Airlines ground two flights due to disruptive passengers

By Mashaun D. Simon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Disruptive passengers caused airlines to ground two cross-country flights this week.

Friday an unruly and allegedly drunk passenger forced an emergency landing of an  AirTran jet flying from Atlanta to San Francisco.

The man, Muhammad Abu Tahir, 46, of Virginia, was transported to the El Paso [Colo.] County jail where he will be detained on a federal hold, said FBI officials.

Federal charges for interference with a flight crew are expected to be filed Monday,  FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright told the AJC Friday night.

The incident occurred on AirTran flight 39 as the plane neared Colorado Springs, Colo.,  AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson told the AJC Friday afternoon.  The Boeing 737 was almost four hours into the flight, and had 132 passengers and five crew on board.

The flight departed Atlanta around 9:48 a.m., said Hutcheson. Around 1:30 EST, a flight attendant reported to the captain a man being disruptive.

“He failed to obey instructions to be seated, became verbally and physically abusive towards the flight attendant, and then proceeded to lock himself in the plane’s restroom,” Hutcheson said.

Following standard procedure, the captain of the plane made an emergency landing in Colorado Springs where police detained the man. Two F-16s, under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, were launched at the request of the captain to escort the flight to the airport.

Other passengers were taken from the plane to be questioned by police, and dogs and police searched the plane as a precaution.

The entire incident caused about a three hour delay.

Tahir was traveling from Richmond to San Francisco, with a connection in Atlanta.

Since the terror attacks of 9-11, airlines have been on heightened alert, Hutcheson said.

"This situation turned out to be nothing more than a passenger who has too much to drink," he said.

Twenty years ago, the way an airline responded to a disruption may have been different, with the captain coming out to try and calm a passenger down.

But Friday, said Hutcheson, it is their policy to deal with a situation on the ground rather than in the air.

If convicted Tahir could face more than 20 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Another man, upset that he could not stow his bag under his seat, became allegedly irate and made threatening statements on a comment card, causing a Hawaii-bound plan to land Wednesday.

A Maui-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight from Portland, Ore., was turned around and escorted by two F-15 military fighters because of Joseph Hedlund Johnson of Salem, Ore., according to the Associated Press.

Johnson has been charged with interfering with a crew member, a federal charge.

The 56-year-old filled out a comment card with phrases about death and crashing, and he gave it to an attendant who passed it along to the pilot, reports the Associated Press.

Johnson, who was not jailed, is expected to appear in court Monday.