AKCuisine

According to the Anchorage newspaper, a first class passenger was removed from AS flight # 755 SEA-ANC last night by armed officers.

Members of law enforcement boarded the plane after it landed, then removed him at gunpoint. The allegation is that he had made threats to blow up the plane or shoot passengers - raising concerns that he might have been armed.

Here's a link to full Alaska Dispatch article.


It seems that I miss all of the excitement when I'm temporarily grounded.

SpicyMorale

You'd want to be there in an incident like this? I suppose there is a small chance he could've gotten a hold of a weapon or actually gotten through TSA with one but come on.

notquiteaff

Really? Four police officers with guns drawn board the aircraft because a passenger was suspected to have a gun or bomb, and passengers were not in danger of becoming "collateral damage" in a possible shootout in the F cabin?

Often1

possible shootout in the F cabin?

How would it have been different if it were in the Y cabin? Less valuable lives?

dayone

There's a big difference between "guns drawn" and "at gunpoint." My guess is the reality may be closer to the former.

notquiteaff

It wouldn't. And AS doesn't use bullet-proof bulkheads.

Probably/Hopefully. Nevertheless the apparent fact that they felt it was necessary to have guns in their hands to me means they were at least somewhat concerned about possible armed resistance. I don't recall seeing any videos (or reports) of people getting removed from aircraft by law enforcement with guns drawn.

pfreet

Clearly, iff the shootout took place in Y, it likely wouldn't get mentioned in these forums.

thegingninj

not sure how on earth you interpreted that from what he said.

MeanwhileBackAtFAI

Reports like this always make me wonder whether airport police uses pre-fragmented ammo. Depending on circumstances a standard round fired inside an aircraft is bound to hit multiple unintended targets.

From the article it looks like the crew did everything right, they assessed the situation and decided that the guy isn't an immediate threat that has to be bound and gagged. The rest was just procedure.

I can't imagine that passengers would let another passenger brandish a gun on a plane anymore. I know that I certainly wouldn't if I were sitting next to that guy.

NWAlaskaFlyer

As do many here I fly a lot in FC and have often thought that you have a better chance of getting knowledgable and safe passengers up their. That isn't to say there aren't in coach as well since many back in coach are also high mileage fliers. Elitist? Probably. All that said, I think the passengers in FC are probably a bigger risk of intoxication problems. I have had a couple direct experiences that were messy. I wonder if any crew that post here feel the same way? I know good and bad can happen regardless of cabin but the availability of more rounds of service up front can add up especially if one has imbibed a bit before the plane. No judging here as I have had some evening flights where I knew I was getting a car to my hotel and I would definitely partake of each round of service.

PV_Premier

Oh boy.

NeedstoFly

Buddy, the 9/11 hi-jackers were all in FC.

Chugach

I've had a few doozy seatmates in F going in or out of ANC. Also had the privilege of being onboard a CO flight when police boarded on arrival in ANC and hauled a passenger off.

ANC airport police deal with this stuff pretty routinely, since we get all the trans-pac diversions for unruly passengers.

NWAlaskaFlyer

So we are going to use an outlier from another era (flying is completely different today) to argue that FC is a dangerous place? Well played.

AS Flyer

I don't think First Class is a more dangerous place, it's also not necessarily smarter. Just as many people tug on the ash tray to try to open the lav door in first class as coach. In fact, many people don't even know where the door is in first class, so there's that.