Gosh those 2 F-15 Jets got to Logan AWFULLY quick yesterday.

[Philosoraptor]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060817/ap_on_re_us/flight_diverted

"I noticed F-15s next to the plane. I said, 'Oh my God.' And then we saw the emergency vehicles" waiting on the tarmac, Nash said.

--------

Passengers said two plainclothes men on board and flight attendants ran up the aisle and tackled the petite woman, slamming her into the bathroom door, throwing her to the ground and putting her in handcuffs, passengers said.

The disturbance was enough of a concern that the pilot declared an emergency, which activated two fighter jets to escort the plane into Logan, said George Naccara, security director for the Transportation Security Administration for Massachusetts' airports.

Two F-15s were sent from Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod to escort the airliner, said Master Sgt. Anthony Hill, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo. He said the fighter pilots can intercept, shadow or escort commercial aircraft and, if ordered, shoot down an aircraft deemed to be a threat.

-----------

Damn! A little old lady freaks out and bada bing--two F-15 escorts right there on the spot quick as you please, ready to blow the fuckers out of the sky!

Makes you think huh?

[Sherman A1]

1. Well F-15's are pretty quick when they need to be

That is how they were designed.

[Philosoraptor]

2. Yet 5 years ago it took over an hour or more

But that was so long ago, before we were looking for terror in the skies.

Yes, they are designed for speed.

[quickesst]

4. I...

hear you. Good point. Thanks.
quickesst

ps: I agree. They are fast.B-)

[acmejack]

12. NORAD was in their cave then too

[ComerPerro]

40. well, five years ago, they didn't want those planes to be stopped

they wanted them to hit the towers.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Is that why it took so long for them to even show up in NYC

AFTER both towers were hit?

[soothsayer]

13. They couldn't get to DC in an HOUR after the towers were hit

Yeah, rrrrrrright...

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. Funny thing

is that they did.

A C130 was tailing 'Flight 77' when it crashed and flew over the Pentagon about 30-60 sec later.

Odd how only a few eyewitnesses also saw the C130.

[Sherman A1]

17. Well, Gosh.....

they have to have orders to go. It wasn't the speed of the aircraft, it was the failure of leadership..........

[DoYouEverWonder]

21. But Rummie was in a meeting

and when he watched the news reports of the first tower burning he didn't think there was anything he could do about it. Especially, since he had to stall waiting for the rest of the attack to unfold.

[leesa]

28. Well, Gosh, do you think we might be talking about the leadership?

[Sherman A1]

32. I think that is what I said....

[City Lights]

19. "When they need to be."

Exactly. ;-)

[iilana X]

3. Makes me think twice

about flying. After all the false terrorist alerts lately and the rapid deployment of those jets, I'm less worried about foreign terrorists than I am about poor judgment on the part of reactive security personnel.

[NMMNG]

6. Wow

Passengers said two plainclothes men on board and flight attendants ran up the aisle and tackled the petite woman, slamming her into the bathroom door, throwing her to the ground and putting her in handcuffs, passengers said.


I'm sure that was necessary. :sarcasm:

[mmonk]

7. Well, you never can be too safe. Petite women can be

strong. I'm sure it was an outstanding show.

[NMMNG]

8. Indeed

And I'm sure the other passengers now know not to ever disobey or even quibble with an airline employee. :scared:

[RC]

9. Let Freedom Rein

Obey everyone you peon! You are just more of the baggage on this flight.

[izzie]

10. It is fun to have power even for a few hours.

Ever deal with the local police? Better yet try the town clerk. It is not that they are mean but they just do the rules with no brain power put in to think for them self and how they would like to be treated. Guess they get bored with their jobs. I once took a loan of my fathers wagon who bought and sold old things, like guns, and also had vending machine, like cigs. and drove this wagon on to a navy base. My God but was I in trouble. Got in fine as I did not know I had these things with me but they got me when I came out. They finally took my word that rusty guns were not a danger and cigs. with state seals did not come from off that base. A little old lady just may be worried about the trip which looks like what it was.

[ERF]

11. Two comments: First, when did a "petite woman" turn into

"a little old lady". You are changing facts. In Russia two women were the suicide bombers on two separate flights, so women are, indeed a legitimate threat.

Second, line from a Warren Zevon song, "You know the Sheriff, he's got his problems too; and he will surely take them out on you."

[izzie]

14. OK I guess I was not reading it very well. I lost interest

so I guess I am wrong. I know all people have to do their jobs and you usually just put up with it but sometime you wish they would think a little more. Once in Maine I recall they shot dead a drunk women with a knife. I hate to seem hard hearted about the police but my thoughts where they should have just left her slopping around her back yard until she got over it. If you did not get near her and her knife she would not hurt any one and it was way our in the country. A little brain power in these policeman was called for even if a drunk women was hurting their egos. Maybe getting on a plane really put this women into a bind. Really scary to fly for some people. Heck they talk about terrorist all the time and I am sure they were on her mind. I think they all lost it.

[ERF]

16. Your drunk women in the backyard with a knife, if it

really is as you describe is a horrible incident and evidence of overyealous (or even criminal) police behaviour.

Airplanes, however are enclosed environments that are the full equivalent of a ship on the high seas. Terrorism plots to hijack or destroy airplanes are real.

It is fine to have some level of understanding for people in stressful situations, but if the woman couldn't handle it, she should not have been flying. Understanding only goes so far when it comes to the lives of everyone on board. She must have been doing some strage stuff to evoke the described reaction. She is lucky she wasnt killed.

[seabeyond]

18. your attitude scares me more than either the terrorists or

our govt/police

[ERF]

20. Care to be more specific? Which part of my attitude

scares you? Do you not see the special situation that applies in an enclosed environment such as a ship?

[izzie]

24. Well as Izzie I do and I am the one talking to you.

I have been on a lot of planes and big ships. Always has special rules because they are special places.

[seabeyond]

34. i am sorry i did not get back to you sooner. the reason

you allow fear to be priority. lets remember back to the man, known panic attacks and on pill. coming from south america with his wife and i believe he was brown skin. he is dead. a lot of people justify the shoot saying he had no right to act like that on the plane. he shouldnt have acted like that. he shouldnt have flipped out. he did. he is dead. but people felt so much safer, knowing there would be no thought, no condition, that a human would just be shot if there was any question to the threat of the whole group. bully for us.

this man was stuck in an airport envirnoment for way too many hours, like many of us. he already had a condition he was being treated for. the airport environment has become the most stressful environment, in my book. all rights are gone. it is a prison environment. eyes down, do as told, express nothing. this man, too long in a stress environment, at the end of his journey flipped. he started thinking there was a bomb on the plane and all he wanted was out. not cause he was a threat to anyone, but his mind fucked with him and he started to grasp the fear that is all around, so overwhelmingly that he ran. he did not listen to marshals. nor would he in that state. they shot him. his wife followed yelling he is not a threat, he is sick, and they didnt listen or even try to reason. they shot him. he was off the plane, no longer a threat to passengers and they shot him.

he is dead

we have created a screwed up environment of fear, no right, and expectation of behavior so beyond what we humans will be able to do, i suggest we will see these flip outs more and more. people will justify with an easy, if they cant handle the pressure they shouldnt fly. how do people know prior? have you experienced a panick attack? how it gets hold, takes over. and for this we accept death. after all the person should not have behaved this way.

what point is too much. if i say this is a bunch of crap have i gone too far. are they then allowed to see me as a threat and if with provocation i get pissed, have i then stepped it up to a greater threat?

all this will only go as far as the people allow. with your attitude of lack of understanding how people are going to be effected in this environment you allow and help create the whatever goes. that is scary

my sister in law flew to vietnam the other day. her and the families flight took 25 hours. it was suppose to be much shorter, but with delays and security this is what they encountered. what does lack of sleep, prison environment, lack of rights, control do to peoples mind throwing in a healthy dose of fear

being so fearful of this woman jumps that hieghtened fear factor and what is acceptable up a notch, or two or three. instead of dealing with the woman the fear escalated to outrageous comments like she had gel, she said pakistan. that article reaks of illusional fear. we have gone beyond caution to allow fear to rule.

has anyone seen the new xray machines. at want point in life did we decide anyone had a right to our nakedness. it is quite thorough in view of our nakedness. at what point did we decide to give up our right to be clothed. yet so many are willing to now walk thru a xray and become naked for total strangers eyes. i suppose it would be suggested for safety purposes since we are all so afraid, modesty, being clothed is a privilige not a right.

how far are we willing to go for safety. how far are we willing to say one life is insignificant at the possible expense of a group as a whole

it is an ethical question for us as a nation. unfortunately fear rules

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. The part...

where you justified beating up a scared little old lady seemed rather scary to me.

[izzie]

23. I wish you would let me know why?

Please.

[converted_democrat]

25. Agreed...n/t

[ERF]

26. Then maybe you can explain to Izzie and myself why?

[leesa]

29. I agree. This person is willing to give up anything or anyone to ease his

fear.

[izzie]

22. It did happen and the police were OKed on it but your right

on planes and ships. I also think your rights are not the same as one does not have to get on them. You pick to go by their rules. It is like a car. You can drive if you go by the rules. I am not unhappy with those things. I sort of get unhappy when some type of reason is not used. By from a far. I am hardly ready to tilt at windmills at my age. I will leave that for the young. Sometimes one head spins at the silly parts of it all.

[deaniac21]

38. How do you shoot a drunk woman with a knife?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

41. You aim the gun and pull the trigger.

Damn the dangling modifiers, full speed ahead.

[Tesha]

33. You mean like this?

http://www.gocomics.com/patoliphant/2006/08/15/

[seabeyond]

36. shut up..... wink. yep. but those that are so very afraid will meeking

embrace and say what a good thing it is. shut up. bah hahhahaha

[NMMNG]

42. A glimpse of the near future no doubt

:scared:

[WilliamPitt]

27. Hanscomb AFB is about 0.00004 seconds from Logan

at Mach 2.

[Ravenseye]

30. I'm gonna take an opposite view of many here

I LIKE the fact that the pilot declared an emergency and the fighters were there fast. Good. Better they're there than sitting on the ground. Heck we pay so much of our taxes to paying for those things, they might as well use em.

Also I LIKE The fact that they took this lady down. I dont' know the full story, I don't think any of us do, but while I doubt the woman was a terrorist, I don't want someone freaking out at 30k feet in a big plane over the atlantic. It doesnt' take a terrorist to blow a hole in the side of the airplane, a crazy person with a little bit of luck and will can do it. Someone stands up, starts acting insane on a plane i'm on? I'm gonna tackle em too.

Sorry that's the way I feel.

It's one thing to arrest an 80 year old woman for accidentaly bringing hair gel to the boarding gate, it's quite another to tackle a woman who apparently wasn't acting sane on a plane in the air and scrambling fighter jets as an escort as part of a new proceedure for when a pilot declares an emergency.

I just have no problem with that at all.

[leesa]

31. Standard protocol is to get them next to the aircraft, not to blow them

out of the sky first thing, but to view the cockpit, if possible, isn't it. To try to ascertain what is going on? This is why they can be scrambled immediately and a shoot down order is secondary.

I'm sure on 9-11 our government didn't want you to know what was going on in that cockpit. Otherwise, they wouldn't have hidden the black boxes they found at the WTC

[Atman]

35. Obviously because of BushCo's stellar job of protecting us!

You have to keep up with the BushCo talking points.

[yurbud]

39. like the difference in response to Pearl & Berg killing v. Blackwater guys

Pearl & Berg killing got essentially no response apart from White House using them to remind us how awful Muslims are and why we must kill more. By contrast, the Blackwater guys were killed in Fallujah, and the town was targeted for massive airstrikes in collective punishment.

Makes it seem like the first two were in the script and the Blackwater killings were the real thing.

[AZBlue]

43. Makes you think what??

I'm thinking that gosh, maybe they actually did learn something from 9/11!