NW Flight Turns Back to Amsterdam
 

Apparently 12 passengers have been arrested by authorities when a NW flight took off from Amsterdam then had to turn back. According to news reports , passengers noticed odd behavior .. I guess it was "odd" enough, the plane returned escorted by Dutch F-16s.

Almost anything you do could be classed as 'behaving suspiciously' on a plane these days.

Take too long to stow your carry-on (if allowed), drink from a bottle with no label, whisper something to your friend, have a beard longer than a quarter inch, walk with a limp (SHOE BOMBER, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!), complain about your meal, tell the kid behind you to stop kicking your seat, go for a pee when the 'seatbelts' sign is on, have your family sit in 2 different parts of the plane etc etc...

All suspicious activity.

Lacking further factual information my thought is what's even more interesting is that <b>12 people</b> were apparently &quot;acting suspiciously&quot; and the passengers had to &quot;notice&quot; it and alert the crew.

More recent reporting says that the crew noticed the behavior and apparently it was enough to make the pilot turn back.
The 12 were arrested, I don't know how many were involved.
They were on the way to Mumbai, where there were bombings recently ..
Nice to see that name here again, Stellarossa ((F))

This report should NOT come as a surprise. Last year, there was a very lengthy article in the &quot;Women's Wall Street Journal&quot; which recounted an very similar incident aboard a NW plane in flight between Minneapolis and LAX, involving 11 or 12 Syrian &quot;musicians&quot; who kept using the forward lavatory for inordinately long periods of time. Their secretive conversations, body language and mannerisms were noted by a number of passengers, who became extremely alarmed.

When the plane landed, it was determined that they were trying to break into the cockpit through this lavatory.

Just watched the Swiss Tagesschau but they didn't give anymore details.

However, Robbie Williams is giving a concert tonight in Switzerland, and they went into quite a bit of detail about that.

GAC, that is absolutely not true. Please do not perpetuate false stories like this. Here is a link which gives the true story.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/skyterror.asp

this is all I could find regarding this.

The Northwest Airlines DC10 that was escorted back to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, by two Dutch F-16 jet fighters stands on the tarmac at the airport on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006. The Northwest Airlines jet en-route to India returned to Amsterdam, after the crew reported some passengers were behaving suspiciously, authorities said. Several passengers on the flight NW0042 to Bombay were taken off the plane for questioning.

Thanks Sacrlett; we reds are few and far between.

Barbara: I had not read the followup article which you posted, so I don't know what to make of the original story which I cited in my own message.

I don't know which is the &quot;false&quot; story and which is the &quot;true&quot; story. Do you?

I will keep an open mind and not make any definitive conclusion as to the true significance of the events which transpired on that NW flight in 2004.

GAC, the story you quoted is known to have been pretty much the invention of one &quot;journalist&quot;, Annie Jacobsen and has been completely discredited, as has she.

I have never had reason to question anything on www.snopes.com.

It seems that an AirMarshall observed their behavior which included taking out a cell phone and passing it around, unbuckling seat belts while light was still on, it was serious enough that he &quot;broke his cover&quot; to confront them. Seems he was ignored, the crew was alerted etc.. They have been arrested, not just detained.
Snopes.com is a great source of de-bunking rumours !

The Women's Wall Street Journel reporter Annie Jacobsen is the reporter that was on a troublesome NW flight and has been writing about it. Link to her latest writing is http://www.womenswallstreet.com/colu....aspx?aid=1134
Her articles were quite thoughtful, provocative and non-hystrical, rather inquisitive (like what exactly are the bureacrats doing???). I do not believe that Snopes has discredited her-perhaps some story that was perpetuated concerning these &quot;dry runs&quot; and the various theories surrounding that. One needs to re-read, she was actually on a flight with this bizzare activity and was as bothered by the response she got from our government and the airlines as the activity she witnessed. I guess I believe that the attention span of the terrorists or would be terrorists is much longer than those of us that don't like to be inconvenienced and judgmental. This is no longer a Sci-fi movie, these things have already happened. Stating that as fact does not make one a paranoid renegade. Just as we watch for things going on in our neighborhoods at home, being aware of ones surroundings is also an important thing to do nowadays when we travel. Hasn't stopped my hubby and I from traveling, just made us a little more aware. And that isn't all bad, we have been able to help a lost child, an elderly person struggling with luggage and folks needing information. Shirley

OMG, not the Syrian musicians again PLEASE.
That poor Annie Jacobsen woman was off her rocker and/or forgot to take her Prozac.

I'm sure the bleeding hearts are aghast at the latest &quot;alarm&quot;, but one has to be extremely careful these days. A year ago in LHR, I was in the waiting area when I noticed a fellow across the area with a cubic-shaped form under his shirt, atop his sternum. After worrying about it for 10 minutes, I figured I'd rather know then than over the Atlantic. So I went over to him, apologized for having to ask but explained my concern, and he gladly lifted his shirt to show me the watch he had bought at dutyfree shop, and was keeping it there so he wouldn't misplace it while killing time. So it was good to know; could just as easily have been a tupperware container of perchlorate peroxide.

I tend to watch people alot more now than before 9/11.

I wouldnt hestitate to report any behavior that raised any red flags.

It is up to us to keep us safe.

My husband told me not to complain or refuse (as I usually do, waiting to use up calories on my New England fried clams on the other end of my flight) about the frozen TV dinner that I will be served on the plane going back to see my family in the U.S. next week. He said I should eat it and shut up or I will be considered suspicious!

And here's the result:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5283476.stm

No surprise there.

Their only offense was probably FWNEM (flying while non-European male).

I'm surprised people are still citing that fiction from Annie Jacobsen. She's the one you'd have to watch on the plane, even if she's a white European.