Honolulu-Bound Flight Diverted After Crew Discovers Box Cutter

The Associated Press ^ | AP-ES-09-30-01 2214EDT | The Associated Press

[TheOtherOne]

Honolulu-Bound Flight Diverted After Crew Discovers Box Cutter
The Associated Press
Published: Sep 30, 2001

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An American Airlines pilot made an unscheduled landing Sunday after crew members found a box cutter left on the plane by a catering employee.

Flight attendants found the box cutter in a food cart about 90 minutes after the plane departed from Dallas, said American Airlines spokesman John Hotard.

The captain decided to land the Honolulu-bound plane, carrying 220 people, in Los Angeles so every passenger could be screened again. About 3 1/4 hours later, the plane resumed its trip to Hawaii, said airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles.

The box cutter was imprinted with the name of the airline's caterer, Sky Chef. Airline officials called the company, and an employee said he had inadvertently left the knife on the cart.

"There's no big deal here," Hotard said. "It's just a guy who forgot his box cutter."

The terrorists who hijacked airplanes Sept. 11 apparently used box cutters and other small blades in their carryon baggage to take control of the jets.

AP-ES-09-30-01 2214EDT

[ChemistCat]

Because they depended on and counted on a certain BEHAVIOR from Americans. What they did has forever changed the way we will respond to them.

Now they will take advantage of something else. Perhaps our poor hygiene in public bathrooms. Maybe one tenth of us wash our hands well enough to lose the bacteria on them--and the we promptly touch the same items handled moments ago by people who do not wash their hands at all. And then we go to work sick and congregate during flu season in crowded shopping malls. Perhaps they will take advantage of our stupidity of building dams with roads across the top of them. Or they'll blow up a barge full of oil off an ecologically or fiscally critical coastal area. There are so many ways to get us; if I can think of ten or twelve you can bet that the terrorists have thought up twenty or fifty that they can implement even under these conditions.

[TRY ONE]

a "terrorism awareness" course ...... Good Idea!

[DallasDeb]

I want to know the nationality/race/whatever of the employee.

[DallasDeb]

Does this guy really deserve a job as a SPOKESMAN? He is a public relations nightmare!

They want to downplay the incident so that travelers aren't so fearful that they remain at home.

[DallasDeb]

Haven't thought about mirrors, but I understand that they are considering banning hot water for coffee and tea (throwing it in someones face can be a problem).

That would be stupid. A hijacker wouldn't get very far using hot water, but a foiler could be successful using it.

[DallasDeb]

Haven't thought about mirrors, but I understand that they are considering banning hot water for coffee and tea (throwing it in someones face can be a problem).

That would be stupid. A hijacker wouldn't get very far using hot water, but a foiler could be successful using it.

[537 Votes]

...."There's no big deal here," Hotard said. "It's just a guy who forgot his box cutter."......

Under what rock has this American Airlines employee been hiding for the last twenty days? Not only is this remark insensitive it shows a complete disdain for the heightened state of alert that we all find ourselves this last few weeks.

If you're afraid of box-cutters, you should be terrified of flying hundreds of miles an hour in a pressurized metal tube high above the clouds. Go hide under your bed, and we'll tell you when Reality is over.

[fone]

Guess I better watch out for those who use the "extra thick" tin-foil, eh? The edges might be sharp!

=)

[DallasDeb]

Try looking up "foil" in the dictionary. Or are you just trying to be funny?

[ChemistCat]

Hot water could end up in the wrong place and just make the hijacker madder. You'd have to be lucky and hit the eyes square on to disable him. A blanket thrown over the head and then a whole bunch of passengers piling on is a much surer thing. Someone on another thread suggested traveling with duct tape.

[RnMomof7]

What's going to happen when someone discovers on a flight that a box of in-flight meals, napkins, or something wasn't sliced open before takeoff?

They will have to ask the onboard terrorist to open it.. (sorry...but we are getting tooooo paranoid)

[Kozak]

We all know now what will happen now if a muslim fanatic takes control of the plane we happen to be on. We have evidence at this point that at least one in four of the planes involved in the atrocity had the passengers resist and help prevent an even greater tragedy. Next time it will be much higher. Every one of those planes will have SOME on board who HAVE been trained for combat, or in other ways have been prepared to act in a crisis. Add a prepared crew, and maybe a few professional sky marshals and I don't think this particular tactic will work for the terrorists again with anywhere near the success of the past. It was a one time event. The rules have changed forever.

[DallasDeb]

But the hot water could be distracting just enough to allow someone to throw a blanket over the hijacker.

[ChemistCat]

Point taken. I just like weapons with more precise aim.

[TheRealLobo]

You said:"These people are absolute idiots. Even if the pre-9/11 passivity continued, nobody could hijack a plane with a cup of hot coffee -- the perp can burn one or two people, and then he's got nothing. "

Makes me think of the part in Blazing Saddles, where the black Sheriff shows up in the town, they all draw guns on him. He draws his own gun, points it at his own head and states "Nobody move, or the n***** gets it." The townsfolk all back away and he gets to the sheriffs office when they're certain that the bad guy is serious about shooting the defensless sheriff.

[skr]

I agree, but I'm just questioning the majority's (understandable) desire to blow up hijackers who might just be heading to Havana and not into a building. Or have bombs never been used as threats in such instances?

[supercat]

I agree, but I'm just questioning the majority's (understandable) desire to blow up hijackers who might just be heading to Havana and not into a building. Or have bombs never been used as threats in such instances?

If a hijacker claims to have a bomb, there are four possibilities:

1. The hijacker does not have a real bomb, but hopes he'll be given a free trip to Cuba (though why he'd want to go there is beyond me).
2. The hijacker does not have a real bomb, but is nonetheless suicidal (likely the case with the Sept. 11 terrorists).
3. The hijacker does have a real bomb, and is suicidal (may have been the case with the Sept. 11 terrorists).
4. The hijacker isn't suicidal, but for some reason set himself up with a real bomb anyway.

Of these scenarios, #4 is the only scenario in which it might be a "mistake" to jump a hijacker who claims to have a bomb. Given the observed severe consequences of giving in to hijackers and the fact that, of all the possibilities, #4 seems like the most remote, it would seem that the rational thing to do is refuse to obey hijackers who claim to have a bomb.

[B4Ranch]

Good reply

[skr]

Many have complained about the paranoia of the government over nail files and box cutters. I see the same paranoia in assuming that a bomb is always real, that all hijackers will be heading for a building full of people and that everyone on the plane is expendable should panic-striken gung-ho passengers decide that it's better to crash the plane immediately without at least wondering about the other possiblities, including what's going to be beneath the plane when it hits the ground. All this is assuming that one of the hijackers is in control of the cockpit and said gung-ho passengers also want to jump him, even if no one else knows how to fly and land the plane.

The point is that the courage on Flt. 93 was bolstered by the absolute knowledge of what their hijackers were going to do with the plane and that they were going to die anyway. I admire their actions and hope that I would do what I could under the same circumstances. But next time, the goals of the hijackers may be different and all aboard could be killed in vain. I realize that it will be a gamble and that it's best to err on the side of saving those who can be saved on the ground. I'm just concerned that a lot of people could end up needlessly dead, if hijackers, using a fake bomb, just want to relocate to Cuba.

With my reservations now aired and awaiting further flaming by those far braver than I, I'd just like to add that it seems as though the antique mirrors and nail clippers could be consigned to the customers' checked baggage and that babies could wear Pampers, leaving those dastardly diaper pins at home. No carry-ons and a walk through the metal detectors would relieve the security from destroying nail files and priceless heirlooms for the most part. That might only leave plastic explosives and chemical weapons to worry about.

I appreciate the discussion. I just wanted to see if anyone else had any concerns in this area. It appears no one else does. Although I have a few questions about other factors, please don't assume I wouldn't be swinging my purse or throwing my bulk at the hijacker (both the purse and I weigh enough to impair, I assure you) and trying to help however I am able.