Posted on 12/25/2002 9:20:54 AM PST by gitmo
Joke empties plane
Man ticketed and sent home as passengers scurry to resume travels
As he boarded a commuter plane at the Dane County Regional Airport Tuesday morning, 33-year-old Steven M. Wiese of Cottage Grove peeked around the cockpit door and made a joke: "I hope you haven't been drinking."
The pilot didn't think it was funny. Neither did the other passengers.
"(The pilot) could see the other passengers' heads popping up like gophers coming out of their holes," said Lt. Michael Krembs of the Dane County Sheriff's Department. "The whole plane could hear. He said it really loud."
In an instant, Wiese's holiday travel plans were ruined. The flight was delayed. The other passengers had to re-book on other flights on Christmas Eve. And the pilots were checked to make sure they indeed had not been drinking.
Wiese and his wife have not flown since their honeymoon nine years ago. He had planned a trip to New York as a surprise Christmas gift for her.
"I shouldn't have said it. I regret saying it," Wiese said Tuesday afternoon. "I meant it as a joke. I had a smile on my face. But they took it the wrong way."
Atlantic Coast Airlines flight 6302, with 26 passengers aboard, was delayed. The crew reported to a medical facility to be tested for alcohol and drugs, in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
"Since 9-11, you can't joke about anything in an airport," Krembs said.
Wiese apologized to his fellow travelers as they got off the plane at the Madison airport and lined up at the ticket counter, hoping to be re-booked. Then he and his wife got in line, too.
"The deputies pulled them out of line and said, 'Oh, no. You're not going anywhere today,' " Krembs said.
The deputies then ticketed Wiese for disorderly conduct. He must pay a $225 fine.
That's not all.
The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office will discuss the incident after the holidays and decide whether the man should face the more serious charge of interfering with a flight crew, a federal felony that carries a maximum 20-year prison term, said Monica Shipley, FBI spokeswoman.
All of the other passengers were re-booked to their final destinations, said Rick Delisi, spokesman for Atlantic Coast Airlines. The members of the flight crew all tested negative for alcohol and other controlled substances. Their plane departed more than four hours late, at 2:05 p.m.
Delisi said the pilot followed the proper procedures.
"The crew is never meant to ask whether (people are) joking or what their motivations are," he said. ". . . People just don't realize the seriousness of what they're saying."
For Wiese, that realization came at a high price - and not just the cost of the non-refundable plane tickets. Instead of taking the trip, he and his wife now plan a quiet holiday at home trying to recover from the ordeal.
Wiese has weighed in his mind exactly what he should have done differently.
"I should have said, 'Merry Christmas.' "
A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 25, 2002.
_____________________________________________________
The incident at the Dane County Regional Airport is not the first time a passenger has gotten into trouble for making a comment regarded as inappropriate.
A female passenger was kicked off an America West Airlines flight in San Francisco July 8 after she asked, "Have you checked your crew for sobriety?"
A Massachusetts man was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $500 this year when airlines workers asked if he was carrying anyone else's items and he said, "Like one of those ticking cardboard boxes?"
A Delaware man was sentenced to six months in prison in 1998 for forcing a jet to make an emergency landing after joking about having explosives in his carry-on bag.
A Miami woman was arrested in 1999 for swearing at flight attendants when she blocked a meal cart and was told to move.
Codswallop. The pilot made the decision, and he was at no risk of being sued, even if the airline was (extremely doubtful). I'd say that the airline faces at least as much risk of litigation because contracted service was not delivered as promised for an entirely frivilous reason. The sole issue here is that the pilot was offended and thought he'd prove to everyone he was King S--t of Turd Mountain.
Even a direct accusation of inebriation would in no way have endangered the flight or interfered with the flight crew. The pilot only had to say, "no, I haven't been drinking; in fact, I've just been tested," and that would have been the end of it. In a worst case scenario (say, a drunken passenger making the accusation in a threatening manner), the problem could have been solved by removing that passenger from that flight.
. . . in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
So even in the absence of a CYA-type policy at the airline (in my opinion unlikely), there is a procedure that exists for this sort of a situation.
So basically, some dumb-arse who hasn't flown in ten years shot his mouth off where he shouldn't have . . . a scenario that even you should admit is much more likely than a flight-crew on a Christmas Eve ego-trip. (Hey Captain! I just figured out a way to delay our own flight for four hours!)
I said as much in my post. It's no hole at all; in fact it redounds to my point. The pilot could have answered the question and reassured any skittish passengers simply by presenting the results of the test.
That is hardly the behavior one would expect from someone who is merely trying to show someone else who's boss.
Of course not. I'm saying that cancelling the flight was.
. . . in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
That refers to the mandatory alcohol test, which is entirely appropriate. How again does this justify cancelling a flight?
Pilot was standing out front talking to the crew and greeting people.. I said something like; "Hey, you guy's are sober, right?"
They laughed and replied: "We're worried about you!"
That was all that came of it. It's all that should have come of it.
I can remember when people had some common sense about things like this.
1) Maybe he hurt the pilots tiny, little ego? I can hear the little wuss stomping his feet and whining: "But, I am a pilot.. Respect ME! Respect me! Can't you see my hat? That's a pilots hat! I am a big man now, in charge of the whooooole airplane! Respect me dammit!"
2) One size fits all federal rules that everyone is so scared of breaking they throw common sense out the window and err on the side of caution.
It's got to be one or the other, because no one is so dense as to construe this as anything but a joke. No one smart enough to fly an airplane anyway.
The next time you board a plane you will remember this but for God's sakes man don't say it! Don't even smile!
There is absolutely NO freedom from offensive speech
You think the moderator made a mistake?
Sorry, cant have it both ways.
There is no two ways about it. Freedom from offensive speech exists in certain cases.
That said... this dumb bunnny should not have be legally prosecuted. He should be put on the "do not serve" list for the airline in question though.
First, it's not my job to pad the pilot's feelings. I didn't mean it to be offensive, I meant it in humor. If he wants to be offended then I guess it's just something he's going to have to live with.
Second, They laughed and joked back. It was a silly comment, I didn't know him from adam and didn't accuse him of drinking. He knew that and acted like a mature adult as opposed to throwing a fit over some imagined accusation.
They laughed and said something like "we're worried about you!" and that was it.
That's all it should have been and that's all it was.
What makes you a friggin' expert on free or offensive speech?
Stupid people really need to be forbidden to go out in public.
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