Military jets scramble to escort Honolulu-bound American Airlines flight

[PastTense]

Two military fighter jets escorted a Honolulu-bound American Airlines aircraft on Friday after a man allegedly tried to break into the cockpit.

The airline said Flight 31, an Airbus A321 aircraft, landed safety at Honolulu International Airport at 11:35 a.m. local time. The flight originated from Los Angeles International Airport.

"Two Pacific Command F-22 Raptors from the Hawaii Air National Guard scrambled this morning in response to a reported disturbance on a civilian airliner making an approach to Honolulu International Airport," U.S. Navy Commander Dave Benham told CNBC in an emailed statement.

According to the U.S. Pacific Command spokesman, the fighter jets "escorted the airliner to the airport in accordance with homeland defense procedures. Local law enforcement responded once the civilian airliner was on the ground."
Man detained after trying to break into Honolulu-bound American Airlines flight (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/19/man-detained-after-trying-to-break-into-honolulu-bound-american-airlines-flight.html)

[FIRESYSOK]

A 321 on that haul? Ugh.

[Airbubba]

Looks like he will have a couple of court dates, one in LAX, another in HNL.

Man disrupts Hawaii flight after being arrested, released in L.A. airport

By Dan Nakaso and Rosemarie Bernardo

May 18, 2017
Updated May 19, 2017 4:07pm

...It was the second time today that the man was arrested [at] an airport.

Los Angeles Airport Police identified the man as 25-year-old Anil Uskanil of Turkey. They said that hours before boarding the flight to Hawaii, Uskanil opened an LAX door that led onto an airfield ramp around 2:45 a.m. He was spotted by a contractor and detained until police officers arrived.

Officers determined Uskanil had been drinking but didn’t meet the criteria to be arrested for being drunk in public, police said. Instead, Uskanil was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, given a date to appear in court, but allowed to board the 8:45 a.m. (Pacific time) flight to Honolulu.

A few hours into that flight, passengers told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the man was successfully detained by a flight attendant and passengers as he tried to rush into the first-class section with a blanket over his head.

Uskanil, described as having long, dark, wavy hair and wearing a black leather jacket, was handcuffed and escorted off the plane by FBI agents.

Passengers at baggage claim in Honolulu told the Star-Advertiser that when the man first boarded the flight he sat in the first-class section even though he didn’t have a ticketed seat there. He later was escorted to the back of the plane.

About three hours into the flight, he had a blanket over his shoulders and head when he made his way toward first class from the rear of the plane, they said.

First-class passenger Lee Lorenzen said a flight attendant rushed down the aisle with her beverage cart and blocked the man from entering the first-class area. Lorenzen said the man pushed the cart when the flight attendant calmly asked passengers to assist her.

Lorenzen said some passengers grabbed him and took him to his seat in the back of the plane. “And then I think they took some duct tape and taped him to his chair,” he added.

“He seemed off,” said Lorenzen, who with his wife, Penny, was arriving in Hawaii from Orange County for a nine-day vacation.

Passengers said the incident was over in a couple of minutes.

American Airlines spokeswoman Katie Cody said the Flight 31 crew requested law enforcement meet the plane upon landing because of a “passenger disturbance.”

She referred further questions to FBI, saying “We’re still figuring out all the details.” Calls to the Honolulu FBI field office were not immediately returned.

A passenger aboard the flight posted an Instagram video that shows someone being escorted down the plane’s aisle in handcuffs, being directed by a person wearing an FBI windbreaker, along with other people wearing sidearms.

Instagram user bplus.noisefloor.dnb wrote, “Crazy! Someone tried to break into the cockpit on my flight from LA to Honolulu. We were greeted by the FBI. They are now taking us off the plane a few rows at a time for dog-sniffing and interviews. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

A passenger named Veronica, who declined to give her last name, said she saw the man at the gate at LAX before passengers boarded Flight 31.

“I just thought he was a weird character,” she said noting he was carrying a laptop and pacing while smoking an e-cigarette. She said airport personnel told him to stop smoking.

“He just continued to pace back and forth, play with his hair,” said Veronica, who is from Sacramento.

About three hours into the flight, she and her husband, Damien, were seated in the middle of the plane when they observed the man walk through the aisle “with purpose” toward the first-class section with a blanket over his head.

Damien said he saw a flight attendant wave to some passengers who then stood up and assisted her in detaining the suspect.

After they landed in Honolulu, FBI agents boarded the flight and escorted the man off the plane.

Man disrupts Hawaii flight after being arrested, released in L.A. airport (http://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/05/18/breaking-news/hawaii-guard-jets-escort-honolulu-flight-after-on-board-disturbance/)

[jrmyl]

Sounds to me like he might have been testing security and their procedures. First a restricted area door and then the reaction of the flight crew. Gotta keep an eye out.

[The Ancient Geek]

Sounds like a simple case of a mentally disturbed character in need of psychriatric care.
Sadly this happens occasionally and he should be in a secure hospital for his own protection.

[ImbracableCrunk]

Sounds like the guy has some mental health issues.

Let's hope he gets help before he hurts himself or others.

[Derfred]

after a man allegedly tried to break into the cockpit

I'm not seeing any evidence of that from the explanation of events.

So I doubt they'll be able to charge him with anything major.

I'm actually more interested in exactly how he managed to simply "open an LAX door that led onto an airfield ramp".

We've got plenty of F22's on standby but we can't work out how to lock a door?

[LRP]

Ok, what am I missing?

A guy violates security at LAX, gets caught, and gets a court date. Then we put him on a flight, and he causes a security problem.

Surprise, surprise. Who would have guessed?

[Airbubba]

Folks, you just can't make this stuff up... :ugh:

Flight took off with disruptive passenger despite red flags

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

HONOLULU (AP) — Anil Uskanli, who authorities say inspired so much fear among flight attendants that military fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane to Hawaii, raised a series of possible red flags between purchasing his ticket and being the first passenger to board the American Airlines flight.

Uskanli, 25, of Turkey, purchased his ticket about midnight and went through security screening at Los Angeles International Airport. About 2:45 a.m. he opened a door that led to an airfield ramp, airport police said.

He smelled of alcohol, but he wasn’t intoxicated enough to be held for public drunkenness, so police cited and released him.

Uksanli’s boarding pass was confiscated, and he was walked out to a public area of the airport, police said. He went back, got another boarding pass for the flight and went through security screening again.

Before takeoff, he sat in a first-class seat and had to be asked several times to move to his assigned seat toward the back of the plane, the complaint said.



noting he was carrying a laptop


That does it! Take the :mad: down!

Yep, that's exactly what happened:

While the six-hour flight was midair, Uskanli, with his head swathed in a blanket, tried to get to the front of the plane.

When he put his laptop on a drink cart a flight attendant used to block him, flight attendants feared the computer contained explosives, prompting the captain to initiate bomb-threat procedures.

Two Hawaii National Guard fighter jets escorted the plane to Honolulu, and Uskanli was arrested when it landed.

Since he was drunk, he was boarded first as a passenger with disabilities :eek::

Because he had walked into the restricted area at the airport and he was determined to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, crew members helped him to the plane using a wheelchair, the complaint said.

At the door of the plane, flight attendants helped Uskanli, the complaint said.

Flight attendants were afraid of his laptop, the complaint said, because they are aware “that laptop computers potentially pose a new threat to airplane security because they may contain explosives that are undetected by airport screening measures.”

The captain initiated bomb threat procedures, and flight attendants barricaded the laptop with crew bags. An off-duty law enforcement officer sat with Uskanli for the remainder of the flight, the complaint said.

Fortunately, this guy turned out to be harmless, no explosives, had normal jihadi ideations like everyone, made poor choices, was trying to turn his life around etc. as his attorney will inevitably claim in district court:

No explosives were found after the plane landed. FBI agents then interviewed Uskanli.

“When I asked him if he ever had terroristic thoughts, he responded, ‘We all have those ideas,’” an agent wrote in an affidavit.

The agent asked again later about terroristic thoughts. In response, Uskanli made a gun shape with his fingers and pretended to shoot her, she wrote.

“He then did a gesture simulating a chopping motion toward my neck,” the agent wrote.

He then told another agent, “I’ll kill her, get out the following day and shoot myself,” according to the court documents.

https://apnews.com/c27c975ce28f4545abfa012fcfa1146b/Flight-took-off-with-disruptive-passenger-despite-red-flags

[Less Hair]

Just stop drunken idiots from boarding.

[Cazalet33]

Since he was drunk, he was boarded first as a passenger with disabilities

Now there's a procedure which might benefit from being reviewed and revised.

Perhaps a compromise between that airline's procedure and the United thing of beating the crap out of a sober passenger might be found as a "third way".

[peekay4]

Now there's a procedure which might benefit from being reviewed and revised.


Additional detail from the article:

Because he had walked into the restricted area at the airport and he was determined to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, crew members helped him to the plane using a wheelchair, the complaint said.

An American Airlines spokesman said, however, that it was Uskanli who requested the wheelchair at the ticket counter, then went through security and on to the gate for the flight.

At the door of the plane, flight attendants helped Uskanli, the complaint said

[Cazalet33]

Is the "complaint" truthful

If it is American Airlines policy to treat drunks as if they are already legless, then I can see that flying AA (the airline, not the mutual help group) is way better than the United Airline idea of how to 'treat' customers prior to departure.

[West Coast]

Just stop drunken idiots from boarding.

Call this the one that slipped through the cracks. FAR 121.575 requires denying boarding to people who have the appearance of intoxication. Some training might be on order, like hanging out at a pub at closing time.

[Airbubba]

An interesting operational detail, the pilots went down to 5,000 feet for almost half an hour before continuing the descent into HNL. I'm guessing that they maintained a low cabin differential as well to minimize structural damage if there was a bomb in the laptop and it detonated. Of course, the geniuses over on another thread claim all this talk about terrorists and bombs is nonsense.

From the criminal complaint:

Because they perceived the laptop as a threat due to its possible function as a bomb or explosive, K.S. acted in accordance with her training for handling possible explosive devices on a plane, and picked it up and moved it to the back of the plane.

The flight attendants and crew alerted the captain of the events that had unfolded, and the captain immediately engaged in standard protocol for handling bomb threats. He implemented a "level 4" emergency, and initiated bomb threat procedures. The flight attendants barricaded the laptop with flight crew bags, and the captain lowered the plane's elevation level to 5,000 feet.

Around this time, the captain called American Airlines Corporate Security to report the disturbance. Shortly thereafter, two military fighter jets from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam were sent to escort the flight to safe landing.

https://www.scribd.com/document/349141129/Criminal-complaint-against-Anil-Uskanli#from_embed

Tracklog for AA 31 here:

Flight Track Log AAL31 19-May-2017 KLAX - PHNL FlightAware (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL31/history/20170519/1545Z/KLAX/PHNL/tracklog)

[Airbubba]

An explanation in court for the disruptive behavior:

Man in flight disturbance case was hallucinating butterfly

October 4, 2017 3:29pm

A MAN whose allegedly disruptive behaviour caused him to be escorted off a flight by the FBI has a particularly original excuse.

A TURKISH man who pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew on an American Airlines flight, which had to be escorted to its destination by fighter jets, blamed his in-flight behaviour on hallucinating that he was chasing a butterfly.

A butterfly suddenly came out of the front pocket of the seat in front of him, Anil Uskanli said in a Honolulu federal court on Tuesday in describing what he did during the May 19 American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
“The butterfly went crazy ... flew into the toilet,” he said. “I followed it. I tried to kill it by punching it.”

Uskanli, 25, said he now realises that he was ill and hallucinating.

Uskanli raised other red flags while still at Los Angeles International Airport, but experts said a lack of communication and an airline’s hesitancy to be caught on video booting a passenger played a role in allowing him to fly.

In April, a United Airlines incident in which a passenger was dragged off an overcrowded plane drew widespread attention.

American Airlines LA to Honolulu passenger blames butterfly for antics (http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/man-in-flight-disturbance-case-was-hallucinating-butterfly/news-story/12bd27280f9972c9d59d36ac0cfab842)

[Lonewolf_50]

I think he needs to find a new supplier for his recreational drugs.

[groundbum]

another "care in the community" criminalised, it's a sad indictment of society and how we treat (or not) the mentally ill. He may be better off in jail, at least it's not a UK one where Spice is everywhere. I hope no-one in my family ever has mental issues, the Police seem to be the only people that get involved these days. How many of the mass murders involved people that were mentally ill and had fallen through the cracks of our caring compassionate (irony) society?

[tdracer]

A 321 on that haul? Ugh.


You'll find the majority of the flights to the Hawaiian islands from the US west coast are narrowbodies now days - 737, 757, and A320 series. The only major operator who still flies mainly widebodies between Hawaii and the US west coast is Hawaiian Airlines (A330 and 767).

[Gray 14]

So, what were the military jets supposed to do?

[paradoxbox]

So, what were the military jets supposed to do?

Shoot down the airliner if it looked like it was going to suicide attack a ground target. What do you expect? Hard decision but is there any other choice?