US Airways flight lands safely after security fears midair

Reuters

Washington, 22 May 2012: A US Airways flight from Paris to Charlotte, North Carolina, was diverted to an airport in Maine where it landed safely after reports of a passenger showing "suspicious behavior," US officials said on Tuesday.

 

Two fighter jets were scrambled in response to the US Airways flight 787, which landed safely in Bangor, Maine, officials said. The incident involved a woman passenger who was removed from the plane, another source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

 

"TSA is aware of reports of a passenger who exhibited suspicious behavior during flight. Out of an abundance of caution the flight was diverted to BGR (Bangor) where it was met by law enforcement," the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.

 

The airline, in a statement, said the flight’s Boeing 767 aircraft was carrying 179 passengers and nine crew members and landed without incident around noon US Eastern time.

 

It did not say what the suspicious passenger was doing. According to CNN, House of Representative Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King’s office said that the woman gave flight crew a note saying that she had an explosive device implanted in her body. The female passenger was from Cameroon and had boarded with no luggage, the television network said.

 

A spokeswoman for the Senate Homeland Security Committee could not be reached for comment.

 

The flight departed Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris earlier Tuesday morning and is now scheduled to leave Maine and head to Charlotte on Tuesday afternoon.

 

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said it had scrambled two F-15 fighter jets in response to the incident but gave no further details.