CHICAGO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- For the second time this week, F-16 jet fighters escorted a passenger plane to landing Wednesday after a disturbance aboard the plane.
The latest incident involved a Delta Air Lines plane, which made an unscheduled landing at Shreveport, La.
Earlier this week, F-16s escorted an American Airlines plane to landing at O'Hare International Airport after a deranged passenger forced his way into the cockpit.
Edward A. Stephenson, 36, was arrested Wednesday after passing what was characterized as a threatening note to the flight crew. He was charged with interference with a flight crew and held for a court appearance Thursday, according to U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan.
The incident involved Delta Flight 357, which landed about 3:12 p.m. CDT at Shreveport Regional Airport, according to Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Boeing 757, with 139 passengers and nine crew, was en route from Atlanta to Los Angeles when the crew reported a disturbance in the cabin about 2:43 p.m. CDT, he said. They later said they had it "under control" and the plane was diverted to Shreveport.
Two F-16 fighters escorted the Delta plane to Shreveport and the flight continued to Los Angeles after the stop, according to Delta spokeswoman Cindy Kurczewski in Atlanta.
In a statement, Flanagan said Stephenson handed "a threatening note to a flight attendant. The flight attendant then alerted the pilot who declared an in-flight emergency."
Three men were forcibly removed from a United Airlines plane Tuesday night when they tried to open an emergency exit and an intoxicated Australian man was charged with interfering with a flight crew on an American Airlines flight.
Kevin Houghton, 31, of Melbourne, Australia, allegedly was intoxicated and physically assaulted a flight attendant. He was restrained by a pilot and fellow passengers aboard the Boeing 767, becoming the second person arrested on American Airlines Flight 1238 from Los Angeles to Chicago in as many days. Houghton was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
Bond was denied Tuesday for Edward Coburn, a 31-year-old electrical engineer from Fresno, Calif., who charged into the cockpit of Flight 1238 Monday afternoon as the jetliner neared Chicago.
An off-duty pilot pushed Coburn out of the cockpit and six to 10 passengers restrained him as he screamed that the plane was going to hit the Sears Tower. Coburn, who was traveling with his father, has a history of mental illness. He remained jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Stephen Coburn, his father, apologized for his son's actions, which caused the Air Force to scramble two F-16 fighters to escort the 767 to the airport. The son could face a possible 20-year prison term if convicted of interfering with a flight crew.
"No words can erase the stress and inconvenience that we caused to the passengers," said Stephen Coburn, outside federal court Tuesday. A federal magistrate delayed the bond hearing until Monday.
National Guard troops assigned to airport security took three men off United Airlines Flight 779 to St. Louis Tuesday night after they tampered with an emergency exit while the plane was parked at the gate.
The non-English speaking passengers allegedly said they were trying to open a window after their father became ill. The FBI said they were removed from the plane at the request of the flight crew, questioned and put on a later flight. No charges were filed.
"It was a non-incident," said an FBI spokeswoman.
United officials said they expected to have steel reinforcing bars installed on cockpit doors of all their planes in less than two weeks. American Airlines hopes to complete retrofitting security bars on cockpit doors of its more than 700 planes by early November.
A Cook County grand jury Tuesday indicted a former security guard for allegedly making at least 20 phone threats against the Sears Tower to the city's 911 emergency center in the hours after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Roger Ryan, 29, who worked as a security guard at Boeing Corp. headquarters, allegedly used a stolen cell phone to warn that a hijacked commercial plane en route from Los Angeles was going to crash into the 110-story building.
Ryan said the calls were a prank. He was charged with felony disorderly conduct and making a false report of a bomb. City lawyers filed a lawsuit to recover expenses related to responding to the phony threats.
