Skip to footer

Jet returns to Philadelphia over 'nasty trick' phone hoax

The passenger removed from the Dallas-bound US Airways flight did nothing wrong and was the victim of 'a pretty nasty trick,' Philadelphia police Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan said.

|
Matt Rourke/AP
Passengers walk off a US Airways flight at Philadelphia International Airport, after the plane returned to the airport, on Sept. 6, in Philadelphia. Airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica says US Airways Flight 1267 returned to the airport Thursday morning as a 'precaution.' Footage from WCAU-TV showed a person being escorted off the plane by law enforcement officials and police dogs on the tarmac. An FBI spokesman did not immediately comment on the situation.
  • By Kathy Matheson Associated Press

| PHILADELPHIA

An airborne flight was brought back to Philadelphia, the jet was searched and a passenger was taken off for questioning because of an apparent hoax tip called into airport police, authorities said Thursday.

The passenger removed from the Dallas-bound US Airways flight did nothing wrong and was the victim of "a pretty nasty trick," Philadelphia police Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan said.

Sullivan said police at Philadelphia International Airport received a call around 7:30 a.m. that named a passenger who was on his way to Texas and carrying a dangerous substance. That name matched a passenger on board Flight 1267 to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, prompting officials to decide to turn the aircraft around after it had already flown a third of the way across Pennsylvania.

After landing, the airplane taxied to a remote section of the airport, where a slew of law enforcement vehicles surrounded it. Law enforcement officials escorted the passenger from the airplane and put him in the back of a police car.

Sullivan said the passenger, who was not identified by authorities, was very surprised to be approached by officers.

"He was obviously very alarmed, as I would be if heavily armed police officers entered a plane to take me off," Sullivan said. "And he was certainly stunned. And that's why this is no joke, this is no laughing matter."

Bomb technicians and specially trained dogs searched the plane but found nothing illegal or hazardous, Sullivan said.

Sullivan stressed that the passenger is not a suspect and did nothing wrong. Police are treating the hoaxseriously because it had resulted in a heavy police response and a significant hassle for all those on board, he said.

"It's just an incredibly foolish and irresponsible thing to do and, bottom line, it's criminal," Sullivan said.

Earlier, an FBI spokesman said the flight was diverted because of a call reporting liquid explosives were on board.

Sullivan declined to discuss the content of the call, but FBI spokesman Frank Burton said it came in around 7:20 a.m., minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. Burton said police, the FBI and the airline worked quickly to get the plane on the ground.

The airplane had 69 passengers and five crew members on board, airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica said.

Sullivan said the investigation into the phone call had been turned over to the FBI.

FBI Special Agent Richard Quinn said it was too early to speculate about what sort of charges could be filed against the caller, but they could be severe.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Jet returns to Philadelphia over 'nasty trick' phone hoax
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0906/Jet-returns-to-Philadelphia-over-nasty-trick-phone-hoax
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe