Posted on 10/31/2001 1:12:37 AM PST by kattracks
assengers told a frightening story yesterday of the panic aboard American Airlines Flight 785 from New York to Dallas when a passenger found a written bomb threat aboard.
Rose Harris, of Arlington, Tex., said it was about an hour after takeoff from LaGuardia on Monday night when she discovered a handwritten note taped to her tray table.
"I just pulled down my tray to set the drink on the tray, and it was there," she recalled.
"[It said] at 8 o'clock the plane would blow up. Not in exact words, I don't remember the exact words, but basically, at 8 o'clock the plane would blow up."
Harris gave the note to a flight attendant — and the pilot quickly diverted the plane to land at Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia, 25 miles west of Washington.
After it landed, shortly after 7 p.m., the jet was ordered to a remote part of Dulles and surrounded by police vehicles.
Passengers were told to evacuate the plane by sliding down emergency chutes.
Passenger Bob Randle said he was more frightened after the plane was on the ground.
"They told us to go out by this one police car," he said. "Then this policeman came running out and said, 'Hey, everybody, get out of here and keep going.' I thought for sure the plane was going to blow up. It was scary."
Harris broke an ankle while sliding down a chute to flee the plane. "I ran into a policeman and broke it in two places," she said.
Two other passengers also suffered minor injuries.
Two runways at Dulles were closed for an hour and 40 minutes while investigators searched the plane with bomb-sniffing dogs. No explosives were found.
The incident occurred shortly after Attorney General John Ashcroft warned the nation to be ready for a new wave of terror attacks in coming days.
The passengers and crew were transferred to another plane, which landed early yesterday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
The FBI said it was investigating the bomb threat.
Because there are certain things a (fill in the blank with your favorite group) JUST WON'T DO!
My thoughts exactly. Also it could have been the ground crew, before the passengers boarded, thinking it would be funny. I'm sure these possibilities are being investigated
For the same reason there aren't "Whites Only" restrooms anymore.
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