is the flight crew felt something was amiss enough to turn around after they'd left the gate - no small occurrence.
In the now infamous e-mail (AirTran refers to it on their Web site www.inside airtran.com as "Flight 297 - Anatomy of an Urban Legend") a Texas man writes about an orchestrated attempt by a group of 13 men, which he characterizes as Muslim, to intimidate flight attendants and passengers.
His colorful description of the troublemakers boarding the plane, spreading out to their seats and then being uncooperative and verbally abusive toward flight attendants and other passengers hit my mailbox Tuesday, having been forwarded by the writer's friend, a former Marine and NASA employee, who also included his name, address and phone number.
(Excerpt) Read more at mdjonline.com ...
Bump for later
This is more like it. Airtran is lying.
Brown, who is also chairman of the Marietta History Museum, confirmed late Saturday that he was on Flight 297 and that there was chaos on the plane. He believes the entire incident was mishandled by AirTran officials, though has kind words for the pilot, who he said, "was dead right" in his decision-making, and is to be commended for turning the plane around.
"email" story about Atlanta-Houston flight is substantiated.
For what it’s worth, my friend called the man that wrote the email that detailed his friend’s account of the event. The man assured her that his friend’s account of what happened on the plane was true, and that his friend susbsequently lost his job working with NASA, over the situation.
Very interesting article. I believe this was a dry run.
The muslims had two purposes. A bump to look at airline security procedures. And hoping for a million dollar payday if the airline mishandled it (and a good lawyer could construe anything the airline does as mishandling it).
Not even after reading this article. Check the comments at the end.
I Did thanks PA!
Thanks for posting. Good article. BUMP-TO-THE-TRUTH!
Air Trans is now dead. They just don’t know it yet. It’s difficult to boycott all the businesses that lean left or give to left causes, but I will NEVER EVER do business with companies that choose to coddle Muslims over the safety of real Americans. I don’t think I’m alone on that either.
My last flight a few weeks ago was a little weird. Normally they come on 1 or 2 times to ask people to turn their devices off.
This flight they asked about 6 times and threatened to turn the plane around if the four (4) remaining devices were not turned off.
I found the threat to go back to the gate unusual as well as the specific number of devices still turned on.
Obviously they have a device which can detect these items.
bttt
I am still curious about what really happened to the two pilots who supposedly ‘got distracted’ or ‘fell asleep’ and overshot their destination.
A few days after that incident a flight from the US to London(?) had six people ‘faint’ and that incident was never explained.
Sounds to me like maybe the bad guys have figured out how to get nerve gas or nitrous into a plane. Remember when the bad guys were spending lots of time in the first class bathrooms. Were they looking to drill holes in the walls?
Now that we have pilots locked into the cockpit, what happens if they both just fall asleep and no one is able to get into the cockpit.
It wouldn’t be hard to get something on the planes. Just get hired as a cleaner, food service, or baggage handler.
Most of the security we see if just for show. To make people feel safe. Evidently thats why they frisk Grandma but not Muhammed.
According to one account I read on these threads, NASA fired the guy but then reinstated him. I hope that’s right.
This isn’t just a matter of political correctness on AirTrans’ part. The Flying Imams sued the airline that kicked them off the plane—and they collected a lot of money.
So, with our broken legal system, any gang of Muslims on a plane has the airline over a barrel. All they have to do is cause trouble, get themselves kicked off, and then sue for millions. And if they do this often enough, it will certainly prepare the way for terrorists NOT being kicked off the plane, next time they want to stage another 9/11.
That is exactly the strategy that is being played out, but they better remember there will still be Americans on those planes. Not the wimps that run the airlines and the TSA, but real Americans.
I hope that's right, too. This stuff has got to stop, and it's going to have to be the everyday Joe that stands up against it to make it stop.
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