United Flight 923 from London to Wash, DC Diverted to Boston

United flight 923 from London’s Heathrow Airport bound for Washington, DC was diverted to Boston’s Logan Airport due to a passenger disturbance. The emergency was declared when a female aboard the plane was acting suspiciously.

A female passenger aboard United Flight 923 had Vaseline, a screw driver, matches and a note referencing Al Qaeda, according to Phil Orlandella, spokesman for Boston’s Logan International Airport.

  

The flight, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members landed safely, United spokesman Brandon Borrman said. Borrman said a female passenger was spotted engaging in some “suspicious” activity, but he could not immediately say what the activity was. The flight was escorted to Boston by two fighter jets.

(Fox News)

Tensions aboard airlines departing from London were obviously high today as August 16 was supposed to be the date that the terror strikes were supposed to occur.

Terrorists were planning to unleash a series of deadly mid-air explosions on flights between London and America on August 16, it has been revealed today.

Members of the terror group, who were arrested in a series of raids by anti-terror police yesterday, were due to mount a dry run today to check if they could smuggle components for liquid explosives through Britain’s airports.

(Daily Mail)

Unruly passenger forces US plane diversion

“There was a supposed confrontation on board. There may have been a banned item on board and they are now searching the luggage,” said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman at Boston’s Logan International Airport.

There was no immediate comment on media reports the woman had Vaseline, a screwdriver, matches and a note on the Islamic militant group al Qaeda.

Passengers on flights from Britain have been barred from carrying gels and liquids

(Reuters)

UPDATE: It is now being reported that the airline flight was diverted due to a claustrophobic episode by a female passenger. They are also now stating that the female passenger did not have any  Vaseline, a screw driver and matches, liquids or any notebook she may have had, did not contain an al- Qaida reference. So what part of the story did anyone get right?  

The federal security official said there was no indication of terrorism and denied reports that the woman had a screw driver, matches and a note referring to al-Qaida.

The female passenger aboard United Flight 923 said she was claustrophobic and became very upset and got into some kind of confrontation with the flight crew, said George Naccara, federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration for Massachusetts’ airport.

The disturbance _ coming just a week after authorities in London said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights _ was enough to concern the pilot to issue an alert, which activated two fighter jets to escort the flight into Logan, Naccara said.

(Breitbart)

UPDATE: 8/17/06, Affidavit: Woman Urinated on Plane Floor

Now we get a little better picture as to what happened aboard flight 923 that caused the United flight to be diverted from Washington, DC to Boston, MA.

A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday.

Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., appeared in federal court Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew on United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., Wednesday.

Interestingly enough we get conflicting stories as to whether the passenger was lucid and in her right mind or just a peace activist as her son stated. Lately, they way some peace activists  have acted lucidity would be a fine line.

Her attorney, federal public defender Page Kelley, said Mayo was “just barely lucid” when they spoke. “She’s got some very serious mental health problems.”

U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said he hoped to learn more about Mayo’s mental state before the next court appearance. “We believe it’s important during that time period to have a doctor examine her,” he said.

Mayo’s son, Josh, 31, described his mother as a peace activist and said she had been in Pakistan since March. She traveled there often since making a pen pal prior to Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The pen pal hasn’t been allowed to visit the U.S., he added.

“I guess she just had a bit of a bad time on the plane, and everybody’s a little paranoid,” the son said.

(Breitbart)

In the end, a flight diverted and 100′s of passengers inconveniences due to the rantings and a less than stable individual.