U S Air Diverted

[repariit]

Flight diverted to Philly over security concerns

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A spokesman for US Airways says a flight from New York to Louisville, Ky., has been diverted to Philadelphia International Airport because of security concerns.
Spokesman Jim Olson says US Airways Express Flight 3709 landed in Philadelphia around 9 a.m. Thursday morning after taking off from La Guardia airport. He would not elaborate on the security concern, referring questions to local authorities and the Transportation Security Administration.
Olson says the plane landed without incident and that the passengers have deplaned. He says they are being reaccommodated on other flights.
Airport spokesman Mark Pesce says the airport remains open and fully operational.
Calls to Philadelphia police and the FBI were not immediately returned.

[Airbubba]

PHL was shut down, everyone on approach put into holding at JALTO and OOD, the plane landed on 09R at about 1340Z with ATC reporting a suspicious 'device' onboard.

PHL was reopened for arrivals after less than 15 minutes, great job by ATC.:ok:

[WilyB]

Flight is diverted after religious item is mistaken for a bomb, police say

NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 10:46 a.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 21, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - A U.S. Airways jet was diverted to Philadelphia International Airport Thursday after a Jewish religious item was mistaken for a bomb, police said.

There were initial reports that a man may have been wired with "a device" and FBI and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials and a police bomb squad all attended.

However, when authorities boarded Flight 3079 from LaGuardia Airport to Louisville, they established there was no bomb on board.

Officials said a passenger had become alarmed by seeing a man with phylacteries — boxes containing verses from the Bible — which observant Jews strap around their arms and heads as part of morning prayers.

"Someone on the plane construed it as some kind of device," said Christine O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Police Department.

A man was escorted off the plane by law enforcement officers while the other passengers also disembarked. O'Brien confirmed that no one had been arrested and no one had been charged.

The passengers were due to fly to Louisville on a different plane. It was unclear whether the man wearing the phylacteries would be among them.

'Abundance of caution'
Government sources also said the passenger had been praying loudly and that the flight was diverted out of an "abundance of caution."

In a statement, the TSA said: "At approximately 8.30 a.m. EST, the Transportation Security Administration was notified of a disruptive passenger onboard Chautauqua Airlines, U.S. Airways Express flight 3079 from New York LaGuardia Airport to Louisville International Airport.

"The plane was diverted to Philadelphia International Airport, where it landed without incident at approximately 8.50 a.m. EST.

"The disruptive passenger was interviewed, the plane was swept with negative findings."


NBC News, msnbc.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: Jewish teen?s prayers spark airliner scare - News- msnbc.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34973665/ns/us_news-life/)

[Airbubba]

Apparently the pax in seat 4B had some contraption with wires connected to his finger, his arm and the top of his head. He was vague about the purpose of the device and the crew decided to divert.

There is a blog report that the device was 'religious' in nature.

[411A]

....some contraption with wires connected to his finger, his arm and the top of his head

Wonder if he had a tinfoil hat on, as well?:}

[Airbubba]

Picture of 'phylacteries' here, some versions do indeed seem to have wires involved:

http://www.ebibleteacher.com/images/Phylacteries86-17tb.jpg

[bearfoil]

Finally some profiling that results in action, and people get bent.

Hele on bra. Keep it up, you'll get it right soon.

[lomapaseo]

Picture of 'phylacteries' here, some versions do indeed seem to have wires involved:

http://www.ebibleteacher.com/images/...ies86-17tb.jpg

Good grief, that looks as lethal as my nail clippers. These terrorists need to get a little more subtle with their disguised boombs

[bearfoil]

With all due respect, TSA don't know the difference between a phylacterie and a prophylacterie. I am not kidding, if they have to practice, let them, at least some fool with wires and boxes wasn't given a pass, here.

A wire to the head? Who's to say AQ doesn't have a loon neurosurgeon on staff? Give the lads a break I say.

[lomapaseo]

I am not kidding, if they have to practice, let them, at least some fool with wires and boxes wasn't given a pass, here.


but...... indeed he was passed and only found out by the vigilantee passengers doing their trained profile checking

[bearfoil]

I hate it when I am so utterly wrong. Nice Catch, lomapaseo.

[Phil Space]

If I woke up to find the guy in the next seat wired up like this I think I'd flip.

How on earth did he pass screening and in these days of heightened security what planet was he on to not appreciate other passengers concerns for their well being?

Are religious rites still legal on US aircraft?

I understand that some of the 9-11 hijackers were reciting religious verses as they took the poor victims to their death

[Dream Land]

Why do they have to pull this cr@p on an aircraft, good job on the flight crew. :ok:

[Heliplane]

I think referring to what the individual did as "cr@p" is going a tad too far.

On any El Al flight, a good number of passengers will perform this same ritual at some stage.

One can see how the straps and the small box might look like some sort of device to those who have never seen it before (then again, how many New Yorkers can claim to have never seen an Orthodox Jew) but the news reports suggest that the individual involved tried to explain what he was doing and was cooperative with all concerned. As this ritual would have been part of his everyday life, he would have very likely thought nothing of it.

An overaction?? To the unfamiliar and without the benefit of hinsdight, probably not. Any immediate reaction will be down to the immediate perception and if a danger is perceived, better to be safe than sorry.

One might see how handling an ornate set of rosary beads for a similar purpose might, in some places, produce a similar perception.

[Basil]

Sounds to me like a silly boy trying to make a point.

[Love_joy]

I can completely understand how this was mistaken for something malicious, as another posted mentioned; if you woke next to someone wired up like that, quoting religious verse, you'd be concerned.

It does pose an interesting conundrum now for the TSA and other security agencies. Do they continue to permit such contraptions, potentially opening an abusable loop-hole...

[dman59]

Calling it "crap" was not going too far. If a person were to babble some idiotic nonsense about talking snakes, invisible floating messiahs he can confide in, and endless other drivel, we would rightly recommend psychiatric help. But as soon as someone frames their lunacy in religion, we are supposed to give them a free pass.

An individual's brand of mythology no longer deserves unquestioned "respect" from the rest of us. Just because he was brainwashed by his culture to babble religious nonsense (whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, the spooky wookie monkey god, or whatever...), doesn't mean I have to respect it or put up with it.

Time to throw off (and throw up!) the bronze age sky god religion of our nomadic ancestors, and enter the 21st century. "Crap" was not too strong a word.

[ConstantFlyer]

While this may be normal activity on an El Al flight, the gentleman concerned was not on one, and perhaps should have been more aware of, and considerate towards, the possible perceptions of those around him.

[Final 3 Greens]

On any El Al flight, a good number of passengers will perform this same ritual at some stage.

But he wasn't on El Al, was he? :ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

[jimbeetle]

While this may be normal activity on an El Al flight, the gentleman concerned was not on one, and perhaps should have been more aware of, and considerate towards, the possible perceptions of those around him.

Okay, as an innocent 17-year-old young kid he might not have been exposed to others' sensitivities, but for him this was absolutley normal behavior. Remember, we're talking about New York City here, with a huge population of Orthodox Jews. This is normal, there is absolutely nothing unusual about it.

The problem stemmed from simple ignorance (in its most basic non-defamatory term) on both sides. The kid had no idea what his normal, everyday behavior would look like to others and, apparently, this was the first time the cabin crew were exposed to it.

[Final 3 Greens]

The problem stemmed from simple ignorance (in its most basic non-defamatory term) on both sides.

No, it was deviant behaviour (in the context of the environment) that caused alarm.

Deviant in the psychology usage.

[Phil Space]

You could say the same about Richard Reid the shoe bomber.

Seems to be sympathy here because he was a Jewish orthodox passenger and not an Arab muslim.

This sort of stuff is more dangerous for passengers than the bottle of water they leave at check in.

Does a Sikh get his turban pulled, what about the muslim veils? The Hijab and Niqab.

And the Ortho Jewish people who wear those hats that are never removed?

As a regular passenger I get the full treatment.:ugh::ugh::ugh: