Airline Sued Over Shoe Bomb Threat
The American Airlines dispatcher who handled the flight carrying alleged shoe-bomber Richard Reid says her supervisor told her to hold off telling the government about the scare because he feared the plane would be delayed.
Julie Robichaux filed a 12-page whistle-blower complaint Wednesday with the Federal Aviation Administration, saying her superior told her not to tell the FAA of the shoe-bomb incident "because the flight would be remotely parked and it would be forever before we could get the plane out of there." Robichaux said she did not follow the instructions.
American Airlines spokesman Steve Tankel denied the allegations.
CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports the captain and other flight 63 crew members, in a tape produced by the Allied Pilots union, support Robichaux saying supervisors seemed most concerned about delays caused by the bomb threat.
"The company's already thinking about where we are going with the aircraft afterwards," said Flight 63 Captain Hans Mantell. "And they want to take it to the gate and go from there immediately."
Robichaux ignored her supervisor and informed authorities. She kept an open phone link with NORAD as the air defense command scrambled fighter jets to escort flight 63.
"At one point I had a manager come up and actually I was on the phone with NORAD and he told me whoever I was talking to I had to call them back," said Robichaux. "I said it's NORAD, I'm kinda coordinating this. He said get a number and call 'em back."
The complaint comes at a time when American and some of its employees have clashed over security, safety and personnel issues. The airline, which lost two jetliners to hijackers Sept. 11, is negotiating a new contract with its pilots' union.
Robichaux was on duty Dec. 22 when the captain of Flight 63 from Paris told her about Reid, who is accused of carrying explosives in his shoe. She said the captain reported Reid had been subdued but it was unsafe to complete the flight to Miami. She said they decided the plane should land in Boston.
Dispatchers track flights for the airlines and are in frequent contact with the flight crews, telling them about potential weather problems, safety issues and other information.
After learning of the shoe-bomb incident, Robichaux said, she asked for help to track her other flights but no one was available due to layoffs. Tankel said there were enough dispatchers on duty at the time.
Robichaux said the manager of the operations center contacted the captain and told him to land at an airport in Canada. She said the captain told the manager that he would land in Boston.
Tankel said Robichaux misunderstood the conversation and the supervisor was only talking about a possible Canadian landing.
In May, she said she told flight crews about two security cases involving American flights to Zurich. On a flight out of Dallas, six passengers traveling on Indian passports allegedly were synchronizing watches. On a flight out of New York, a Pakistani passenger refused to shut off his computer when the plane was about to take off. He was removed from the flight.