Explosive Situation Continues To Disrupt Air Carriers

In the last week, three airliners and their very irate passengers have been affected by various bomb hoaxes  around the world. We're not even mentioning the bomb scares from actual suspicious characters or devices, just the written and phoned-in hoaxes.

The DeSoto Sun Herald reported that LTU Flight 909 was scheduled to leave Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers for Dusseldorf, Germany last Thursday. An unidentified caller phoned LTU's Miami office with a bomb threat, said SWFIA spokeswoman Susan Sanders. The passengers were deplaned, rescreened, and the luggage and aircraft inspected.

Also on Thursday, a passenger discovered a bomb threat on a napkin hidden in the pages of an airline magazine. The Northwest Airlines 757, bound for Minneapolis, MN was delayed four hours in Anchorage, AK after passengers were also deplaned, rescreened, and the luggage and aircraft inspected.

The note said: "There is a bomb on this plane. Boom!" said Eric Gonzalez, a spokesman for the FBI, as reported to the Anchorage Daily News.

As Aero-News reported, an Indian Airlines plane landing in Dubai from Mumbai (Bombay), India was refused landing clearance September 12 when a bomb threat was called in to the Dubai airport. The jet circled the airport until declaring a low-fuel state and was then allowed to land at a nearby military base in the United Arab Emirates.

The threat was traced to a phone back in India, and the drunken caller was identified and charged. According to the Khaleej Times of India, before the passengers in the UAE were allowed to go on their way, they were (wait for it...)  deplaned, rescreened, and the luggage and aircraft inspected.

FMI: www.tsa.gov