CBS Radio Interview about Suspicious Passengers

Dr. Curtis was interviewed by CBS Radio News about the August 2010 detention of two passengers in Amsterdam on suspicion of being involved in some kind of terror related event. The passengers were later released because they had done nothing wrong.

On August 30th, 2010, two men, Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi, who were both on their way to Yemen from the US, were arrested in Amsterdam after they had arrived on a flight from Chicago. They were arrested because they were suspected to be part of some kind of terror related activity, perhaps a dry run for an attempted bombing of an aircraft.

Al-Soofi had raised suspicion earlier in the day prior to his flight from Birmingham, Alabama to Chicago. After being chosen for additional screening, authorities found that he was carrying $7,000 in cash, and in his checked luggage were a cell phone taped to a small bottle, multiple cell phones and watches taped together, a knife, and a box cutter. Al-Soofi had violated no laws or regulations, so he was allowed to continue.

Later in Chicago, he had changed his flight, and his checked bags ended up going on a different flight. Coincidentally, Hezam al-Murisi, who also changed his flight to to one carrying Al-Soofi, also had his bags going on a different flight. US authorities asked Dutch authorities to detain the men, and they were both arrested after arriving in Amsterdam.

The CBS interview covered several subjects including whether the behavior of these passengers should have aroused suspicions. At the time of the interview, early reports suggested that they were traveling together. In fact, while the two were on the same flight out of Chicago, they did not know each other and were traveling independently, with only Al-Soofi starting his trip in Birmingham.

The Dutch authorities soon released both men, and dropped all charges. In short, although what the two men did during their trip looked unusual or even suspicious, they had done nothing wrong, and had broken no law or violated any regulation. The lesson to take away from this episode is that the US authorities, including TSA and Homeland Security, may be inclined to take all kinds of precautionary actions, including detaining passengers, if they suspect that someone is attempting to bring harm to an airplane flight.

Should passengers change their behavior to keep from being hassled? According to Dr. Curtis, that is a personal decision best left to individual passengers. In his opinion, you're free to act as suspicious as you want, just keep in mind that the price of freedom is an increased chance of being hassled or even detained.

Listen to the interview (10:19)

Related AirSafeNews.com Articles
AirSafeNews.com article on the attempted bombing
Description of four key US terrorist and TSA security databases
BBC interview with AirSafeNews.com's Dr. Todd Curtis

Flight Attendant Fills in for Sick Pilot

On Monday June 14, 2010, the first officer on American Airlines flight 1612, a Boeing 767 flying nonstop from San Francisco to Chicago with 225 passengers and a crew of seven, became ill about an hour into the flight and was unable to continue with his flying duties. After the captain, Jim Hunter, deemed the first officer too ill to fly, the flight's purser reviewed the passenger list for off-duty pilots, but none were on board. It turns out that two of the cabin crew members, the purser and flight attendant Patti Deluna, both had flying experience, the captain chose Deluna because she had more flying experience. She earned a commercial license in 1970 and has logged about 300 flight hours.

According to an American Airlines spokesperson, Deluna read checklist procedures to the captain as he configured the aircraft for landing, in addition to handling other tasks in the cockpit. She was in the cockpit for about the last 90 minutes of the flight.

The plane, carrying 225 passengers and seven crew members, landed safely at Chicago's O'Hare airport, at 4:24 p.m. Monday. After the aircraft landed, the first officer was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released the next day.

Previous 767 Incapacitated Pilot Incident
This is not the first time that a flight attendant has taken over for an incapacitated pilot. In January 2008, the first officer on an Air Canada 767 on a flight from Toronto to London became incapacitated and had to be removed from the cockpit. The captain declared an emergency and completed the flight with the assistance of a flight attendant who was also a licensed pilot.

A copy of the Air Canada incident report from the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit is available at http://www.airsafe.com/podcasts/air-canada-jan-2008.pdf.

You can hear the associated podcast at:
http://www.airsafe.com/podcasts/show75-air-canada-pilot.mp3