U.S. Airways jet lands when religious item is mistaken for a bomb!
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (PNN) - January 21, 2010 - A U.S. Airways passenger plane was diverted to Philadelphia on Thursday after a religious item worn by a Jewish passenger was mistaken for a bomb, Philadelphia police said.
A passenger was alarmed by the phylacteries, religious items that 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, Kentucky.
"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 U.S. 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 heads and tie the other one on their arms 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 supposedly 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, Michigan. There is evidence suggesting the Christmas Day event was also a false alarm.
In that incident, 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 an epidemic of paranoia that has been perpetuated and encouraged by government agencies to further their efforts to eliminate privacy for all Amerikans.
A passenger was alarmed by the phylacteries, religious items that 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, Kentucky.
"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 U.S. 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 heads and tie the other one on their arms 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 supposedly 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, Michigan. There is evidence suggesting the Christmas Day event was also a false alarm.
In that incident, 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 an epidemic of paranoia that has been perpetuated and encouraged by government agencies to further their efforts to eliminate privacy for all Amerikans.
