Air Marshal Uses Gun to Subdue "Noncompliant" Pax
D.C. Man Arrested on Flight
Associated Press
Monday, November 12, 2001; 8:06 PM
A US Airways plane from Pittsburgh to Reagan Washington National Airport was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport because of an unruly passenger, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday.
US Airways spokesman Richard Weintraub said air marshals on board Flight 969 ordered the plane to Dulles rather than National. Dulles is 40 miles farther outside the capital than Reagan National. The plane landed without incident at 5:08 p.m. EST, the FAA said.
The passenger, Raho Ortiz, 33, of Washington, was arrested, law enforcement and airport officials said. Law enforcement authorities said the man ignored warnings to stay in his seat on Flight 969. Passengers cannot leave their seats during the last 30 minutes of any flight into Reagan National under new security rules imposed when the airport reopened after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Another passenger, Robert Gorence, a former assistant U.S. attorney for New Mexico, said he saw a man "making his way toward the cockpit" when "an air marshal jumped up with his gun and subdued him."
Gorence, in a cell phone call from the plane to Albuquerque television station KOAT, said all the passengers "were ordered to put our hands above our heads, and then we were quickly diverted to Washington-Dulles."