Air France Co-Pilot Is Accused of Making Remark About Bomb

The New York Times ^ | August 10, 2003 | ROBERT D. McFADDEN

[the_greatest_country_ever]

Trans Oceanic InterGlobal PanWorld Airways flight 484 (Nasdaq Symbol TOIGPW) was forced to make an emergency landing after a flight attendant overheard a man repeatedly ask his accomplice for the "bomb". After a six hour search delay the flight continued on without incident, the couple remanded in prison on felony charges. The reality was that the couple was returning from a skiing vacation, the guy's lips were severely chapped and was only asking for the (lip) balm.

Not a true story but I can see how this might very well happen. Just like that family that was yanked off a flight to Hawaii after their seemingly harmless yet not very bright teenage son placed a taunting note to baggage handlers in his luggage saying something like "Theres NO F**king Bomb in here so f**k You". Remember to just ask for the chapstick.

[LibWhacker]

Send him to Gitmo for about a year. Maybe then the Frogs will get the idea that we're serious about this.

[rageaholic]

I am sick and tired of hearing pilots whine about the "tough security check" they have to go through. This is only based on their belief that they deserve extra rights.

There is already one case on record of a commerical Air Egypt pilot hijacking and crashing his own aircraft into the water off Massachusetts.

The next 9/11 type hijack will likely be by one of the pilots, they also need to be scrutinized.

[Ruth A.]

Too stupid to know and follow the rules, then he's too stupid to be flying. If anyone if too stupid to know thay they shouldn't make jokes about bombs, then I see no problem with them not flying either. Erring on the side of caution is something our citizenry can afford to do for security.

[EggsAckley]

You're so right. I have two pilot friends and they are DEFINITELY for increased scrutiny of pilots, no matter how time-intensive.

This incident, coming from a Frog pilot for "Air Fume`" does not help his credibility.

[zeugma]

Quite right.

Read above for yet more cheerleeders of the current insanity at airports. I've driven on 3 trips this year already that I likely would have flown on if there still existed such a thing as 'common sense' in this country.

I don't think it's even safe for me to be in an airport because I simply will no longer suffer fools silently.

The real kicker is that even though I refuse to support this crap with my discretionary spending, I still have to support it with my taxes through givaways to airlines that I think should just fail if they can't at least argue for some sanity.

[jammer]

Correct. Amazing, isn't it?

[Old Professer]

For half my life, I have listened to people, especially my elders, wonder aloud at the incomprehensibility of the Jews being marched into the gas chambers and not fighting against their certain fate tooth and nail, now I understand.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Right on, pilots should not have privileges we are denied, nor should they be allowed to fly the plane or carry on handguns when we all cannot. "Sarcasim off"

[Prodigal Son]

Il est un idiot? Bien sûr. Un criminel? Peut-être, mais je pense il est seulement un comédien mauvais.
Un terroriste? Non.

[sinkspur]

For half my life, I have listened to people, especially my elders, wonder aloud at the incomprehensibility of the Jews being marched into the gas chambers and not fighting against their certain fate tooth and nail, now I understand.

A truly stupid and insulting analogy. I'm surprised at you.

[Old Professer]

It is a perfectly apt analogy for the mindset that has crept in here; sorry you feel insulted.

[B Knotts]

"Felony comments." Surreal.

[sinkspur]

It is a perfectly apt analogy for the mindset that has crept in here; sorry you feel insulted.

I don't feel insulted at all. But to compare Jews being herded into death camps at the point of a gun to people VOLUNTARILY boarding aircraft and having to undergo insignificant (and they are insignificant, as I undergo them three or four times a month) security screenings is just ludicrous.

And you know it.

[austinTparty]

IF it actually made any of us safer, that would be one thing. But it is a bunch of smoke and mirrors designed by politicians, so that they can tell the folks back home that they're "doing something." The only real measure that will improve security on the planes? Pilots with guns. And that is the measure the Feds are dragging their feet on.

I fly very frequently. I put up with removing my shoes every time I hop on a plane, no longer being able to fly with only a carry-on (because you can't bring many toiletries anymore: no aerosols (sometimes--depends upon the guard), no tweezers, etc.). I actually had to go through an extra security check because there were bobby pins in a pocket of my suitcase.

[WoofDog123]

There was a US airline pilot recently arrested because he mentioned to a TSA person that there was a hatchet in the flight cockpit he could use to chop off his head.

The speech restrictions on pilots are baffling and orwellian. The irony that, at least on paper, it is theoretically possible for a pilot to carry a gun makes it even more insane.

The added bonus of learning that there is indeed a hatchet in the cockpit (for use in case of fire) makes this even more surreal.

[WoofDog123]

"For half my life, I have listened to people, especially my elders, wonder aloud at the incomprehensibility of the Jews being marched into the gas chambers and not fighting against their certain fate tooth and nail, now I understand."

With the full machinery of the state against you, it is very hard to do more than passively (i.e. boycott) resist, and efforts toward active resistance of the most trivial sort (words) result in immediate arrest.

[ml/nj]

I am sick and tired of hearing pilots whine about the "tough security check" they have to go through. This is only based on their belief that they deserve extra rights.

There is already one case on record of a commerical Air Egypt pilot hijacking and crashing his own aircraft into the water off Massachusetts.

What? Are all you folks nuts?

Frog or no, any time spent harassing pilots, and especially making them take off their shoes is a complete waste. Unless this guy was wearing a turban and sporting an unkempt beard, he is absolutely no threat to anyone. The time spent "investigating" such people is the threat.

Your reference to the Egyptian pilot is absurd. He didn't have a bomb with him, or anything in his shoes, so searching him or others who would be like him will never turn up anything. But for this we have a legion of imbeciles harassing old women here in the US. If this make you feel safer then you probably need serious psyhcological help.

ML/NJ