U.S.

Threat Note Detours Plane

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 30, 2001 / 2:48 AM EST / CBS

An American Airlines plane made an unscheduled landing at Washington's Dulles International Airport after a written bomb threat was found aboard, airport and government officials said. Passengers used emergency slides to leave the aircraft.

The Boeing 757 plane, American Flight 785 en route to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport from New York's La Guardia Airport, landed just after 7 p.m. Monday, according to officials at the airport in suburban Virginia 25 miles west of Washington.

"There was a threat and it is being investigated," said Paul Malandrino, an operations manager at Dulles. "Everyone is safe. The passengers are off the airplane." No bomb was found.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman says authorities who subsequently searched the plane and its luggage "turned up nothing."

A recorded statement by American Airlines spokesman Gus Whitcomb said the plane was diverted because of a suspicious note, but gave few other details. A government official speaking on condition of anonymity said the note was a bomb threat.

The FBI is investigating the threat, but bureau spokesman Chris Murray would not comment on whether it was genuine or if the plane was ever in danger.

Immediately after the plane landed, it was directed to a remote part of the airport and surrounded by police vehicles.

Three of the plane's 141 passengers suffered minor injuries while leaving the plane on the emergency slides, said Tara Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. The injured, who suffered bruises, sprained ankles and back pain, were taken to nearby Reston Hospital.

After the plane landed, two airport runways were closed for an hour and 40 minutes while investigators searched the plane with bomb-sniffing dogs.

Following the search, the airport resumed normal operations.

The incident raised concern in light of the alert issued just hours earlier from Attorney General John Ashcroft, warning anew of possible terrorist attacks against the United States or U.S. interests in the coming week.

Ashcroft said the administration had "credible" information of a possible future attack but he could not be specific about the type of attack or targets.

Passengers aboard the diverted jet were taken to a "safe location" to be interviewed by authorities before being put on flights to take them to their original destinations.