Air Tran pilot arrested

[chucky]

Flight captain arrested at Newport News airport

By Kimball Payne


10:01 PM EDT, July 15, 2009

The captain of an AirTran flight out of Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport was removed from the controls Wednesday and taken into custody by local police.

An AirTran spokesman confirmed that the captain was arrested but declined to elaborate on what prompted authorities to lead the pilot away from the Boeing 717 in handcuffs.

It's unclear exactly who arrested the captain because Newport News officers were not involved. Airport officials and airport police declined to comment on the incident, would not identify the pilot or say what led to an arrest at the gate that left delayed passengers spooked.

"We're aware of the incident," said Christopher White, an AirTran spokesman at the company's corporate offices in Atlanta. "We brought in another captain to pilot the plane to Boston."




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[Harry Callahan]

Without knowing more, I'm siding with the Capt. on this one. The TSA is out of control.

If any of you know more about this, please post.

Something isn't right about this since the TSA is being so quiet on the subj. They have all the "whistles & bells" at the checkpoint. If it's in their interest they put it all over the place. Plus they let this guy go all the way to the airplane before taking him off. It just doesn't jive.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Without knowing more, I'm siding with the Capt. on this one. The TSA is out of control.

If any of you know more about this, please post.

Something isn't right about this since the TSA is being so quiet on the subj. They have all the "whistles & bells" at the checkpoint. If it's in their interest they put it all over the place. Plus they let this guy go all the way to the airplane before taking him off. It just doesn't jive.

Discussed this with TSA people at a Northeastern airport. They said the same pilot had once had a loud verbal confrontation there and the FSD had reported it to the airline.

 

[Borescope]

Discussed this with TSA people at a Northeastern airport. They said the same pilot had once had a loud verbal confrontation there and the FSD had reported it to the airline.

These TSA people are out of control. An article in the Newport paper said the woman (tsa) had said something to the pilot and he didn't respond. Big deal, where does it say you have to speak to these monkeys anyway. He then put his items on the belt and the woman tried to rearrange them. This set the pilot off and he grabbed her hand and removed it from his bags. She then filed the complaint and he was arrested for assault and battery. Having served on a jury for this same type of case he could easily be convicted for grabbing her hand. Just by touching her, under the law, it's assault. Hopefully they'll just drop this and it'll go away with a beer on the patio.