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04-22-2006, 05:58 PM #1
Wild Melee On Sacramento Flight; Flighter Jets Scrambled
Wild Melee On Sacramento Flight; Flighter Jets Scrambled
http://www.ktvu.com/news/8906422/detail.html
POSTED: 6:44 am PDT April 22, 2006
UPDATED: 10:07 am PDT April 22, 2006
DENVER -- With three Secret Service agents aboard and the pilots fully in control of a United Airlines jetliner being diverted to Denver, two F-16 fighter jets scrambled to intercept the flight merely escorted the plane into Denver International Airport.
But the apparatus that could ultimately have lead to the plane with 138 passengers and six crew members being shot down -- put in place after 911 -- was fully operational Friday, with agencies that included the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security on an open phone line monitoring the flight.
Had the plane "been judged as a threat by the highest levels of our government, they could make the decision to have the plane shot down," said Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, a spokesman for NORAD, a U.S.-Canadian military command based outside Colorado Springs that monitors missiles, aircraft and space objects and warns of threats.
President Bush would ultimately make the decision.
Authorities said Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega -- whose age and hometown were not immediately released -- tried to open an door on the Airbus A-320 en route from Chicago to Sacramento, Calif., and then claimed to have a bomb forcing the emergency landing in Denver.
"Had he opened the door, we'd all be dead," passenger Donna Bell of Visalia, Calif., told the Sacramento Bee.
Fellow passengers on the plane subdued the man and three Secret Service agents on board heading between assignments helped detain him, said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren. "That saved us," Ian Grossman of Chicago told the Bee. "You don't know what will happen if a guy like that is loose in the cabin."
The Bee reported that passenger Joe Pena, a senior airman at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., described the incident as like a bar fight. "I heard a bunch of commotion, and I heard somebody yell 'What are you doing' and 'Get down,' then I saw the guy put into a chokehold, put on his back and pinned down so he couldn't move," Pena said in Sacramento, after hugging his tearful wife, Candy.
President Bush, who is protected by the Secret Service, on Saturday was scheduled to tour a fuel-cell technology plant in West Sacramento, Calif.
A "shoot-don't shoot" scenario didn't develop because the plane was following all FAA instructions. One of the last resorts would have included the fighter pilots either talking to or attempting to talk to the pilot of the airliner, which didn't happen Friday, Kelly said
The fighter jets out of Buckley Air Force Base east of Denver "followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen," Kelly said.
Since Sept. 11, fighters have been scrambled or if already airborne diverted 2,300, said Kelly. The Transportation Security Administration said it did not have numbers on how many flights have been diverted.
The Boeing 767 airliner, carrying 183 passengers and 14 crew members on which would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid was on in December 2001, was escorted to Boston by two fighter jets.
With the fighter jet escort, the United plane landed at about 4:30 p.m. in a remote area of the airport where it was searched. Passengers were bused to the terminal and questioned by authorities and Pelayo-Ortego was arrested.
No one aboard Flight 735 were injured, said United spokesman Brandon Borrman.
Pelayo-Ortega was in a Denver jail awaiting federal charges. FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso said he will be charged on Monday.
Kelso said authorities searched the aircraft for explosives and re-screened luggage as well as the passengers before they were allowed to re-board the plane, which left for its original destination at about 7:30 p.m.It's like hell vomited and the Bush administration appeared.
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04-22-2006, 05:59 PM #2
Gee, I wonder why his hometown wasn't released.
It couldn't be because he's here illegally, by any chance?It's like hell vomited and the Bush administration appeared.
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04-22-2006, 06:03 PM #3
Naw......no chance of that.
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04-22-2006, 06:04 PM #4
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
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Originally Posted by CountFloyd
And even if he is illegal,,, they still won't do anything about the borders
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04-22-2006, 06:23 PM #5
You did know the flight started in Chicago. Just found that funny after reading the topic about a day at o'Hare airport.
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05-03-2024, 11:30 PM in General Discussion