Another Probe?
Boston's WBZ-TV reports on an unusual disturbance on a Northwest flight from Minneapolis to Boston's Logan Airport. Police detained two men after they exhibited bizarre behavior -- and two other passengers took action to subdue them:
Before the flight even took off, [Bob] Hayden said a man, who appeared aggravated, was walking up and down the aisle of the plane. The flight attendant had to force him into his seat after asking him to do so a few times.Hayden said after the aircraft finally got in the air, he noticed there was some sort of commotion. The same man had started screaming and fell into the aisle.
Initially, Hayden said he thought the guy was having a heart attack, but he quickly realized the incident might have been staged. According to Hayden, two flight attendants helped the man back into his seat where he continued to yell for the entire flight. ...
When the pilot made the announcement the plane was approaching Logan Airport, Hayden said the man who caused the first commotion and a second person began yelling and fell into the aisle. That is when Hayden said he, with the help of a retired U.S. Marine captain, took action.
Hayden said he grabbed the first guy and sat him down. He then pushed the second man onto the floor and cuffed him with a pair of handcuffs a flight attendant had given him. Hayden said he sat next to the two men until police were able to board the plane.
One point the text report missed was that one of the two passengers opened up the overhead bin and threw out a suitcase. That makes it sound rather staged, as Hayden himself noted in his statement. Surprisingly, neither man has been charged with a crime, but are under psychiatric evaluation.
Was this another probe? The two men didn't apparently have any connection to each other -- and yet they acted out in similar fashion. It sounds suspicious, and Homeland Security should be investigating the possibility -- and better than they did on Northwest 327 in the summer of 2004.
If it was a probe, it shows one positive development. After 9/11, American passengers can no longer be considered reliably docile. We fight back.
UPDATE: Forgot to credit Power Line for the story.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on June 5, 2007 8:11 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (1)
Comments (14)
Posted by NahnCee![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/nav-commenters.gif)
| June 5, 2007 8:32 AM
Why am I thinking that since names are conspicuously missing from the report, one yeller's name is probably Abdul and the other's Achmed. Although the retired Marine who helped with the take-down isn't named either. Need more information. I'll be really annoyed if both of these guys are traveling with expired visa's.
In a democracy, majority rules. We should institute plans where if a majority of a plane's passengers vote to do so, then and there the door to the plane will be opened and the trouble-makers will be summarily evicted. Think of the savings on legal expenses, lawsuits by CAIR, and peace and quiet from yelling wannabe's.
Posted by PersonFromPorlock | June 5, 2007 8:33 AM
if there's 1/n chance of one just-plain-crazy on a flight, there's 1/n^2 chance of two. So, alarming but not too alarming.
Posted by km | June 5, 2007 8:46 AM
Why do I instantly suspect that these two were members of a particular religion?
That suspicion being heighted by the total lack of reference to names or origins. The Boston media seem particularly terrorist-friendly, and willing to actively whitewash Islamic misbehavior.
Posted by bulbasaur | June 5, 2007 8:47 AM
It could well be a psychiatric case, maybe even a fear-of-flying panic attack.
However, Americans are always quick to apply psychiatric categories to avoid facing difficult moral problems. I.e., how would we have to adjust our thinking about human nature if spree-killers were not mentally ill? Answer: we would have to admit the existence of evil, for which there is no materialist category.
Exactly what must be the case if this is not a psychiatric incident?
We don't want to know.
Posted by km | June 5, 2007 8:51 AM
Two psychiatric breaks on the same flight?
That sure sounds statistically more likely than a terrorist probing action - if one is really steeped in MSM terror whitewashing.
Posted by bulbasaur | June 5, 2007 8:59 AM
PersonFromPorlock, your mathematical analysis is compelling, however, I hope you don't mind if I critique it?
P(A and B) = P(A) * P(B|A).
Now, you could be right that P(B) = P(B|A) but I wonder if there's a tendency for nuts to attract nuts beyond chance level? In this case, maybe the joint probability of two nutters is closer to probability of getting just one on a flight.
Posted by southsalem | June 5, 2007 9:01 AM
Thank G-d for JOHN DOES. Are the people who fought back now on the CAIR lawsuit list for assault? We need to pass legislation that protects not only people who report suspicious activity, but people who take action against it, as warranted by these facts.
Posted by Cousin Dave | June 5, 2007 9:21 AM
Sounds like another case of "men of no appearance"... My guess is it wasn't a probe. It was probably more of an attempt to provoke a response and thereby get favorable publicity and/or grounds for a lawsuit.
Posted by Maetenloch | June 5, 2007 10:42 AM
Good point bulbasaur. PersonFromPorlock was assuming that the probability of a nut being on board is independent and equally likely. On the other hand this does give a lower bound to the likelihood that there would be two crazies on board.
Assuming they're not part of a conspiracy, the probability of a crazy on board is probably independent of any other crazies. On the other hand the probability of a crazy having an episode during the flight *is* likely dependent on other nuts having a episode. Even among normal people, seeing someone freaking out makes everyone nervous. For someone close to the edge, seeing a freakout by someone might be enough to push them over the edge.
Posted by Joe Miller | June 5, 2007 10:43 AM
Where, O Where were the air marshals? The thing that concerned me about the Northwest 327 incident was how quickly the passengers left their security in the hands of anonymous air marshals on board. Would the passengers have told the men to sit down and shut up if the flight attendant hadn't said the air marshals were aware of the situation?
Posted by NahnCee | June 5, 2007 11:20 AM
Statistically, the percentage of crazies and/or jihadists seem to be much higher flying in and out of Minneapolis. Could it be that their brains are frozen, the proximity of brain waves from Captain Ed, or an extremely high density of adherents of the Religion of Peace.
Posted by Captain Ed | June 5, 2007 11:34 AM
It's my brain waves. Absolutely. That's why so many people in the Twin Cities wear tinfoil hats. ;-)
Posted by swabjockey05 | June 5, 2007 1:00 PM
lol
Posted by PersonFromPorlock | June 5, 2007 6:06 PM
Statistically, the percentage of crazies and/or jihadists seem to be much higher flying in and out of Minneapolis.
It's the lutefisk emanations; the stuff makes people crazy enough to eat it.
So far as the probability of this disturbance's having happened by chance: the liklihood of two crazies being present is, as I said, 1/n^2; the liklihood of two crazies being present AND one having an episode AND the other reacting to that episode, is less than 1/n^2 by an incalculable amount.