Copyright 2001 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)
September 12, 2001 Wednesday, Final / All
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A11
LENGTH: 356 words
HEADLINE: Plane diverted to Cleveland triggers alarm;
FBI finds nothing aboard flight to L.A.
BYLINE: Patrick O'Donnell, Plain Dealer Reporter
BODY:
A plane diverted to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
yesterday morning
was kept sitting on a runway for a couple hours and its passengers were
interviewed by FBI agents. But suspicions that the plane had been
hijacked or
had a bomb on board turned out to be unfounded.
Delta Flight 1989 made an emergency landing at Hopkins about 10:45
a.m.,
nearly two hours after the World Trade Center towers were hit by two
hijacked
planes.
Delta ordered the plane to land in Cleveland, according to Cleveland
FBI
Special Agent Robert Hawk.
He said airline officials wanted the Boeing 767 down because it was
traveling
from Boston to Los Angeles, the same flight path as two of the planes
that
crashed into the World Trade Center.
At one point, Hawk said, there was confusion about whether there had
been an
incident on the plane. Delta, he said, told the Federal Aviation
Administration
there was a problem with the flight.
Delta spokeswoman Cindi Kurczewski declined comment.
In a televised news conference at 11, Mayor Michael R. White first
said there
was an unconfirmed report that the plane might have been hijacked or
was
carrying a bomb. But in the middle of the news conference, he reported
that it
had not been hijacked, and later in the day he said no bomb had been
found.
White's office later said that the plane landed as a precaution.
The plane sat on airport property between the terminal, the NASA
Glenn
Research Center and the International Exposition Center for about two
hours.
About 12:30 p.m. baggage cars and shuttle buses approached the plane.
The 69
passengers and nine crew members then walked down a portable staircase
and onto
the buses, which took them to FAA headquarters nearby.
Hawk said the FBI did not want to let the passengers into the
terminal
because agents needed to interview them and search the plane before
releasing
them. The delay, he said, was needed to set up an interview site and
arrange for
buses and emergency crews.
All the passengers were released after none reported seeing anything
unusual
on the flight.
Contact Patrick O'Donnell at:
paodonnell@plaind.com, 216-999-4818
LOAD-DATE: October 24, 2001