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Subscribe to RSSThe security scare that resulted in a US Airways jet returning to Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday morning was the result of "a pretty nasty trick played on a passenger," police said. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Updated at 8:15 p.m. ET: The security scare that resulted in a US Airways jet returning to Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday morning was the result of "a pretty nasty trick played on a passenger," authorities said.
But it appears police had the last laugh.
The man taken off the jet and questioned was the victim of a hoax, apparently performed because Thursday was his birthday, officials said. It's still not clear whether a social media posting was involved. But a telephone call was placed to Philadelphia police, claiming that he was trying to "smuggle" something to Texas.
The US Airways flight en route to Dallas-Fort Worth returned to Philadelphia International after law enforcement officials learned there could be a suspicious item on board. The airline learned of the potential threat from the FBI, US Airways spokesperson Davien Anderson told NBC News.
Flight 1267 took off in Philadelphia and returned shortly before 9 a.m. ET out of an "abundance of caution," Anderson said.
The cost of the hoax will cost US Airways "upwards of tens of thousands of dollars in direct and indirect costs," the airline said. Sixty-nine passengers were on the Airbus A319, and were being rebooked on other flights.
When the man at the center of the hoax got to Dallas late Thursday, he was arrested by local police.
He was wanted on several existing warrants in Texas for offenses having nothing to do with the hoax. When he became famous Thursday because of the plane hoax, and police in Texas discovered he was coming their way, they prepared to meet him at the airport and take him into custody on unfinished business.
Federal officials were not certain of the nature of the existing warrants.
A US Airways flight bound for Dallas-Fort Worth returned to Philadelphia International Airport following a security alert. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
NBC News' justice correspondent Pete Williams contributed to this report.
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If they find the person(s) who are responsible for the hoax, then they should chagre them with every thing they can, and make them pay restitution to the airlines, and all of the passengers. Not funny McGee......
The HOAX was the ARTICLE!
Someone's going to JAIL for a prank. Feels good, right?
You can't cure stupid...
SPANK Their PeePee!
This is why we have jails. Moron containment. these people are too stupid to live unsupervised.
I'm sorry but does nobody READ anymore?
It says "a telephone call was placed to Philadelphia police, claiming that he was trying to "smuggle" something to Texas." I DOESN'T say that he had a package but the TSA didn't check it.
Some dumby called the police and made some stuff up so his "friend" would have an interesting birthday.
Sounds to me like this guy needs to get some new friends
An "abundance of caution" sounds more to me like an "OVER abunDUNCE of TSA" and cowardice. Remember, the people on the two flights that hit the towers did what the government told them to do - put your head between your legs and kiss it goodbye! The people on flight 93 DISOBEYED the government diktat, overthrew the hijackers and the plane did NOT hit the white house. Lesson to be learned here: people do a better job of figuring out situations than the government. Or, when some gubmint functionary tells you what to do, if you do the opposite you have a pretty good chance of being right.
they shoulda star 69nd him
This guy's buddy that pulled this "hoax" would be getting the ass beating of a life time if this happened to me. With everything we have to do in order to travel by air nowadays the last thing we need is some moron sitting on his couch thinking it would be funny if he got one over on his friend for his birthday. This guy should have pay for every cab, hotel room, replacement ticket for each passenger, and all costs incurred by the airline.
First off I truly hope the freinds I have would not engage in ignorant anticks. But...if it was me (victim) I wouldn't say anything to the Feds as to who I think it might be 'till I get hold them first and exact my own bit of punishment! (o course leaving no visiable scars). THEN I would turn them in to the Feds.
When 9/11 happened, a newsperson made the remark that this country would not change. That is fartherist from the truth. This country has gone overboard with security. If something is going to happen, it will happen no matter what. Security and police and military can't be everywhere at once, and any evil-doer with half a brain isn't going to broadcast his/her intentions. People aren't comfortable doing anything anymore for fear of terrorism or law enforcement.
Can you say S-T-U-P-I-D? I hope Homeland Security can trace the call and arrest the idiots who pulled this prank. As if people aren't paranoid enough about flying these days these morons call in a false alarm. So not funny. If I were one of the passengers, I'd be royaly pissed! If they wanted to pull a prank on this guy, couldn't they just lace some brownies with ex-lax and feed them to him pre-flight? It still would have been a nasty prank, but that way it would have only affected the birthday boy.
jail,massive fines,civil action,and it was probably a vibrator.
The media is starting to suck big time. Why put something on line if you don't have the full story. I.D.I.O.T.S
In the good ol days a friend would say sorry true friends would get together and walk down the road with you singing "somebody's going to get it" .
There is no explaining "stupidity", and a good guess would be there was alcohol involved. The scary part is that these folks reproduce, and some even vote. Oh, the horror.
Hopefully they will identify the perpetrator(s) and fine/punish him/her/them appropriately.
Who doesn't appreicate a good birthday prank...
I agree not much info in this sort of thing. *Sarcasm ON* Ok now to be really clever lets all run into movie theaters and scream FIRE. *Sarcasm OFF* Who ever started this little prank should be fined and have to pay all fees cost to the airport, airline, and passengers.
ASIA FOR THE ASIANS, AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS, WHITE COUNTRIES FOR EVERYBODY!
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn’t object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
There's actually a very good, detailed story on the Philly sports blog crossingbroad.com.
Some very good comments pointing out the lack of information contained in these "breaking" news items. But my thoughts are: what a bunch of idiotic friends this poor guy has (had) I'm thinking geez this is the best prank they could come up with? Also I'm wondering, the fact that they were about to involve the TSA and the FAA in a hoax of a potential serious, harmful act never crossed their mind(s)? There should be additional penalties when people break the law and raise the bar on stupid acts. Whats wrong with a simple birthday card? maybe a talking one even.
Rather than a lawsuit filed on behalf of the passengers, maybe the best punishment for the perpetrator of the "hoax" will be to let the passengers have a half an hour with him in a room with no cameras. I know that if I was on that plane, after being frightened of the possibility of harm, I would be pissed for having to turn around and be delayed.
After everything that we have to do security wise at the airport it still amazes me that there are cretins who think that joking about airline threats is funny.
Kudos to the person who did it! Now the airlines knows how it feels when we have to pay for everything and their prices go up and up for the stupidest chit
Are you serious? Do you fail to realize that those costs will be passed on to customers one way or another?? It's not like the airlines have this magic money tree to pay for stupid stuff like this. Who do you think pays the wages and overtime for the Federal and State Law Enforcement people who had to respond to this? Taxpayers. What are you, 10 years old?!
Prankster(s) needs prosecuted. Birthday guy needs to ditch his immature, stupid "friends".
What a stupid, shallow, and worthless article. Someone needs to smuggle this "journalist" some brains.
It's not about content anymore. It's about effect.