UK-Washington Flight Diverted to Boston After "Passenger Disturbance"
Published August 16, 2006
Massachusetts state police have taken control of United Flight 923, which holds 182 passengers, after it was diverted from its Heathrow to Washington DC route to Logan Airport in Boston on Wednesday. A "passenger disturbance" is said to be the cause, involving a confrontation between three passengers and the crew of the plane.
MSNBC reports that "an agitated woman" was the cause of the disturbance, which caused the captain to divert the flight and take the step of requesting a fighter escort. The woman carried Vaseline, matches, and a screwdriver according to reports. There is also an unconfirmed report that the woman had a note that referenced al Qaeda.
United officials are maintaining that there is no indication that there is any terrorist connection with this incident at this time. NORAD scrambled two F-15s from Otis Air Force Base in Cape Cod, which is believed to be a precautionary measure.
Domestic flight rules state that a screwdriver of less than seven inches of length are allowed on board. Under current enhanced security measures, items such as Vaseline, a gel, and screwdrivers are not allowed on board on international flights.
As details from this breaking news story emerge, there will certainly be great scrutiny to see if there is any connection to the recently foiled London terror plot.
Update: MSNBC now reports that the woman involved in the incident did not have an "al Qaeda note." She did hold some literature printed in Arabic, which is now being investigated.
Update: Federal authorities are now denying reports that the 60-year-old woman was carrying Vaseline, a screwdriver, and matches. The woman appears to have had an attack of claustrophobia, which led to a confrontation with the flight crew. The pilot then declared an "in-flight emergency."
Update: George Naccara, federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration for Massachusetts' airport, said, "I don't know what she had on board with her, but we have been told she did not have a screwdriver, she did not have any liquids such as Vaseline, and any notebook she may have had, it did not contain an al-Qaida reference. This is still playing out, of course."
"There was speculation in the beginning of all those items, but those have been proven untrue," he said.
Eric Berlin is the Executive Producer of Blogcritics.org and publisher of Online Media Cultist. He's also prone to referring to himself in the third person in author bios in an attempt to make it look like someone Less Important wrote it for him.
Contact: dumpsterbust@gmail.com
- UK-Washington Flight Diverted to Boston After "Passenger Disturbance"
- Published: August 16, 2006
- Type: News
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Politics: War and Terrorism
- Writer: Eric Berlin
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So - YESTERDAY a flight was diverted and now a woman who was supposed to have been carrying an al-qaeda letter in fact doesn't even have ANYTHING on her. Updates are taking place after they are released live on national media.
This is currently pegged as breaking news - in what way is it breaking, and in what way is it news? Not a criticism - just a question.
Not sure where you're located, confused, but the flight landed in Boston "today," or Wednesday. It's "breaking news" merely because it got quick and blanket coverage across the televised news nets, the top slots in major online media sources, etc.
It is interesting -- and thankfully so -- that most of the very early reports turned out to be overblown.
Perhaps I came accross too strongly.
Yes, agreed that it is interesting. And agreed again that the result is thankful.
What I'm curious about though is are any of these quotes exclusive to BC or are they all derived from the main stream media sources? Because if they are already reported then the item ceases to be news and becomes "commentary", right? And it ceases to be "breaking" because someone else already broke it?
Just a question, as I say, not a criticism.
This story is compiled from multiple news sources so it is an original piece about a breaking news story. The "news" itself turned out to be not so huge, but the era of terrorism, the recently foiled London plot, etc. and the probability that there was an overreaction (and who can blame them?) to a disturbed woman AND the fact that the media, including BC, are freaking themselves to the core to cover it, all constitute it as "breaking news."
If she did get on board with all that stuff then the security agent who let her through needs to be fired.
Isn't there some kind of door where by an annoying passenger can be ejected? There must be! Restrooms have the ability to disgard the human waste by pressing the button. We should have one chair set aside for this function. When someone starts acting dumb, we can say "o.k., you win, I am sorry, please sit here and I will get whatever you want". Once the person sits down and is temporarily calmed a button is depressed and the same sound you hear in the restroom is made as this person is disgarded into the sky. Everyone applauds, shuts up and drinks up while snacking on those great snacks. Thank You
Yes, we need to consult the people that make the trapdoors that pissed off executives use to send seated employees on to the void.
Confused, information is news. I don't see any commentary, do you?
i feel that the passengers on the flight should determine her punishment.these people missed connecting flights,buisness meetings , people waiting for them at airports! her picture should be placed at all security stations. no freakouts allowed . cudos to the flight crew
I'm confused about how confused thinks the networks and magazines and newpapers operate. You do realize that each and every newspaper around the world doesn't have their own person everywhere there's a hint of something happening, right? That 99% of what goes into any newspaper or TV newscast is second-hand at best?
Anyway, it *is* fascinating to note how all of the first-hand original reports seems to have been wrong, and it has taken the second-hand aggregators to come up with the truth.
Yes Larry, short of snakes, losing one's mind on a plane is probably not the best way to go.
Every wacko on the planet now has dibs on the national news coverage. Someone should just permanently station a Fox reporter in NY's Washington Square.
Not sure what your point is, Phil. But I love Washington Square Park! Lots of cops in the area now, much cleaned up from how it was back in the day.
While that woman was certainly weird, did you all notice the almost hyper reaction of the airline staff? Perhaps the passengers too were equally terrified.
The terrorists have dramatically changed the common routines of our normal lives, and to such a great extent that now even a little odd behavior from an otherwise innocent soul spells mass hysteria and trouble at a wide scale. Times have changed, folks.
And how about that 12 year old boy who snuck on the plane bound for Lisbon - NO Passport nor boarding pass.
Amazing.
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who carries vaseline, a screwdriver, and an attitude around and doesn't expect a few questions?