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FEDS SAY MEN ASKED TO ENTER COCKPIT ON FLIGHT TO JFK

Updated: 5:34 pm EDT April 15, 2005

NEW YORK -- Two men aboard a Northwest Airlink flight from Detroit to New York were arrested Friday after one of them asked to see the cockpit and refused to sit down, federal authorities said.

They were refused entry and the flight landed safely at JFK, where the FBI arrested them.

Law enforcement officials say the two men on Northwest commuter flight 3741 from Detroit to JFK are citizens of the Republic of Georgia. They were still being questioned Friday afternoon at the airport’s Terminal 4.

Officials emphasize that early reports of an altercation appear to be untrue, that the two men's actions appear to have been more of annoyance than anything else and "drinking may have been involved."

Sometime during the flight, one or both men got up and told a flight attendant they wanted to get into the cockpit. They were told that was not permitted.

Then they asked if their luggage could be brought up from the hold. That request was denied as well and they were asked to return to their seats, which they did.

Not long thereafter, one of them got up and started wandering around the plane and flight attendants again asked him to remain seated. The pilot, out of caution, declared an in-flight emergency and alerted JFK. The two men were detained on arrival and questioned.

As of now, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn is uncertain of whether it will charge the two with interfering with a flight crew. Even if federal charges are not brought, say law enforcement officials, the Queens district attorney could press lesser, state charges.

The Homeland Security Department "is monitoring the ongoing investigation," spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines, which operated the flight under the Northwest Airlink name, said the 50-seat jet was full, with two pilots and a flight attendant.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/4383910/detail.html