US 728 PHL-LHR returns to Philly due to unruly passenger

melax

melax

Well-Known Member
Last edited:
melax said:
May be I'm missing something, IMHO wouldn't be more logical to eject this guy somewhere near Boston rather than coming all the way back to PHL more than an hour away ? Can the A330 (I suppose that's the type) land after 1.5Hr flight without weight issues ? I hope he reimburses US for the trouble and have a nice stay at the Free Federal Hotel with Bubba.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/traffic/transit/US-Air-London-Philly-Unruly-Passenger-259183181.html
Click to expand...

They most likely returned to PHL in case of crew issues. In the event the crew timed out, they could be replaced in PHL vs. BOS/JFK where we have no 330 crews.

I'm not on the 330, so I can't speak for the landing weight issues.
 
I see two possible issues:

1) Jurisdictional. Because interfering with a flight crew is a federal offense and this occurred in US airspace, it's a US matter. The Brits likely wouldn't have the legal authority to charge him. Which leads to the second issue:

2) The unruly pax is now waiting to be reboarded at LHR for the return trip to the US. What captain would accept this guy as a passenger on his aircraft?
 
tomokc said:
2) The unruly pax is now waiting to be reboarded at LHR for the return trip to the US. What captain would accept this guy as a passenger on his aircraft?
Click to expand...
The captain flying this aircraft wouldn't have a problem.

800px-Conair.jpg
 
I'm happy that my airline will support the decision to land short, having the passenger arrested and then having the legal department pursue compensation from the passenger for the expenses of doing such.

Turning around that far into flight and returning to your base, on the surface, seems like "let's all go home, we're going to time out anyway". :) #unqualifiedopinion
 
Derg said:
I'm happy that my airline will support the decision to land short, having the passenger arrested and then having the legal department pursue compensation from the passenger for the expenses of doing such.

Turning around that far into flight and returning to your base, on the surface, seems like "let's all go home, we're going to time out anyway". :) #unqualifiedopinion
Click to expand...

I'd love to hear stories where the airlines go after these idiots for compensation.

Also, there was only one unruly pax on a flight from PHL?
 
Murdoughnut said:
I'd love to hear stories where the airlines go after these idiots for compensation.

Also, there was only one unruly pax on a flight from PHL?
Click to expand...

Contrary to popular belief, PHL passengers aren't that bad. The other night I commuted home and we were 10 hours late getting to DFW. Aside from a few groans and one smartass who decided to make a snide comment during every PA (no one thought you were funny, by the way), everyone was well behaved.

It also helps that it doesn't appear that many PHL sports fans fly much.
 
Derg said:
Turning around that far into flight and returning to your base, on the surface, seems like "let's all go home, we're going to time out anyway". :) #unqualifiedopinion
Click to expand...

Per my friend in their ops center, it was due to the fact that the crew wouldn't have the duty time to go back out if they diverted somewhere else so they came back to get a reserve crew on the plane.
#qualifiedopinion
 
BobDDuck said:
Per my friend in their ops center, it was due to the fact that the crew wouldn't have the duty time to go back out if they diverted somewhere else so they came back to get a reserve crew on the plane.
#qualifiedopinion
Click to expand...

Eh. I don't know.....What would prevent the FAA/TSA from saying...

'So they overflew some VERY capable airports just so they would have a replacement crew there when they had a potential security/safety threat'?

USAirways could have taken a spare plane or even charter a jet with a fresh crew to BOS (if that was the closest airport) to continue.

#wasn'ttherebutsomethingsdon'tsooundrighthere
 
Seggy said:
Eh. I don't know.....What would prevent the FAA/TSA from saying...

'So they overflew some VERY capable airports just so they would have a replacement crew there when they had a potential security/safety threat'?

USAirways could have taken a spare plane or even charter a jet with a fresh crew to BOS (if that was the closest airport) to continue.

#wasn'ttherebutsomethingsdon'tsooundrighthere
Click to expand...


I'm sure dispatch advised a return to philly and the captain agreed. Sometimes things really are that simple. There doesn't always have to be a conspiracy theory.
 
Once again, you are the FAA/TSA. They may ask, 'Ahhh, you were 100 miles from BOS, 300 miles from PHL. You had a potential security/safety concern. Ahhhhhh, where did you land? Any why was that? Ohhhhhhhhhh, 'operational integrity'. But, what about the safety/security concern in the back?'

So on and so forth.

Once again, wasn't there.
 
Would they have been overweight had they landed at Boston? Would they have had to be vectored to descend over boston, where PHL would've been a more normal descent path down to a landing... Doesn't sound like a whole lot of conspiracy to me. Not sure why we are Monday morning quarterbacking so much.
 
Kingairer said:
Would they have been overweight had they landed at Boston? Would they have had to be vectored to descend over boston, where PHL would've been a more normal descent path down to a landing... Doesn't sound like a whole lot of conspiracy to me. Not sure why we are Monday morning quarterbacking so much.
Click to expand...

Cause it is fun to do! Plus an overweight landing is usually a 'non issue'. One could argue the threat of a passenger in the back who needs to be removed outweighs the overweight landing.
 
Seggy said:
Cause it is fun to do! Plus an overweight landing is usually a 'non issue'. One could argue the threat of a passenger in the back who needs to be removed outweighs the overweight landing.
Click to expand...
I see what you did there!!!
 
Seggy said:
Cause it is fun to do! Plus an overweight landing is usually a 'non issue'. One could argue the threat of a passenger in the back who needs to be removed outweighs the overweight landing.
Click to expand...

Maybe if the guy was still trying to kill people in the back of the plane, but the article made it sound like he was restrained. So you think maybe it would be ok to risk the safety of everybody on board the plane in an overweight landing because of one guy acting up, who has since been restrained?
 
BobDDuck said:
Maybe if the guy was still trying to kill people in the back of the plane, but the article made it sound like he was restrained. So you think maybe it would be ok to risk the safety of everybody on board the plane in an overweight landing because of one guy acting up, who has since been restrained?
Click to expand...

From my understanding, on the Airbus, an overweight landing just requires (basically) a print out from the MCDU to make sure nothing was out of limits. I could be wrong but I am sure I will be corrected by @Derg and/or @PeanuckleCRJ

I am just saying, 'one' could argue...

Like I said, I wasn't there.
 
How about the authority of the pic to do whatever he deems the right call? Airline captains get paid to make decisions, not because they are better pilots. He/she obviously weighed all the info and went back to phl. End of story.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top