from The Orange County Register

December 23, 2001


Monique Danison, 20, a Trabuco Hills High School graduate, was aboard the flight on which Saturday's incident took place.


The University of California, Santa Barbara senior was returning home to Mission Viejo after a five-month study program in France. Danison, whose father Paul is a Register editor, was seated about five rows ahead of the man who was arrested.

She provided the following account by telephone from Boston:

I was looking at a life-and- death situation. It is scary to be in a place with a possible terrorist and you have to just sit there. There is nowhere to escape.

I was one of the last people on the plane. I saw the man who was later arrested walking to his seat and putting his bag in the overhead compartment. I wondered how he got on the plane. I saw other people checked very carefully, and I wondered how he had been let on board. He looked exactly like somebody who would get on a plane and do something. He was tall and had long curly hair, and he wore a gray beanie. He looked like he was on something.

I looked at him and said to myself, "This guy is missing a link." I remember thinking, "If he's a terrorist, he's a moron," because he stood out when I saw him.

The first few hours of the flight were uneventful. The flight crew served an unremarkable meal, and the flight seemed like it would just be long.

In one moment, the entire energy of the plane changed dramatically.

I heard the stewardess scream: "Oh my God. Someone get some Styrofoam cups."

I knew right away it was something real important. People were asking for water and contact (lens) solution. I smelled something; maybe it was smoke. A lot of people got up to look at the struggle, but I didn't. The woman next to me did, and she said the man looked possessed.

I just prayed for my life.

When I finally looked, they were pouring water on the guy. One guy got up and said, "Just beat the crap out of him." Nobody beat him, but he was handcuffed; they used those things you use to seal a plastic garbage bag. He was sedated. I looked at him, and he wasn't moving at all.

A man who looked like a pilot took charge. An African- American man guarded the suspect. The stewardesses checked the passports of all the men (passengers). The people who went to the bathroom had to be escorted and were patted down before they went inside.

The pilot came on the intercom about a half-hour later and said there was a possible terrorist attempt. He said to look at the person next to you and report anything suspicious. We were told to look for suspicious behavior and remain seated.

There were people on the plane who were just concerned with their luggage and their connecting flights. I was concerned for my life. I sat there praying.

I did get a look at his shoes. They looked like ordinary French boots.

When things quieted down, we still had four hours before we could land. They put on the movie "Legally Blonde" to get everybody's mind off what had happened.

I saw out the window that we were being escorted by F-15s.

That helped make me feel safe, until later I was told that the reason they were there was to shoot us down if we looked like we were going to be used like the planes that hit the World Trade Center. We were told that the plane was going to land in Boston, not Miami.

When we landed, a SWAT team came aboard and took him off the plane. One of the SWAT members wore a hood, and they all carried big guns.

I got off the plane and there were all these SWAT team men and Army people, and then I began to feel safe.


Register staff writer John McDonald interviewed Danison and compiled this report.