Two F-15s scrambled from Portland, escort jet into Seattle

Two F-15s scrambled from Portland, escort jet into Seattle

www.katu.com

PORTLAND, Ore. – Two F-15s were scrambled from Portland to escort an Alaska Airlines jet into Seattle from Kona in Hawaii on Thursday night, according to an airline representative.

One person was taken into custody and is being questioned by the FBI, the representative said.

According to that spokesperson, the airline was notified that law enforcement was interested in the passenger.

The passenger exhibited no unusual behavior during the flight and was asleep for much of it, the airline spokesperson said.

NORAD confirmed the F-15s were scrambled from the Oregon Air National Guard

(visit the link for the full news article)

Just found this after seeing a post on twiiter about it. Not finding it anywhere else. What happened? Asleep for most of the flight and nothing unusual? Theres obviously something interesting, the top story in my area is a stabbing and the strike, what in the world is going on?

Going to grab the twitter link where I originally found it

www.katu.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Found another news link
king5.com

NORAD scrambled Oregon fighter jets to escort an Alaska Airlines flight from Kona, Hawaii, to Sea-Tac Airport after receiving a call the flight was potentially the target of a hijacking. But there was a possibility the call may have been a hoax.

FBI officials said their Honolulu field office received a call suggesting there was a threat to Alaska Air Flight 819 and that an individual on board was going to hijack the plane, according to NBC. Fighter jets from the Oregon National Guard flew alongside the flight until it landed in Seattle around 7 p.m.

I cant get a screen capture of the tweets but you can look up #alaskaair

reply to post by WeBrooklyn


My guess is: The usual extreme overreaction to mild-to-nonexistent problem....

It happens. It happens a lot more than people realize, the only difference is after 9/11 it makes the news. We used to launch alert fighters every couple of weeks, usually because someone didn't make a frequency change, or had the wrong IFF code set.

In this case it sounds like someone called in a threat against the flight, so they took precautions. I've heard of people calling in threats just because they were going to be late for their flight, or for no reason at all.

It sounds like a pissed off ex girlfriend wanted to get back at the guy so she made a phone call and said he was a hijacker

reply to post by WeBrooklyn

I worked for an airline for quite some time. I have had several times where the police or FBI were waiting to meet an inbound aircraft but never seen them send out an escort of f 15s before they land. Could be someone was on the watch list and was boarded by an employee without clearing them the proper way.

reply to post by WhiteWitch2002


Ever since 9/11 the standard response to any type of threat made against the aircraft, or someone on the no fly list, or anything of the sort is to escort it in. They never did before for those reasons prior to that day, but since then, that's the new SOP.

I can understand all of that. For me it doesnt totally sit to where I want to brush it off. At times when it is a real "threat", we see theres usually an agenda or motive behind it. Certain people escorting certain "terrorists" to their awaiting flight....

I dunno, maybe thats being on ats too much but if it was that serious then yes nowadays where media loves to flaunt and showcase terror, I wouldve expected it to be on more news outlets

I still want to know what happened, even if it is a hoax.

And the dude was sleeping!

F-15's for a possible yet very tired terrorist

Based thus far on the source provided and the "High threat individual" actions while on flight, I say this is a prank on someone. If you were to hijack a plane, would you be sleeping through most of the flight?

Originally posted by WeBrooklyn
And the dude was sleeping!

F-15's for a possible yet very tired terrorist

Don't you feel safe?
Not even lazy sleepy and possibly non-existent terrorists can hijack a plane.

Yea, Im a pissed off wife. but I would'nt be that stupid

Escort is all they did. Sigh of relief for pair of ready alert pilots. Of particular concern to be scrambling on a civilian airliner.

I wonder how much tax payer dollars are involved in a double escort from Portland to Seattle to ward off danger from a sleeping passenger?

Not to mention the dry cleaning bills for the shorts of the pilots involved.

reply to post by intrptr

All kinding aside. Yea, Your rite. Thank goodness it was nothing serious.

reply to post by signalfire


Alert missions are built into the budget of the units flying them, so there's no extra cost to the taxpayer. As for the pilots shorts, there is no need to change them, as they are told long before they get there the fighters are coming, unless they have good evidence to show a reason not to.

When there is a F-15 escort.
That means that they are only there to potentially shoot down the plane.
And everyone on board.
Everyone.

Just thought I would give a reminder to the subject.

reply to post by ManOfHart


They are there to identify the aircraft, and see that it safely arrives. The only way they are going to shoot it down is if it becomes a threat. And even then there are other options to stop it besides shooting it down.

Originally posted by ManOfHart
When there is a F-15 escort.
That means that they are only there to potentially shoot down the plane.
And everyone on board.
Everyone.

Just thought I would give a reminder to the subject.

Not really, I mean yes worse case scenario but that is similar to saying that when the cops show up to a crime scene that means that they are there to potentially shoot everyone, that is why they have guns.

In a situation like that they want to get planes up there quick, they are not going to send up another 747 or a helicopter to do an escort.

They probably realized that the guy was on the no fly list and had to get him off the plane.

I know they had 2 USAF defense forces troops and a DOD cop babysit me after I was removed from the secure area of the Hickam AMC terminal and was detained for 5 hours while a Sr Special agent with ICE tried to figure out how I got on a USAF C5 Galaxy and flew to Hawaii while they claim I was on the "no fly List"

My Thread Here outlines my ordeal. Interesting to note the guy was leaving HI....