Thursday, someone phoned in a hijacking threat for American Airlines Flight 24, departing San Francisco bound for New York City.
The plane was stopped on the runway shortly before take off. The plane was diverted to a remote part of the runway where passengers sat. And sat. And then they sat some more.
One passenger felt they had enough time to contact my favorite reporter from CNN via Miami, Rick Sanchez. Rick got the news directly from a passenger over the phone.
Others on the plane were tweeting, texting and e-mailing in an attempt to find an update. Even American Airlines joined the fun, releasing on their twitter feed for concerned passengers: “Hang in there, the authorities are taking care of things”. Technology is awesome!
The FBI, apparently living up to the I in their name, entered the plane from the rear and removed two passengers with little fanfare. The passengers were handcuffed, removed from the plane and are in custody.
After about five hours, passengers were removed from the plane in small groups and were quickly bussed back to the terminal where they were interviewed, re-re-rescreened and booked on other flights.
This is one issue that will always be stuck into our heads. 9/11 was a day of judgment for us. And now its been almost a decade still whenever I travel through airlines I feel scare. But I think the scare is going away and courage to live life properly is gaining its place.