HOMELAND INSECURITY

Hijacking 'dry run' testimony mounts

Cover-up hinted as case recalls 'flying imams'

Posted: December 07, 2009
10:26 pm Eastern
By Michael Carl
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Evidence that an incident on an Air Tran flight from Atlanta to Houston could have been a "dry run" for a possible hijacking is mounting, with analysts hinting at a cover-up because of an airline gag order on employees and more witnesses coming forward to say they were afraid.

The airline, meanwhile, is sticking to its prepared statements that there was an issue with a passenger and a cell phone
but the matter is considered closed.

A contrary account of the incident emerged through a viral e-mail by a purported passenger who said about a dozen Muslims caused a disturbance aboard Flight 297 on Nov. 17.

The airline affirms the incident was serious enough to warrant bringing the plane back to the gate. The e-mail said the Muslims left the plane and were questioned by law enforcement officials but then returned, prompting the crew to refuse to fly. A replacement crew was summoned, the e-mail said.

As WND reported, another passenger, Keith Robinson, a Houston chaplain, said he originally missed the flight, then was surprised to learn it was returning to the gate. Robinson, who occasionally works with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said a passenger getting off the jet told him Arab men sang, danced and pretended to shoot the other passengers before the plane was returned to the gate.

The author of the e-mail, Tedd Petruna of Houston, has stood by his original statement: "If this wasn't a dry run, I don't know what one is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it. … The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes."

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Charges of suppressed information now are being leveled.

"Two and a half weeks later, the incident is in high dispute, thanks to some passengers who have spoken out on the Internet about what they say is a cover-up by Air Train and other transportation officials," Marietta, Ga., columnist Laura Armstrong wrote.

Passenger Brent Brown told WSB-TV in Atlanta that the situation was "extremely intense."

"I've never experienced anything like that," Brown, a security consultant and a frequent flier, told the station.

He described how the men of "Middle Eastern" descent started walking the aisles, using their cell phones and refusing flight attendants' instructions to sit down.

"When the pilot turned the plane around, not only was I not surprised, I was proud that he had made that effort to secure the cabin," he said.

Brown said that back at the gate, things did not improve. When Air Tran described the incident as a customer service issue, he said they were "dead wrong."

Another case?

Meanwhile, a second similar incident has been related to WND by an airline employee who has asked her company to investigate. She insisted on anonymity until she gets a response.

The employee described how three "Middle Eastern" men boarded a plane and loaded enough carryon luggage into an overhead bin to fill it at Row 4, even though they were sitting in the rear of the craft.

Then they rearranged their seats so they all wound up in an exit row on the jet.

The men laughed during the safety briefing and spoke Arabic, spending a long time "leaning into the aisle … and looking directly at the cockpit and at us in a menacing way."

"I made the decision to bring out the trash bin and block the forward galley for the entire flight," she told WND about the late October incident. "I'm sure it looked completely odd to the passengers, but the [passengers] never got out of their seats once they saw the cockpit and forward lavatory were off-limits."

The surprise came when the flight arrived, and "we asked the gate agent for a copy of their reservation," she said. "There were notes in the record that the passengers in question had been denied boarding by [another airline]."

Protection mode

Doug Hagmann, director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, said Air Tran appears to be trying to protect itself.

"Air Tran didn't follow the specific TSA procedures for reporting incidents. The crew called in the incident as a possible safety or security problem. The airline treated it like it was a customer service matter," he said.

He reported a gag order on the crew members who refused to fly the jet and said Air Tran confiscated two manifests from the flight.

Hagmann said his sources reported the 13 people involved in the Air Tran episode were dressed in Middle Eastern clothing but had removed their head scarves and other such attire when they returned to the jet.

He said it appeared to be a test.

"This group of Muslims were also photographing airport features as well as taking pictures on the plane. They were testing the security set-up of Air Tran and the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport," he told WND.

Air Tran officials, who last week referred WND to an Internet-myth "debunking" statement on their website, were no more open today. A spokesman who declined to give his name said the company already had explained the situation.

"Thirteen non-English speaking people were asked to leave the plane. We talked to them through interpreters and determined that there was no risk to passenger safety and allowed them to re-board the plane," the Air Tran spokesman stated.

A Federal Aviation Administration official said the agency's investigation didn't find a problem.

"We received a report that some passengers may not have been following the regulations regarding electronic devices or the flight crew's instructions. When the plane returned to the gate, then we initiated the investigation," the spokesman said. "We didn't find any violation of FAA rules and the investigation was concluded."

He deferred to Air Tran on why a crew would refuse to fly over a violation of a "regulation."

Detailed report

Robinson's description of the situation, e-mailed to WND, was detailed. He reported he had missed the original departure but noticed the flight was returning to the gate.

"Upon arriving at the gate, I noticed that there was a look of solemn concern on the faces of the gate attendants. I asked if I could get on Flight 297 when they returned to the gate. Their faces indicated a distinct level of stress that let everyone in the seating area knew that there was a problem on board," he said.

"Over the next thirty minutes officials from Air Tran started arriving at the gate, flashing their badges and going down to the plane. After 6â€