F-16s Scrambled In Three Cases Involving 'Suspicious' Lavatory
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The tenth anniversary of 9/11 prompted evaluation of the
measures taken in the years since to protect the US from further
attacks by terrorists. But the behavior of law enforcement
agencies, spring-loaded by a TSA alert for the anniversary, also
produced some new examples of abuses.
The most conspicuous example is the case of Frontier Airlines
Flight 623 from Denver to Detroit. Seated in row 12 were two Indian
men, who it turned out had not met before the flight, and
35-year-old Shoshana Hebshi, a US citizen who describes herself as
a "half-Arab, half-Jewish housewife living in suburban Ohio." When
one of the men seated with her felt queasy and went to the lav, the
crew felt he was going too frequently and staying too long, and
called it in as suspicious activity.
F-16s were scrambled and shadowed the Airbus A318, and an armed
response was prepared in Detroit. Hebshi, who is a writer and
editor, shared the ordeal in real time with her Twitter followers.
After the plane was escorted to an isolated area of the airport,
she posted, "A little concerned about this situation. Plane moved
away from terminal surrounded by cops. Crew is mum. Passengers
can't get up."
Later Hebshi related, "We had been waiting on the plane for a
half hour. I had to pee. I wanted to get home and see my family.
And I wanted someone to tell us what was going on.
"Before I knew it, about 10 cops, some in what looked like
military fatigues, were running toward the plane carrying the
biggest machine guns I have ever seen." She says she couldn't
believe it when the officers stormed the plane, stopped at her row,
told her to stop using her phone, and yanked her from her seat.
The three travelers were handcuffed, put in the back of a squad
car, detained for hours and interrogated by the FBI. Hebshi was
strip-searched by a female officer. Bomb-sniffing dogs searched the
plane. 113 other passengers were detained and questioned.
Eventually, Hebshi says she got an apology, and was thanked for her
cooperation. She recalls she was told by an agent, "'It's 9/11 and
people are seeing ghosts. They are seeing things that aren't
there.' He said they had to act on a report of suspicious behavior,
and this is what the reaction looks like. He said there had been 50
other similar incidents across the country that day.
"I feel violated, humiliated and sure that I was taken from the
plane simply because of my appearance. I believe in national
security, but I also believe in peace and justice. I believe in
tolerance, acceptance and trying, as hard as it may be, not to
judge a person by the color of their skin or the way they
dress."
Most of the players are distancing themselves from any blame in
the incident. The FBI says it did not arrest or order the arrest of
anyone. The pilot says he did not request the F-16 escort. The
airport police are under the supervision of the Wayne County
Airport Authority, which operates Detroit Metropolitan Airport. In
an email to the Associated Press, spokesman Scott Wintner said
airport police "responded appropriately by following protocol and
treating everyone involved with respect and dignity. "
In the end, lots of jet fuel and hours of time were wasted for
more than a hundred people, not counting the police, government
agents and F-16 pilots, and all because someone was thought to be
spending too much time in the lavatory. Two other military fighter
intercepts Sunday were also bathroom-related. The AP reports three
passengers who made repeated trips to the bathroom on American
Flight 34 from Los Angeles were cleared after the plane safely
landed at JFK.
Also Sunday, a GoJet flight from St. Louis to Washington, DC was
delayed when the pilot returned to the gate and requested all
passengers be re-screened after the crew found paper towels stuffed
in a toilet.
On your next airline flight, if you find yourself becoming
anxious when a fellow passenger pulls out the airsick bag, just be
thankful he's not going to the lav.