mriya225
5th Jun 2002, 14:34
Flight Diverted to Boston Because of Unruly Passenger Who Had to Be Tied to Seat
BOSTON (AP) - A flight from Cancun to Rome was diverted to Boston's Logan International Airport on Wednesday because of an unruly passenger who had to be restrained and tied to his seat, an airport spokesman said.
State police took the man into custody and turned him over to the FBI after the Boeing 777 landed shortly after 9 a.m. The unidentified passenger was carried off the plane with his hands and feet bound, said Logan spokesman Phil Orlandella.
There were 307 passengers on the Air Europe charter flight and 13 crew members, Orlandella said.
The FBI did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Source (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAWBOJ932D.html)
This one's for the "good news" file. :)
brockenspectre
7th Jun 2002, 09:18
is the sensational and misleading headline relating to a story where "pilot saves chaos in cabin by subduing passenger" would be closer to the truth.
Can't the airlines do something to correct this kind of wild reporting - or do they all think that any publicity is good publicity?
Here is the full story (I tried to make a link but it wouldn't work)
QUOTE
Jet with unruly passenger diverted to Boston
Italian executive ordered held on cocaine charge
By Raphael Lewis and Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff, 6/6/2002
or the second time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, fighter jets escorted a trans-Atlantic flight to Boston's Logan International Airport yesterday. But unlike the harrowing moments of Dec. 22, when passengers thwarted alleged shoe-bomber Richard Reid, this time it was apparently a routine case of ''air rage,'' authorities said.
The trouble began around 8:30 a.m. aboard Air Europe Flight 2065, en route to Rome from Cancun, Mexico, according to the FBI's criminal complaint and the airline's pilot, who spoke to an Italian news service. Passenger Andrea Cafiero, 39, an Italian advertising executive, got into a scuffle with another passenger, and allegedly took on several more passengers and crew members before the pilot himself punched Cafiero in the face to subdue him, federal officials said.
More than 184 grams of cocaine were later allegedly found in Cafiero's shirt pocket, FBI agents told a federal judge at an afternoon hearing. Cafiero told the judge that he is an alcoholic.
Pilot Maurizio Guzzetti, in an interview with the Italian wire service ANSA, said flight attendants recognized Cafiero as soon as he boarded the plane yesterday because of his ''unruly'' behavior on his flight from Rome to Cancun a week earlier.
Seated in the first row in business class, Cafiero first caused trouble by putting his legs on the occupied passenger's seat next to him as he slept, according to the federal complaint. Flight attendant Nardo Pedalino heard commotion and arrived to see Cafiero ''grappling with the passenger.'' Another flight attendant and a third passenger tried to subdue Cafiero, who allegedly struck Pedalino on the forehead.
Guzzetti told ANSA that he left the cabin to speak with Cafiero, at which point the passenger ''attacked me, scratched me, and tore off my watch,'' he said in Italian. ''When he tried to approach the cabin, we had no choice but to immobilize him.''
According to the complaint, Guzzetti punched Cafiero in the face, allowing flight attendants to tie his hands and feet with belts and tape.
Guzzetti said that Cafiero continued ''to kick and flail'' even after he was subdued, and the FBI complaint states that he ''threatened them and told them he would kill them,'' prompting the 44-year-old pilot to request permission to land at Logan, the closest airport.
Within moments, Guzzetti said, two Air Force F-15 fighter jets scrambled to escort the Air Europe jetliner to Runway 27, where the airliner landed safely at 9:10 a.m. with its 307 passengers and 13 crew members.
The jet taxied to Terminal E, where FBI agents and state troopers were waiting, said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan. They arrested Cafiero and hauled him off, still bound, to the nearby barracks. The plane took off again for Rome just before 1 p.m.
The incident was in some ways strikingly similar to that of Dec. 22, when Reid, a 6-foot-4 British citizen, allegedly attempted to detonate a shoe bomb aboard American Airlines Flight 63, headed from Paris to Miami. Passengers and the airline crew subdued Reid and fighter jets escorted the plane to Logan. Reid, who authorities say was trained by Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization, is awaiting trial in Boston on charges of attempted murder and attempted destruction of an aircraft.
Yesterday, Cafiero appeared in federal court in South Boston to face charges of possession of cocaine with intent to sell.
Though he has no criminal record, prosecutors argued that Cafiero should be considered a flight risk. Alexander said she would decide whether to release him on bail at a detention hearing Friday.
This story ran on page B7 of the Boston Globe on 6/6/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
UNQUOTE
:D
Intruder
7th Jun 2002, 10:06
If air rage is "routine," we're all in BIG trouble!
Brizzo
7th Jun 2002, 12:40
"And why the escort - what would they plan on doing? Shoot the aircraft down "
I think that is exactly the idea, yes. If 9/11 looked like happening again, the decision could be taken to sacrifice the aircraft and pax over open sea or country, rather than see another massacre on the ground.