Plane threat grounds jet in the US
An American Airlines flight bound for New York City was halted at San Francisco just before take-off, following a threat against the plane.
The threat was later described by the FBI as non-credible, but it rattled nerves in San Francisco and beyond and marked the latest in a series of airline scares in the past year.
A witness said two passengers in the back row attracted suspicion after the threat was reported and were taken off the plane in handcuffs. But a law enforcement official later said no one was in custody.
American Airlines Flight 24 had been due to take off at 7.30am local time yesterday at San Francisco International Airport and was grounded at around 10am after a late departure from the gate.
Passengers were removed from the plane and taken by buses to a terminal where they were sent through security again.
It was not clear if it was a bomb or hijacking threat, but a second law enforcement official who received an investigative update on the case said it was not credible.
The official said the FBI in San Francisco recorded the threat as a potential hijacking. The threat was relayed more broadly throughout the FBI as a potential bombing.
The incident happened on a Boeing 767 that had already been delayed for more than two hours with 163 passengers and a crew of 11. It finally pulled away from the gate at 10am, only to taxi to a remote section of the tarmac where passengers sat for another two hours.
“There was no fear in the cabin at all,” passenger Michael Kidd said. “It was pretty calm. Even with the frustration of having to sit there, there were no raised voices.”
Passengers with internet access searched the web for details about the incident. Flight attendants admonished passengers who tried to get up and reach their overhead luggage, Mr Kidd said.
Police eventually entered through the back door and arrested the two passengers. Others on board were taken off the plane six at a time and put on a buses. San Francisco Police Department officers screened them and their carry-on luggage with hand-held security wands.
The threat report originated from clerk at a business in Alameda, a city across San Francisco Bay from the airport, said Lt Bill Scott. The clerk called dispatchers at Alameda Police Department shortly after 9am and said her business had received an anonymous phone call “making a threat specifically about Flight 24”, Lt Scott said.
“All passengers are safe and out of an abundance of caution, TSA requested the plane be moved to a remote location,” TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said.
It was the latest in a line of plane scares in the past year, including the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound jet by a Nigerian.
In April, a Qatari diplomat who was on his way to an official visit with an imprisoned al Qaida sleeper sparked a bomb scare in Colorado by slipping into an airline toilet to smoke.
One of the four hijacked flights on September 11 2001, was bound for San Francisco. United Air Lines Flight 93 left Newark International Airport for San Francisco and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
