‘That Guy Has A Bomb’: Erratic Navy Tech’s Lie Halts Takeoff—FBI Storms Hawaii Flight With Guns Drawn

A passenger on board a Hawaiian Airlines flight made a false bomb threat and was removed from the aircraft in San Diego on Tuesday.

The Navy electronics technician told a flight attendant on Hawaiian flight 15 that the passenger seated next to him onboard the Airbus A330 in economy had a bomb as they prepared to depart for Honolulu. Passengers report he was behaving suspiciously and was possibly drunk.

The captain halted the departure process, emergency vehicles surrounded the plane, and armed FBI agents boarded the aircraft. Initially passengers were told there was a ‘technical issue’ but that was clearly false when government agents, rather than mechanics, boarded the plane with weapons and not tools.

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Everyone was removed from the aircraft (leaving their bags on board – taking only cell phone and wallet). Bomb-sniffing dogs were used in a search of the aircraft and luggage, and no threats were found.

The man faces fines and incarceration up to one year on charges of:

  • making a false bomb threat under California Penal Code (PC) 148.1
  • filing a false report of a security threat under San Diego County Regional Airport Authority Code 7.07.

The flight departed for Honolulu at around five hours later.

(HT: Live and Let’s Fly)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Navy, Army… everybody involved in any way with the military is a loser looking for valor

  2. You don’t even joke about this. Period.

    @Un — That’s an absurd take. No. Just. No. Not even gonna address merits.

  3. @1990 – not a single ambitious talented person goes, “I’m going to join the military”

  4. @Un

    The military academies are filled with ambitious talented cadets. You sir are full of it.

  5. @Un — Wow, a ‘strawman’ for the ages. There are contemporaries, too, but I’d start with Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, George Patton, Julius Caesar, and Ulysses S. Grant. Talent, ambition, and more.

  6. Put the top military academy student up against the median at Harvard or MIT and you’ll see how foolish your claim is

    The military is for dumb losers. Full stop.

  7. @Un — Ah, another logical fallacy; comparing apples to oranges. Nice try. What else you got?

  8. @1990 — Apples and oranges? I know you’re smarter than that my guy, why don’t you act like a New Yorker and tell it like it is. Military: for dummies. Harvard/MIT: for smart people.

  9. @Un

    I agree, there are only 2 kinds of people that join the US military.

    Morons
    Poor People.

    I don’t respect them, I think they are scumbags.

  10. @Un

    I agree, there are only 2 kinds of people that join the US military.

    Morons
    Poor People.

    I don’t respect them, I think they are scumbags.

  11. @Un — Show some respect. It’s literally Fleet Week here… sheesh!

    @Walter Barry — At least you consistently have bad takes on here, too.

  12. I wonder if the person he falsely accused can sue him.

    It would be nice if there were serious financial consequences for drunk people acting up on planes. Serious financial consequences. A few headlines of drunk idiots losing their car or home over their behavior might help tame such behavior.

  13. Gary,. you cite State of California statue, but this is probably going to get handled at the federal level, especially if federal law enforcement were involved

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