Airlines on Bin Laden Alert Help Snuff Out Security Scares
American Crew Subdues Passenger
Matt Nager/Bloomberg
An American Airlines plane takes off at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Irving, Texas. An American Airlines crew and travelers subdued a man who rushed the cockpit door as airlines remained on high alert following the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
An American Airlines plane takes off at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Irving, Texas. An American Airlines crew and travelers subdued a man who rushed the cockpit door as airlines remained on high alert following the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Photographer: Matt Nager/Bloomberg
Three U.S. airline security scares yesterday were brought to quick ends by crew members and passengers on high alert after the death of Osama bin Laden, aviation safety specialists said.
“What happened suggests that folks within the airline and aviation community may be worried more than usual because of Bin Laden and heightened security,” Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said today in an interview.
Bin Laden, the instigator of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, was killed May 2 when U.S. special forces raided his compound in Pakistan. U.S. officials have warned of possible retaliation by his al-Qaeda organization, which has threatened new attacks “soon.”
American Airlines crew members and travelers subdued a man who rushed the cockpit door late yesterday, hours after a man was stopped from opening an exit in flight on a Continental Airlines plane. A Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) jet was diverted and searched after a flight attendant raised a “security concern.”
“The people I know at the Department of Homeland Security take the job very seriously and, in light of the bin Laden raid, they are keeping an eye on things extremely closely and being hyper-vigilant,” said John Cox, a former airline pilot and chief executive officer of Washington-based consultant Safety Operating Systems LLC.
Emergency Landing
A suspect was being held in the American Airlines case, which occurred on a flight en route to San Francisco from Chicago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said today.
A man is being questioned in the Continental incident, which forced an emergency landing in St. Louis, according to Jeff Lea, a spokesman for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The plane was en route to Chicago from Houston.
The Delta jet was cleared to return to service yesterday.
“Heightened security procedures can elicit erratic kinds of behavior in people either with mental health issues or certain types of personalities,” said Bloom, who works at Embry-Riddle’s campus in Prescott, Arizona.
Cox said crews are trained for the “abnormalities that will pop up from time to time.”
The three events appear to be unrelated, based on details released so far, said Todd Curtis, founder of AirSafe.com and a former Boeing Co. airline safety analyst. The U.S. government immediately would have increased security measures if it had an indication the incidents were linked, he said.
‘Grabbing Cockpit Door’
American Flight 1561 was about 30 minutes from landing last night when a male passenger went to the front of the Boeing 737 and began “grabbing the cockpit door,” said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline.
“Both working and traveling employees, along with a couple of passengers, immediately subdued him, put him on the floor and put flex cuffs on him,” Smith said in an interview.
Rageh Almurisi, 28, of Vallejo, California, was being held for interfering with a flight crew, said Julianne Sohn, an FBI spokeswoman in San Francisco. Almurisi was carrying a Yemeni passport and California identification, she said.
Continental Flight 546 was en route from Houston to Chicago yesterday when it was diverted at about 1:30 p.m. local time to St. Louis, Lea said. Airport police who boarded the plane found a man being held by a flight attendant and two passengers.
File Charges
“He apparently had gotten up in mid-flight and claimed he had to get off and was attempting to try to open the main entry door to the airplane,” Lea said.
Reynel C. Alcaide, 34, of Burbank, Illinois, was charged with crimes involving aircraft and interfering with flight-crew members and attendants, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis. Each offense carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the statement.
Continental is a unit of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL)
Delta Flight 1706 was flying from Detroit to San Diego when it was diverted to Albuquerque, New Mexico, said Anthony Black, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based carrier. He declined to be more specific about the security issue on the plane.
Crew and passengers were interviewed, and “no suspicious devices were found” after a search, said Frank Fisher, an FBI spokesman in Albuquerque. The Boeing 737 was released to continue its flight.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net
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