NEWS: US Airways jet lands when religious item mistaken as b

By Jon Hurdle Jon Hurdle
Thu Jan 21, 10:47 am ET

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A US Airways passenger plane was diverted to Philadelphia on Thursday after a religious item worn by a Jewish passenger was mistaken as a bomb, Philadelphia police said.

A passenger was alarmed by the phylacteries, religious items which observant Jews strap around their arms and heads as part of morning prayers, on the flight from New York's La Guardia airport heading to Louisville.

"Someone on the plane construed it as some kind of device," said officer Christine O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police department.

No one was arrested or charged, O'Brien said.

The plane landed without incident and the passengers and crew were taken off the plane, a spokesman for US Airways said.

Phylacteries, called tefillin in Hebrew, are two small black boxes with black straps attached to them. Observant Jewish men are required to place one box on their head and tie the other one on their arm each weekday morning.

Thursday's incident was the latest of several false alarms on U.S. flights since the December 25 incident in which a Nigerian man attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants from materials he smuggled onto the plane just as his flight was about to land in Detroit, authorities said.

The device did not explode and only burned the man, who was pounced on by fellow passengers.

Since then several flights have been diverted by security scares that have turned out to be harmless.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100121/us_ ... l2ZXJ0ZWRh

We knew what it was the second it was initially described as a small box on the head and arm. Are New Yorkers the only ones who know other religion's ways?

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Originally Posted by emshighway

Are New Yorkers the only ones who know other religion's ways?

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I don't think it matters much, EMS. Since 9/11, people have been told that anyone different is a bogeyman, and they should report all "suspicious" behavior, so it doesn't take much for some people to get worked up over something like this..

In one account I read the plane was diverted without notifying or confronting anyone.
Can anyone confirm or comment on that.

Most likely another law suit thanks to a chicken little flight crew.

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Originally Posted by coachrowsey

Most likely another law suit thanks to a chicken little flight crew.

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Play nice.... It was a misunderstanding and I think what the crew did was the correct thing. The crowd on here would be arm chair crewing this flight if it was a bombiong and wondering why noone did anything about this. The crew did not know, they were not familiar with the faith practices and they acted accordingly. Not announcing was the best thing they could have done had this been a diffrent story. My hats off to the crew as unfortuneate as it was that this was a resulkt of miseducation.

I have to agree with hiss. I'd much rather play it safe.

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Originally Posted by Phil D.

I have to agree with hiss. I'd much rather play it safe.

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So then anything a flight crew doesn't understand the plane should make an unscheduled landing to "play it safe"? That's a poor decission that can easily be avoided with proper training and friendly questioning by the flight crew.

Apparently they did question him and the crew didn't understand his explanation. In fairness, there are vast swaths of this country where you can live your whole life without seeing a "regular" Jewish person, nevermind one wearing this contraption.

[quote=T-Bird76]

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Originally Posted by "Phil D.":w4rx8jxq

I have to agree with hiss. I'd much rather play it safe.

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So then anything a flight crew doesn't understand the plane should make an unscheduled landing to "play it safe"? That's a poor decission that can easily be avoided with proper training and friendly questioning by the flight crew.[/quote:w4rx8jxq]

I see a lot of incident reports where crews overreact. Flight Attendants ask for PD to meet the plane because a person didn't immediately shut an electronic device off. Sure there are the idiots that ignore the FA and have to be asked several times but more are the person didn't act quickly enough to satisfy the FA. There was a Captain demanding a terminal be dumped because a bag was being gate checked (was screened properly) and he didn't feel this was right. Obviously it isn't his call and he was told fly the plane or get off the plane. There are other incidents but those are better spoken over a beverage than here.

I understand flight crews are on edge but the kids were obviously Jewish, they explained the ritual and didn't deserve to be removed from the aircraft in handcuffs.

I normally side on the side of safety and defend it here but things are getting out of hand.

Hold the phone!!!

1) FA did ask the passenger what the item was, and got no response, from the passenger

2) Did her job has prescribed, crew then did their job has prescribed, and diverted aircraft based on the info given to them

I have never seen one of these items before and I lived in NYC for 6 years

Do not jump all over a flight crew for doing their job, jump all over the A**Holes who made the airlines implement all the rules due their hatred for this country

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Originally Posted by crj200dispatcher

Hold the phone!!!

1) FA did ask the passenger what the item was, and got no response, from the passenger

2) Did her job has prescribed, crew then did their job has prescribed, and diverted aircraft based on the info given to them

I have never seen one of these items before and I lived in NYC for 6 years

Do not jump all over a flight crew for doing their job, jump all over the A**Holes who made the airlines implement all the rules due their hatred for this country

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We can also blame the kid for a lack of consideration. Even without this contraption, praying out loud in a foreign language has resulted in flight diversions. God isn't going to smite you if your prayers are a couple hours late, wait 'til you get off the plane.

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Originally Posted by crj200dispatcher

Hold the phone!!!

1) FA did ask the passenger what the item was, and got no response, from the passenger

2) Did her job has prescribed, crew then did their job has prescribed, and diverted aircraft based on the info given to them

I have never seen one of these items before and I lived in NYC for 6 years

Do not jump all over a flight crew for doing their job, jump all over the A**Holes who made the airlines implement all the rules due their hatred for this country

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Then you haven't been around the city enough.

Common sense is a rare commodity these days.

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

In fairness, there are vast swaths of this country where you can live your whole life without seeing a "regular" Jewish person, nevermind one wearing this contraption.

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i grew up in williamsburg/ greenpoint and i've never seen one...

Grew up in NY with a lot of Jewish friends and I've never seen one...

Lived and worked in NYC for 25 years, not only I have never seen this device but never heard of it either. The praying yes, using a Phylacteries no. One 2 cent comment, had this been say a 319 or 737 where their where at least 3 FA's to discuss this and evaluate the situation it might have had a different outcome. But because the ERJ had a single FA that could only interact with the busy pilots who did not actually see the device that was IMO a contributing factor to the outcome !

My 2 cents

LGA777

I grw up in Long Beach and I have been privy maybe one time or two I am sure though no particular instance strikes me at this time. Frankly, the crew acted within reason. If you are not sure you ask questions. If you cannot get proper answers you act accordingly.

[quote=emshighway]

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Originally Posted by T-Bird76

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Originally Posted by "Phil D.":2p6whszn

I have to agree with hiss. I'd much rather play it safe.

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So then anything a flight crew doesn't understand the plane should make an unscheduled landing to "play it safe"? That's a poor decission that can easily be avoided with proper training and friendly questioning by the flight crew.

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I see a lot of incident reports where crews overreact. Flight Attendants ask for PD to meet the plane because a person didn't immediately shut an electronic device off. Sure there are the idiots that ignore the FA and have to be asked several times but more are the person didn't act quickly enough to satisfy the FA. There was a Captain demanding a terminal be dumped because a bag was being gate checked (was screened properly) and he didn't feel this was right. Obviously it isn't his call and he was told fly the plane or get off the plane. There are other incidents but those are better spoken over a beverage than here.

I understand flight crews are on edge but the kids were obviously Jewish, they explained the ritual and didn't deserve to be removed from the aircraft in handcuffs.

I normally side on the side of safety and defend it here but things are getting out of hand.[/quote:2p6whszn]

:borat: You & I now agree for once.

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Originally Posted by coachrowsey

:borat: You & I now agree for once.

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I'll have to reconsider :D

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Originally Posted by emshighway

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Originally Posted by coachrowsey

:borat: You & I now agree for once.

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I'll have to reconsider :D

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Maybe a little LGA tour if I can get up there.

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Originally Posted by coachrowsey

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Originally Posted by emshighway

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Originally Posted by coachrowsey

:borat: You & I now agree for once.

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I'll have to reconsider :D

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Maybe a little LGA tour if I can get up there.

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We can see...

I have lived in nyc all my life (26 years to be exact), born and raised in brooklyn. I have known many jewish people in New York, my accountant is Jewish but I have never seen the black box in action. I have heard about it, seen it on probably the National Geographic Channel. In my opinion I think the flight crew did the right thing, they asked, the passengers response wasn't clear enough to them so they wanted to play it safe.