There are two sides to every story. AA has
released the written statements of their
Capt and SOC Mgr that denied boarding to the
Secret Service Agent. They are too lengthy
to post here. If you would like a copy,
simply send me an email.

-doug
[email protected]

Please also see:

American Holds Firm on Protecting the Safety of Its Passengers

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/003491.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/007258.html

S/B Travel Buzz??

From Renegade pilots to renegade Wannabe moderators

Back to the topic...

As I read the Captain's statement, it doesn't seem to me to be anything close to racial profiling. He was simply doing his job, especially as it relates to making his flight secure.

I agree. It sounds like the Secret Service agent had a chip on his shoulder.



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Hell hath no fury like that of an elite frequent flyer in coach.

I am not real smart, but I can lift heavy things.

I guess I agree that there are 2 sides to every story. I am still wondering about the full story here. The police on the scene did not seem to believe that the officer acted disruptive or he would have been cited.

The story from the pilots side disputes the original contention of everyone that has been supporting the captain though. He was originally quoted as saying that in reviewing the paper work he found errors and then wanted to check the agents qualifications. In his statement that has just been released, the pilot says that he was prep the aircraft awaiting a new pull back time. At that point he has been given the paperwork saying a secret service agent is going to be on the plane, says no problem. The agent disembarks(unsure why). A curious flight attendent looks at the books he has left on board and gasp sees something she suspects is arabic. She is now nervous and goes to the pilot and says we have an arabic type of man on board. The pilot discovers that this is the armed LEO. It is only at that point that he now cares if the paperwork is filled out correctly. ie, when first told and given the paperwork he obviously could not care. So therefore the race of the agent was very important to the story, that was not originally admitted.

I also have real trouble with the report of the SOC managers position. He claims that he didn't know that the agent was arabic looking. Now how is that the case. Are we to really assume that the pilot did not say why he and the flight attendents were made suspicious (looks and arabic writing, I will even grant suspicious attitude. If every business man that is now frustrated and a little short with people for being late and made to switch planes etc is now suspicious. Lets be honest his attitude was suspicious because he looked arabic.) He asked for a copy of the terrorist watch list(which from all reports I have seen only have arabic looking people on it at this time.)

If the agent became verbally abusive, I would have expected that the police officer that suposedly witnessed this threatening behavior to have acted. I still believe that it is a criminal offense to interfere with a flight crew. I have read reports of people acting as the captain described being arrested. If the officers report verifies the captains comments, I would also expect that he will be dismissed from the presidential detail. I still am surprised that the elite of the secret service could lose his cool. Part of the training is dealing with hostile crowds. (people spitting at them, cussing, calling names and throwing things.) To fail to maintain cool in this situation would be a gross msitake if true, but for the captain to claim that race had nothing to do with this is a lie. For the SOC to not realize that the person being described either looked or was arabic is just not completely believable from the information in his statement as well. The way I actually read the first part of his statement is that he was pretty dismissive of the captain. And for all of the people that say that the specialness of his paperwork is paramount, the SOC said just have him redo it. It has also been reported that the original problem with the paperwork is that an American agent scratched out the original flight numbers and wrote the new ones over the top. So lets hear the "rest of the story".

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Robert

Didn't the Special Agent filed a lawsuit?

I wonder when the American pilot and SOC staffer prepared their reports. Obviously, these were done after the fact. It's just human nature to cast events in the best possible light -- from YOUR perspective. You could hardly imagine the pilot writing a report criticising himself, could you?

I still side with the Secret Service agent. The AA reports are not convincing and, in my opinion, hardly even evidence. (Invitation to real lawyers to comment.)

Bruce

Yes, and apparently the lawyer for the Secret Service Agent has statements from the people seated near where the agent had originally sat saying the FA came back and went through his bag left on his seat (Illegal search?, Invasion of Privacy?) and found the book said to be in Arabic (not sure if this is a crime). The lawyer claims the book was in English but on Arabic history.

NPR had good cover of this story on Morning Addition on Jan 03, 2002.

Judging by all the typos and grammatical mistakes, I think the pilot and SOC manager wrote those reports by themselves.

The statement is also available at their website,

http://www.amrcorp.com/news/january02/03_safety.htm