A week of fear on airplanes

A scare on a Delta Air Lines flight to Boston involving a man who allegedly tried to open an emergency door was the latest in a string of frightening airliner moments over the past week.

Robert Hersey of Arlington was ordered held on $1,000 bond Wednesday after an incident his attorney called a "non-event." He pleaded not guilty to interfering with the operation of an aircraft after he was accused of tampering with the emergency exit door on a flight from Orlando.

Passengers said he'd been drinking and appeared upset when the flight was late, and a Delta spokeswoman said an off-duty police officer subdued him.

His attorney, Ron Wayland, said the door cover fell off after Hersey accidentally touched it. Wayland says the activity caused a light to go off and led the pilot to order Hersey moved to another seat.

The incident follows a string of scares in the air starting less than a week after Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. military raid on his hideout in Pakistan:

• On Tuesday, there were reports about the arrest of a Yemen native accused of trying to barge into the cockpit of a San Francisco-bound American Airlines flight.
• On Sunday, a Continental flight was diverted from Chicago when a passenger was accused of trying to open an airplane door.
• Also on Sunday, a Delta flight was diverted from San Diego after the pilot told passengers that a note with the word "bomb" was found in a bathroom.
• And on Friday, an Atlantic Southeast Airlines pilot refused to fly two Muslim religious leaders to Charlotte out of concern that passengers might balk at their attire.