Newsstand - Unruly Sisters Force Plane to Land (UA flight to China)

Twin 22-year-old sisters got into a screaming argument aboard a United Airlines flight to China and then scuffled with crew members who intervened, prompting the pilot to divert the jet to Anchorage, authorities say.
http://www.newsday.com/ap/national/ap788.htm

[This message has been edited by tom911 (edited 04-20-2001).]

There is a news story, which includes passenger interviews and in-flight video, on the KRON site (NBC San Francisco):

http://www.kron.com

The passengers got a Hotel night and a free Glacier tour!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Flight was Thursday, SFO to Shanghai, China in a UA 747-400. Great link Tom911.

When the flight crew put Cynthia Mikula in flexible handcuffs, Crystal Mikula put another flight attendant in a chokehold, Reid said.

Reid said the sisters screamed obscenities during the entire episode.

The sisters were in custody, awaiting an appearance before a federal magistrate Friday.

''United Airlines takes the issue of air rage very seriously,'' airline spokeswoman Whitney Staley said.

The flight was to resume Friday evening after crew members completed a mandatory rest. Passengers were put up in a hotel Thursday night and took a glacier tour Friday.



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~ Glen ~

A link with some additional details included in the court filing by the FBI:
http://www.sacbee.com/news/calreport/calrep_story.cgi?story=N2001-04-20-2100-0.html

In this morning's San Francisco Chronicle, the mother of the arrested woman is quoted.

"She said that about two weeks before the flight, Cynthia Mikula went to a friend's birthday party and unknowingly consumed a drink laced with the popular club drug GHB, causing her to black out and suffer memory loss.

After that, her daughter reported suffering confusion, anxiety, sweating and slurred speech. "
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/04/21/MN218107.DTL

The sisters had hoped their looks would be their ticket out of Buckley, a one-stoplight town of 550 south of Traverse City. They were more than ready to leave a place where they earned a reputation for petty crime and hard partying, where debt loomed over their family and where no serious aspiring model would ever find work.


Their parents re-mortgaged their home and a metro Detroit modeling agent worked his connections to make their dream of haute couture happen.


It all seemed to be coming together when the twins scored an offer four months ago from a Hong Kong modeling agency: an all-expenses-paid trip to Shanghai to compete in a fashion expo. Top prize was $8,000 -- and the priceless commodity of exposure.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/twins26_20010426.htm

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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

The husband of a friend of mine was on that flight--he just got back from China yesterday. The person who shot the video shown on the networks was paid $200. That is a far cry from what the tourist got for the home video of the hijacked 767 crash landing in the water off the east coast of Africa.

Twin accused in flight fight prefers jail
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/04/28/MN207066.DTL

A federal magistrate on Monday said twin sisters accused of fighting off a flight crew that tried to stop their rowdy behavior on a trip to China could take a plane home to Michigan -- but only if both of their parents fly with them.

U.S. Magistrate John Roberts said he was worried that Cynthia and Crystal Mikula, both 22, would misbehave on the flight if their parents were not on board to stop them.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-BRF-Fighting-Sisters.html?searchpv=aponline (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-BRF-Fighting-Sisters.html?searchpv=aponline)

http://www.adn.com/metro/story/0,2633,264657,00.html


[This message has been edited by doc (edited 05-08-2001).]

Woman to Plead Guilty in Plane Fight
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:37 p.m. ET

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- One of two identical twins charged in a scuffle that forced a United Airlines plane bound for China to be diverted to Anchorage has agreed to plead guilty to hitting several crew members.

A copy of a plea agreement signed by 22-year-old Cynthia Mikula and prosecutors said she would receive less than the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Mikula, of Buckley, Mich., agreed to plead guilty to one count of interfering with a flight crew.

The plea agreement still requires a judge's approval.

The women were headed to a modeling competition in Shanghai, China, on April 19 when they began drinking, swore at each other, smoked and assaulted members of the flight crew.

Mikula is scheduled to enter her plea and be sentenced on either Sept. 18 or 19. She had been scheduled to go to trial Wednesday.

Her sister, Crystal Mikula, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a charge of misdemeanor assault. She faces a maximum six-month sentence and $5,000 fine when she is sentenced Sept. 20.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Fighting-Sisters.html