Flight from London Redirected to Boston After In-Flight Incident

Probably just some drunk people, but everything needs to taken seriously these days.

It seems that there was an unruly female passenger aboard, but conflicting reports whether she was just freaking out or if she had suspicious items (a screwdriver, matches, vaseline, and note mentioning al-Qaeda) with her.

so far United have said a woman went beserk and had several banned items on her including: a screwdriver, a box of matches and some vaseline and 'a note about Al Qaeda' whatever that means...

there's another United guy saying there was a confrontation with 3 passengers...

This is another breach of UK airport checking just after the story about the 12 year old on Monday and also another one at Gatwick just reported to do with some guy in the cockpit 'looking for his wallet'???

it should be noted that on 8/10 the feds were closely monitoring Flight 923 as it was, apparently, one of the planes targetted in the plot out of London. Same flight number, same airline.

The reports I read mentioned three passengers. Nothing about an upset woman.

They are saying they dont think she is linked to Al quada,
But not ruling out a copy cat attempt,

very little mention of the three unruly passengers

There was only one passenger that went berserk that was a lady. The other two as I understand just tried to restrain her.

The pilot then became aware and called for a fighter escort from Otis AFB and diverted to Boston erroring on the side of safety.

Allegedly they have ruled out terrorists ties, but I still find it funny that it is flight 923 and that is the same flight that suspected terrorists did a dry run on and it was one of the flights to be targeted today had the plans gone as they planned.

I hardly believe they ruled out terrorism completely. They are searching the checked bags. If they rule out terrorism they don't need to go on a bag by bag hunt for any bombs or other such incendiary devices.

cnn.com has a live feed of the activity around the plane.

More news on this story, the London to DC flight was redirected to Logan airport (Boston) after the pilot declared an emergency. The TSA is denying reports that the woman had a screwdriver and matches and that this has anything to do with terrorism. They say the woman was claustrophobic and got into a confrontation with the flight crew. Fighter jets (out of caution) escorted the plane to Logan airport.

BOSTON - Fighter jets escorted a London-to-Washington, D.C., flight to Boston's Logan airport Wednesday after the pilot declared an emergency because of a passenger disturbance, officials said.

There was no indication of terrorism, a federal security official said.

A Transportation Safety Administration official denied reports that the woman had a screwdriver, matches, Vaseline and a letter referencing al-Qaida.

The female passenger aboard United Flight 923 said she was claustrophobic and became very upset and got into some kind of confrontation with the flight crew, said George Naccara, federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration for Massachusetts' airport.

Link

Am I hearing right that she was 60 years old? Was the fighter escort necessary for a geriatric woman?

probably a nutcase messing around and trying to be funny

as the reports say, she doesnt have any links to terrorism.

No that is confirmed she WAS / IS 60 years old and is now being interrogated...

The news I'm watching are saying the airline was headed to Dulles airport in Washington DC, and diverted to Logan, I guess.

As of now, the news is showing the dogs sniffing the baggage.

Havne't heard that she was 60, the news is calling her a "young woman", mentioning the claustrophobia and so on, and the items of "interest" as posted here.

The fighter pilot escort wouldn't have been called for a woman of any age, or man either unless the crew felt the possibility existed that there was someone or something else aboard that was threatening. Hardly calls for scorn when we don't know yet the real story, nor how it played out.

she is a 60 year old women and they are denying the list of items. Its being confirmed that this is not terrorist related

Originally posted by kickoutthejams
Am I hearing right that she was 60 years old? Was the fighter escort necessary for a geriatric woman?

I don’t know about her age but I believe fighter escort is SOP for this kind of a situation. One of the crew probably told the pilot that they’re having problems with a passenger, and he declared an emergency, from then on fighter escort becomes a precautionary step that has to be taken. And yes they don’t believe this is related to terrorism, but they are checking the baggage, because again it’s SOP.

Personally I wish I was on that plane with a window seat, I’d love to see some Vipers/Egales flying on the wing.

Let's face it, given the events of the last week and all the criticism of reaction to the 9/11 hijackings they were always going to do this one by the book.

The age of the passenger is wholly irrelevent as far as a fighter escort is concerned.

the fact that the flight number was the same as one of the targetted planes must have had the feds panicked.

I don't know...I think we still haven't heard the full story. If this was just some nutty old lady why couldn't a couple of big guys or airmarshals keep her subdued in back of the plane for the next hour or so it would take to get from Boston to D.C.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
I don't know...I think we still haven't heard the full story. If this was just some nutty old lady why couldn't a couple of big guys or airmarshals keep her subdued in back of the plane for the next hour or so it would take to get from Boston to D.C.

One of the networks addressed what determines where they will land. No problem would = continue to Dulles, unsure of severity= land at Boston and definite danger = land at Bangor. Not those exact terms but something along those lines. Each city has less population density Bangor being the one with the least.

Edit to answer another question that was asked regarding the fighter escort. It is standard procedure to launch air-caps when a pilot declares an emergency in flight, so that if the plane goes down they can remain on station and guide rescue teams to the exact location in the most timely manner.

[edit on 8/16/2006 by shots]

quoting...

to answer another question that was asked regarding the fighter escort. It is standard procedure to launch air-caps when a pilot declares an emergency in flight, so that if the plane goes down they can remain on station and guide rescue teams to the exact location in the most timely manner.

[edit on 8/16/2006 by shots]

that'll be 'since' 9/11 then right?

I must admit I'm astonished the sky marshal couldn't have deal't with her on his own. Apparently she spent the remainder of the flight tied up in the back. Grrr these old ladies, you gotta watch em! She was a U. S. citizen by the way so the post about the Brits being aggressive can just go... oh no I spilled my tea!

[edit on 16-8-2006 by kickoutthejams]