[Capt_Hank]

I was enroute on 9-11 to Houston, TX from Philadelphia that morning. The captain came on the intercom and stated, "Folks, I have to make an announcement about something I never thought would or could happen." He went on to explain what happened and we were landing in Birmingham, AL, the nearest airport. He was honest about what was happening.

[Uncle Fud]

I salute that flight crew. There was no need to lie, it would have been perfectly OK to say, "we've been asked by Center to divert to xxx airport, the plane is perfectly safe". I've encountered too many phony "mechanicals" when the airline didn't feel they'd sold enough seats, which is why I really got steamed by the original post.