Account from a chaplain who was on the flight -- http://espositosmusings.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/air-tran-flight-297-incident1.pdfAir Tran Airways Flight 297 was scheduled to leave Atlanta at 4:43PM in route to Houston Hobby Airport. Because of my position as Corps Commander of the Houston Regional Community Chaplain Corps, I frequently wear my Chaplain jacket as I travel. Like some sort of heavenly magnet, the Chaplain jacket invites discussion with a wide variety of people who are struggling with issues in need of a comforting ear. My connecting flight was late and the door to the jet way closed prior to my boarding. So, even though I was rescheduled on a much later flight far from C‐16 I settled down with a newspaper and only 1/4th of my remaining cell phone battery.
While waiting at the distant gate, I noticed on the scheduling monitors that Flight 297 had returned to gate C‐16 and was scheduled to leave at 5:45PM. I hurried back to gate C‐16 in hopes of boarding my original flight after it strangely returned to the gate.
SEARCH: Houston Regional Community Chaplain Corps >> http://chaplainservice.net/hoh.pdf
Which, interestingly is a support group for victims of tragedy. If this is the group he's a part of, it explains his keen interest in the situation and why he got involved as he did.
Another Terrorist Dry Run: Part II Interview With Witness Dr. Keith Robinson–UPDATEDIt is important to put this incident in context, right after the Ft. Hood shootings. IT AIN'T RIGHT.http://www.melissaclouthier.com/2009/12/03/another-terrorist-dry-run-part-ii-interview-with-witness-dr-keith-robinson/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+melissaclouthier%2FPTzm+%28Melissa+Clouthier%29
December 3, 2009 / 10:37 am • By Dr. Melissa Clouthier
Yesterday, I shared the account given by Tedd Petruna about Air Tran Flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston Hobby. Today, I interviewed Dr. Keith Robinson, Corps Commander of the Houston Regional Community Chaplain Corps, as he actually took the flight, with the Arab men after Tedd and many other passengers got off the plane, once it was clear that both the TSA and Air Tran were going to allow the threatening passengers to stay on the flight.
Over at RedInk Texas, you’ll see how distorted the actual news accounts were of this incident. This incident was not just a matter of an unruly passenger refusing to hang up on a phone call. The whole flight crew refused to fly and had to be replaced.
Air Tran 297 is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. Recall the Flying Imams controversy where the men sued the airlines and passengers and won a settlement from the airlines.
This circumstance occurred shortly after Major Hasan killed twelve soldiers at Fort Hood. The passengers were sensitized to a terrorist threat before the flight.
Dr. Robinson gave his first-hand account [find link here], typing up his impressions during the flight:
The flight crew hurriedly walked past me leaving the plane with their baggage. The flight attendants were emotionally shaken, red faced, in tears and were sobbing. A new flight crew was ordered for the flight. All remaining passengers awaited their next crew, unsure of the ultimate destiny of this flight. .... (goes on to cite from chaplain's account)...