On a Los Angeles to New York flight yesterday, a few people used the bathroom repeatedly. On a flight from Denver to Detroit, a few more people used the bathroom for a really long time. In both cases, the military intervened. Wait, huh?
Well it was the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, after all, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. NPR says that, in the case of American Airlines Flight 34 to New York, Attendants followed standard procedure and reported the potty issues pilots after passengers voiced concerns. The pilots never asked for intervention by government agencies, rather the FBI was monitoring the situation and acted out of caution.
The North American Aerospace defence Command scrambled two F-16 jets to shadow American Airlines Flight 34 until it landed safely at 4:10 p.m., the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
On the flight, the three passengers made repeated trips to the bathroom and some thought they were using hand signals to communicate, a law enforcement official said. The official was not authorised to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Two of the men were Israeli and one was Russian, the official said, adding that they were cleared and sent on their way.
The events of Frontier Airlines Flight 623 unfolded in a similar manner with three separate passengers, and F-16 jets dispatched by NORAD. In both cases, all six suspects were detained, questioned and cleared. So maybe next time nature calls while flying, you just hold it? [AP]
Image: AP
EckyThump
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 8:27 AMSounds like the shape of things to come for the US, you can’t even take a dump without the FBI watching! Seriously, that country is screwed! #[
PeterB
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 8:53 AMAl Qaeda has succeeded way beyond their wildest dreams in changing the way of life of those decadent Americans!
Matt
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 8:57 AMI don’t think Americans realize that the lost this war.
Every day life is much stricter for Americans, they’re 14+ trillion in debt and the entire world hates them.. but don’t worry – they killed Osama.
EckyThump
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 9:02 AMHah..! Plus that dept! it’s owed mostly to China! Gonna be interesting if they call in their chip!
Osiris Fox
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 1:56 PMIn reality, China is America’s b*tch, not the other way round. They’re basically buying China’s goods and labor for a bunch of IOU’S. Having IOU’s from the class bully (who can actually fight) is a very weak position to be in.
At the end of the day, the man with the biggest gun is always in charge, they could liquidate their currency and start over if they really wanted to. I’m sure you’ve heard of the seventh fleet right? That right there is incentive enough to not argue with them.
In regards to the Middle Eastern wars, I’m afraid what’s being conducted there is a “humanitarian” attempt at war with the intent of keeping their own casualties as low as possible while also doing their best to prevent collateral damage where possible. If America went all out in war, and the gloves were off, well, it would be very horrible I can tell you that.
Last thing to consider, China’s currency is seriously undervalued, thus they have been enjoying an immense advantage in export market for years – this is unsustainable in the long term. Currently, we are in the middle of a currency war, this is the new cold war if you like, and will end eventually in the same way, in a fizzle, not a pop.
In closing, I’m not American by the way and not too partial to them either in fact, but the reality can never be taken at face value.
Osiris Fox
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 1:59 PMThe above was intended for Matt and Ecky.
Madatom
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 2:25 PMyeah china actually fucked themselfs, devaluing there currency was without a doubt a horrible idea
EckyThump
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 2:22 PMBloody hell,.. so your saying that because the US has a big stick they can do what they want? Bullshit… if they did that they would have the entire planet on their back! As for your supposed humanitarian war, Bullshit,… the reason they went into Iraq was because the people holding the strings on dubya, knew they would make a shit load of money out of it! Not to forget the bloody oil!
olearymo
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 2:32 PMActually it was more likely for other reasons than oil. The US gets the vast majority of its oil from Canada. It was more likely a matter of principle. Like Vietnam. There, they felt threatened that communism would spread. In this case, they were worried that countries they didn’t want to have power, would get power.
Oil is simplifying it, really. I feel it’s much more complex, messy and sinister than that.
EckyThump
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 3:01 PMCompanies like Blackwater and the civilian company that runs the Army supermarket (forget their name) are making a killing of their own (excuse the pun) over there, and I wouldn’t water down the importance of oil in the beginning either! Back when it all started, remember Kuwait Oil was the major factor there!
ozoneocean
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 2:34 PMThey fight war that way because it’s the only way they can. If the “gloves came off” they’d be like Germany in ww2- great stuff and great army but hated by almost everyone- who would all first abandon them and them most likely unite against them.
The strength of the US isn’t in what it IS in itself, but it its position of leadership, and they have to do all they can to retain that spot. It’s never just about military or economic dominance alone.
chrisp
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 11:00 PMI’m not the biggest fan of the ol’ USA but comparing them to WW2 Germany?
I think I get what you mean but the whole ‘every1 hatez USA’ thing is a bit much.
‘Everyone’ ‘always’ hates the dominant power and to be a dominant power you have to do some things that are not nice fairly often.
You can’t please everyone while at the same time taking care of your best interests.
Yeah the US will fall just like all the others eventually.
craeg
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 5:55 PMthe 7th fleet and all other naval power is based around ACC’s. no carrier = no fleet
years ago an ancient Oberon class conventionally powered submarine repeatedly sank just such a carrier in war games.
no weapon system makes you immune to defeat
there has never been a sustained fight for any ACC… tomohawk missiles dont just materialise, the supply chain that feeds ACCs has never really been tested in a combat setting, the carrier itself may be nuclear powered but it’s escorts are all still conventionally powered, which means you need fleet oilers, those are incredibly vulnerable. no fleet oilers = no carrier escorts = no escorts = dead ACC = dead fleet