Man Arrested After Allegedly Threatening Pax Safety

A US Airways Express flight from New York to Portland, ME was delayed over two hours Sunday, after a male passenger's note raised the flight crew's suspicions.

A female passenger passed a note the man had given her to a flight attendant, who then alerted pilots, as the flight was taxiing for takeoff from LaGuardia.

"He said he had AIDS, and the shedding of his blood and all our blood would cure all sickness," said passenger Tammy Budek to the Portland Press Herald. She added the note suggested "he was Jesus and it was time for everybody to die."

The plane hurried back to the terminal, where the notewriter, believed to be in his mid-30s, was arrested at gunpoint. He was taken to an area hospital for observation. As a precautionary measure, the regional jet was then swept by bomb-sniffing dogs.

The flight with 45 passengers onboard -- including former Maine governor Angus King -- took off about two hours later, arriving in Portland at 4:30 pm.

King said the incident "wasn't a big deal," though other passengers related stories of panicked phone calls and fears upon seeing guns drawn onboard the plane.

New York/New Jersey Port Authority spokesman Alan Hicks said it was unlikely that the man would be charged with a crime.

FMI: www.usairways.com