Air Tran Airways Flight 297

There have been many conflicts and e-mails around the internet regarding Air Tran Airways Flight 297 in Atlanta, last month. The pilot turned the plane around and decided to go back to the gate and secure the cabin.

The "official" stance of Air Tran is this:

On November 17, 2009, AirTran flight 297 was scheduled to travel from Atlanta to Houston-Hobby. During taxi a passenger was non-compliant with Crew Members, using a cell phone and taking pictures. The flight taxied back to the gate and the passenger, who did not speak English, and his companion acting as his interpreter were asked to de-plane. They were met by customer service personnel and TSA.

The passengers were allowed to re-board and continued on the flight after speaking with AirTran and TSA representatives. The flight was delayed by more than two hours.

According to Air Tran, it is as simple as that.

One e-mail that resulted, from an individual calling himself Theodore Petruna, who claimed to have been on that flight, made many allegations. The full (and disputed) e-mail is here.

It was later discovered that Mr Petruna was not even on that flight. The original e-mail is debunked here.

However, please note: things were not quite so simple as to dismiss them wholesale -- as the air carrier and the MSM would wish.

One gentleman seems to indicate that there were clear complications. The incident is documented here. Excerpts, which appear to carry the most veracity:

(Passenger Brent) Brown runs a security consultant company and is a frequent flier. But even for him, he said the events of Flight 297 were disturbing and frightening. As the Houston-bound flight taxied to the runway, several in a group of about a dozen men of Middle Eastern descent started walking the aisles and using their cell phones, Brown said.

"And then after the fact, when (AirTran) apparently issued a statement that says, in effect, that this was a customer service issue or someone was on the phone...they're dead wrong," said Brown.

The crew, including the pilots, decided not to continue with the flight. Brown said AirTran put about 10 of the 12-man group back on the plane with a new crew. Most of the original passengers chose not to re-board and instead got on a different flight.

WSB TV, Channel Two video story is here.

Some people are postulating that this was another IslamoFascist "dry run" test of air security.

UK's The Economist (to which I subscribe) also debunks the e-mail of Petruna -- and rightly so -- but fails to perform what I call The Logical Extension.

I conclude:

- We (the United States of America) have, unfortunately, learned little following 9/11;

- We still do not recognize the full threat of, specifically, Middle Eastern iterations of Islam;

- We do not realize that the bulk of Muslims live in Indonesia and Africa;

- The US has not sufficiently profiled to realize the above facts;

- Profiling IS beneficial because it uses statistics, trends, numbers and logic;

- This flight captain was the exception and not the rule;

- Overall, my country still refuses to acknowledge the threat before its very face.

After watching the video, what might be your opinion?

BZ