9/11 bomb prank
Australian Philip Kirsch grounded after 9/11 bomb prank
By Kay Dibben
The Sunday Mail (Qld)
A MAN on a September 11 flight from Brisbane to the US used the aircraft's in-flight chatroom to tell his fellow passengers "I have a bomb".
Philip Kirsch, 21, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to a charge of making threats regarding aviation security after his "joke" onboard V Australia flight 007 to Los Angeles on Thursday.
Commonwealth prosecutor Sara Parga yesterday told the court that the flight captain took the threat very seriously – particularly because it was the anniversary of the airliner-based terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in 2001.
The fact that Kirsch used V Australia's in-flight touch screen system, which allows passengers to chat with each other in a web chatroom, could have created panic, Ms Parga said.
Several other people on the flight to Los Angeles were using the chatroom. Two logged off and one passenger alerted a crew member.
The captain had "grave concerns" for the passengers and crew and wanted Kirsch, who was in seat 28C, immediately removed from the aircraft.
When police boarded the plane, Kirsch, an apprentice electrician from Melbourne, admitted he had sent the text message "I have a bomb" but said it was intended as a joke.
For the next 91 minutes the flight was grounded for a thorough search of the plane and Kirsch's luggage. The delay cost V Australia $21,143.
Ms Parga told the court that the airline had now put Kirsch, who pleaded guilty to making threats regarding aviation security, on a banned passenger list for life.
Kirsch, who was kept in custody overnight on Friday, had been flying to Los Angeles to meet his girlfriend and then for a three-month South American holiday.
A defence solicitor told the court Kirsch's joke was misplaced and foolish and he felt terrible and remorseful.
Magistrate Alan Taylor said Kirsch's behavior was "ill-considered, childish in the extreme and was no doubt motivated by factors other than common sense".
"I suspect you now understand plainly the gravity of the offence," Mr Taylor said.
He said there could have been up to 100 people on the aircraft. However, he said Kirsch had not followed it up with any physical threats.
"That it was committed by a youngish person, in no doubt exuberant circumstances, diminishes the overall seriousness of the offence," he said.
He took into account Kirsch's plea of guilty, age and lack of previous convictions and placed him on a two-year good behavior bond, with no conviction recorded.
Mr Taylor ordered Kirsch to pay $1500 restitution to V Australia within nine months.