Air Force Jets scrambled for UAL seat fight

I was wondering the same thing. What good were a couple of F-16s going to do? Short of shooting down the airliner, what could they do? What a waste of my tax money.
 
Chicken Little lives. "Out of an abundance of caution..." :mad2::mad2::mad2:
 
Ghery said:
I was wondering the same thing. What good were a couple of F-16s going to do? Short of shooting down the airliner, what could they do? What a waste of my tax money.
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Shoot it down if it was commandeered, and then headed somewhere it shouldn't have, like Washington, New York or the like...

Other than ensure our guys get flight pay, and the system gets exercised, but it doesn't really DO anything.
 
Funny. On my way back from Germany (2AM flight) I went to lean my seat back and the British guy behind me started pushing it. Said it was 'too far'. I said 'too bad'. He complained to the flight attendent and she let him move seats. No need to fight over it though.

There are seats on the plane that do not recline.
 
Both should be thrown in the brig. Play nice with your mates, mate.
 
Ghery said:
I was wondering the same thing. What good were a couple of F-16s going to do? Short of shooting down the airliner, what could they do? What a waste of my tax money.
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I'm speechless. How stupid do you ... never mind. We all know DHS is run by idiots.
 
Doggtyred said:
Shoot it down if it was commandeered, and then headed somewhere it shouldn't have, like Washington, New York or the like...
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In this case, it was headed back to Dulles. I'll bet that's the reason for taking the precaution of the fighter escort. Just in case pax were causing more trouble than was reported.

If the same thing happened on a flight from here to Chicago, I'd bet you money there would be no fighter escort.
 
MadseasoN said:
Funny. On my way back from Germany (2AM flight) I went to lean my seat back and the British guy behind me started pushing it. Said it was 'too far'. I said 'too bad'. He complained to the flight attendent and she let him move seats. No need to fight over it though.
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Keep in mind, this flight was going to Ghana. I'm going out on a limb and guess that the pax involved were West Africans. When they disagree, they don't always play nice.
 
NoHeat said:
In this case, it was headed back to Dulles. I'll bet that's the reason for taking the precaution of the fighter escort. Just in case pax were causing more trouble than was reported.

If the same thing happened on a flight from here to Chicago, I'd bet you money there would be no fighter escort.
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I wouldn't take that bet.

Had this been a more critical cabin situation, or had the crew/authorities suspected a larger problem, there are several airports that were as close, if not closer, than IAD - including ORF, PHL, JFK, BWI, EWR, etc. While IAD was convenient for UA as a hub (and the origining point of the flight), there were other airports that could have been used in a real emergency.
 
I'm not surprised they scrambled the jets. Practice makes perfect. I am surprised they were not diverted elsewhere. Even aircraft coming from Europe end up diverted to Maine even if their destination is Boston. It would seem to me that Dullus is not an appropriate destination in this case.
 
We are afraid of our own shadows :eek: .
 
F-16s??!!

As Clint Eastwood says (in the movie "In The Line Of Fire"):

"Pure window dressing"

Gotta do sumpin' to make the plebes feel safe. :rolleyes2:
 
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