It can only be a matter of time before we are going to have a tragic incident involving these intercepts of civilian aircraft. So happy I don't have to go anywhere near North America these days. On a related note - If security staff were that much in doubt about the passenger in question to warn the US authorities then what was he doing on the aircraft in the first place. Unless something came to light after departure then you really have to wonder what is going on here. Just my thoughts, David On Friday 01 March 2002 1:48 pm, you wrote: > Mar 1, 2002 An Air India jetliner with nearly 400 people that was escorted > by fighter jets to New York yesterday after authorities were told there was > a suspicious passenger aboard landed safely and the scare turned out to be > a false alarm.Flight 101 landed at Kennedy Airport from London without > incident. Two passengers were questioned and released. FBI spokesman Joseph > Valiquette said they were of "no investigative interest."Reports said that > authorities were told that one of the passengers resembled one of the 22 > people on the FBI's 'Most Wanted Terrorists' list. The list includes > several senior al-Qaida figures and others believed to have executed the > 1998 East Africa embassy bombings.New York Police Commissioner Raymond > Kelly said that there was apparently "some sort of confrontation" between > one of the two passengers and a security screener in London.Kelly said that > after the person boarded the flight, the screener said: "this individual > looks like somebody who may be wanted, or words to that effect. That's what > has triggered this alert."Scotland Yard confirmed police questioned a man > at London's Heathrow Airport but allowed him to continue his journey. > Airport officials said they didn't know of any security staff who had > reported suspicions.The flight, which had 378 passengers and 19 crew > members, was shadowed by Canadian fighters over the Atlantic, government > officials said. Two US Air Force F-15s took over when the plane entered US > airspace. > > > > > > Leo/ORD -- *********************I M P O R T A N T********************* Please Note: Due to migration to Linux I am unable to open Windows .exe files, especially self extracting zip and arj archives. If sending compressed files please do not use the self extracting option. All other Windows file types such as .doc .bmp .xls or .ppt can be read, but please consider sending your data in an open file format. Thank You. *******************************************************