Alitalia Flight Diverted

MSmith

MSmith

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Mark Smith
The US has diverted an Alitalia flight from Milan to Boston to Bangor, ME. (AP Story)

It's supposed to land at Bangor at 12:30pm EDT (about 10 minutes from now).

It is noteworthy that this is the 2nd flight in a a week from Europe to Boston to be diverted due to a no-fly name match.
 
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Bangor seems to be the designated large airport for security diverted flights from Europe.
 
MSmith said:
The US has diverted an Alitalia flight from Milan to Boston to Bangor, ME. (AP Story)

It's supposed to land at Bangor at 12:30pm EDT (about 10 minutes from now).

It is noteworthy that this is the 2nd flight in a a week from Europe to Boston to be diverted due to a no-fly name match.
Click to expand...

TSA/DHS just recently implemented mandatory flight manifest reporting for inbound international flights. Remember the US Congress people found to have names identical to names on the no fly list? Imagine that version of TSA/DHS bumbling incompetence grew to an international scale...
 
Nav8tor said:
I wonder what the purpose of diverting to Bangor is :dunno:
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From the article.... "Bangor International Airport has become a stopping-off point for problem flights because it is the last major U.S. airport for jets headed across the Atlantic and the first for incoming flights."

That'd be why. Sort of here, but not really here? (or on the way out!). :yes:
 
Nav8tor said:
I wonder what the purpose of diverting to Bangor is :dunno:
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If there is a true problem with a person on the flight we can pommel them with week old whoopie pies.
 
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T Bone said:
From the article.... "Bangor International Airport has become a stopping-off point for problem flights because it is the last major U.S. airport for jets headed across the Atlantic and the first for incoming flights."

That'd be why. Sort of here, but not really here? (or on the way out!). :yes:
Click to expand...

I'm guessing Bangor for an additional reason: if there really is a bad guy on the flight we want him in our jurisdiction to avoid any risk of flight or extradiction problems.
 
ABC reports that they pulled one passenger off (and his bags), checked the plane, and let it continue to Boston. No word on the identity of the passenger.
 
AP says that they pulled the passenger off the plane and the FBI questioned him. He was not arrested, but instead was referred to Immigration. The plane took off an hour later and was due in Boston at 2:45pm (only an hour and 15 minutes late).
 
Lee K said:
I wonder what the purpose of diverting to Bangor is :dunno:
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Found this today......

Airport in Maine is prime spot to halt `no-fly' passengers
Also receives other interrrupted flights

[size=-1]USA Today 05/20/05[/size]
author: Associated Press
(Copyright 2005)



BANGOR, Maine -- Bangor International Airport once was known as a place where unruly passengers were dropped off. Now, in the post-Sept. 11 era, it plays a role in the war against terrorism.

Twice in less than a week, trans-Atlantic flights have been diverted to the airport because a passenger's name appeared on the terrorism "no-fly list." Both episodes turned out to be false alarms.

Both times, airport workers sprang into action, and the FBI and other federal agents removed the passengers for questioning.

"We're so used to it," says Bob Jarvis, the airport's operations manager. "We handle it like any other one and get it back in the air."

Bangor, about 230 miles northeast of Boston, is the first large U.S. airport for incoming European flights. It also offers uncluttered skies and one of the longest runways on the East Coast. Together, those make the airport an ideal drop-off place for someone who may be too dangerous to be aboard a passenger jet.

The Bangor airport, created from the former Dow Air Force Base, was much busier when it served as a refueling stopover point for 4,500 to 5,000 international charter flights a year during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jarvis said.

Activity slowed with the advent of longer-range jetliners. Now, Bangor serves only an occasional international charter flight. It continues to receive cargo planes and older aircraft that need to refuel.

In addition, it gets flights diverted because of terrorism fears, medical emergencies, bad weather, equipment failures or passengers who get drunk and unruly.

Seven international flights since the Sept. 11 attacks have been diverted because a passenger's name appeared to be on the federal no-fly list, and four of those went to Bangor, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

One of those was a highly publicized episode in September involving Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens.

Federal law requires airlines to transmit to the Homeland Security Department the passenger lists for flights bound for the USA within 15 minutes of takeoff. Officials check the names against terrorist watch lists. But by then, many of the flights are airborne.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., sponsored legislation that directed Homeland Security to run checks before takeoff. The department is three months behind schedule in coming up with a plan.
 
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