Military jets safely escort NYC, Detroit flights
September 11, 2011
On a Los Angeles-to-New York American Airlines flight, three
passengers made repeated trips to the bathroom, officials said. The
three were cleared after the plane landed safely at New York's
Kennedy Airport.
Earlier, on a Denver-to-Detroit Frontier Airlines flight, the
crew reported that two people were spending "an extraordinarily
long time" in a bathroom, Frontier spokesman Peter Kowalchuck
said. Police detained three passengers at Detroit's Metropolitan
Airport after the plane landed without incident. They were released
after questioning.
In both instances, the FBI said the jets shadowed the planes
"out of an abundance of caution."
New York, in particular, has been in a heightened state of
security after federal officials received a credible but
uncorroborated tip of a car bomb plot on the 9/11 anniversary in
either New York or Washington.
American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said the plane's captain
never declared a security threat and never asked for law
enforcement help. A "security concern" was brought to the
airline's attention, the crew used "normal procedures" to assess
the circumstances and the plane landed as planned, Smith said.
"In our eyes, it's a big nothing," Smith added.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled two F-16
jets to shadow American Airlines Flight 34 until it landed safely
at 4:10 p.m., the Transportation Security Administration said in a
statement.
On the flight, the three passengers made repeated trips to the
bathroom and some thought they were using hand signals to
communicate, a law enforcement official said. The official was not
authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity. Two of the men were Israeli and one was
Russian, the official said, adding that they were cleared and sent
on their way.
FBI spokesman J. Peter Donald said in a statement that the jets
were sent to escort the flight "out of an abundance of caution."
The FBI interviewed passengers and found "no nexus to terrorism,"
he said.
A similar scenario played out on Frontier Flight 623.
NORAD spokesman John Cornelio said NORAD sent two F-16 jets to
shadow the plane until it landed safely. The craft, with 116
passengers on board, landed without incident at 3:30 p.m. EDT,
Kowalchuck said.
The Airbus 318 taxied to a pad away from the terminal, he said.
The three escorted off the plane in handcuffs included two men and
a woman, passenger Ilona Hajdar of Charlotte, Mich., told The
Associated Press.
Authorities cleared the aircraft at 5:15 p.m. EDT after it was
searched, the TSA said.
Flight 623 originated in San Diego before stopping at Denver
International Airport on its way to Detroit.
In Denver, the FBI said that NORAD scrambled F-16 fighter jets
to shadow the plane "out of an abundance of caution." The plane
was searched and nothing was found, the FBI said.
American Airlines passenger Steven Ciobo said nothing seemed
amiss on the flight until he saw police lights on the runway after
the plane landed. He looked out the window while still in flight
and didn't notice anything.
When the plane landed, he said, the airline workers told them to
remain seated and that the authorities would meet the plane.
Everyone was quiet as air marshals got on board and headed for the
back of the plane.
"To be honest, I think it's reassuring that there was such a
great response from the authorities," Ciobo said. "If there are
people that are stupid enough to do those things on today of all
days you wonder what's going on through their heads. But the fact
that there were so many authorities there ... and that it all went
so smoothly, I think they did a good job.
The jets intercepted the flight about 100 miles west of New York
and shadowed it until it landed, Cornelio said. He also described
the measure as precautionary.
American Airlines is a subsidiary of AMR Corp. Frontier is a
subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings Inc.
---
Goodman reported from Detroit, Anderson from Denver. Associated
Press writers Colleen Long and David B. Caruso and AP Television
Reporter Bonny Ghosh reported from New York, Jeff Karoub from
Detroit and P. Solomon Banda from Denver.