t7 b7 other flights 911 fdr- faa memo re america west 90 suspicious incident 11-19-99185

8/14/2019 T7 B7 Other Flights 911 Fdr- FAA Memo Re America West 90 Suspicious Incident 11-19-99185

1/5

May-27-02 O7:41P CASFU TPA 813348 1579 P02

U.S. Deportmentof TransportationFedwcd AviationAdministration

OUSPtCIOUS

Memorandum

subject INFORMATION; Security Summary {RIS-CS-1600-20), CMH 00-012. Columbus Post ofDuty

From: Manager, Chicago Civil Aviation Security FieldOffice

Date:

Reply toAttn.of:

T O : Director, Officeof CivilAviation SecurityOperations, ACO-1.THRU: Manager, Civil Aviation SecurityDivision,AGL-700Source: _lCaptain - AmericaWest Airlines

D O B : u n k n

9/11PersonalPrivacy

First Officer - America West Airlines

^^_Flight Attendant^- America WestAlrilnes

D O B : u n k nI ~\t Attendant - AmericaWest Airlines

Flight#90Passenger - AmericaWest Airlines


2/5

May-27-02O7:41P CASFU TPA B13 348 1579 P.O3

Gary MundoTracon SupervisorFederal Aviation AdministrationPort Columbus InflAirportRoom229Columbus, Ohio, 43219Tel: 614-236-8548

Columbus Airport Police (CMHPD)Columbus FBI

Subject incident aboard America WestAirlines Flight*90involving:

9/11PersonalPrivacy

9/11Working-levelEmployee

Summary:At approximately 1410 hours on November 19.1999 FAASpecial Agehtj1 ~lwas informed byCMH PD Sjt I ~lat the 'B' Security Checkpoint thatmypresence was requested atAmericaWests Gate B-B.SoL Unformed methatCMHCommunications Center was tryingto reachmesince CMH PDofficers spottedme at the airportearlier in the day. He also mentioned that the Great Lakes Regon Operations Center (ROC)wasalso being contacted. Initial reports about the situation indicated that security was breached onboard an aircraft and a possible interference to flight crew had occurred.Sotl [informedme that America WestCMHOperations ft'T>rier.ri tailed the PoliceCommunications Center about two or three males onboardFlight*90 who wareaskingmanydetailed questions about their flight, and one male attempted o enter into the cockpit. It wasundear if this male actuallysucceeded inenteringthecockpit I followed Sgt.l |to Gate B-8 and-thento th&alrcrafMioldingzone at-10L/28R.While Inroute-to.the aircraft,frifbhmatiqrj bame.over CMH's Police Radio that a bomb dog was requestedby the aircraft's captain. A City erfColumbus Police K-9was immediately dispatched. :; \1Law

EnforcementPrivacy


3/5

May-Z'T-OZ O7:41P CASFU TPA 813 348 1579 P. 4

Preliminary Information Indicted that FISghtf 90, on November 19,1999, was an America Westflight, originated fromPhoenix SkyHarbor Airport (PHX)enroute to Washington National Airport(DCA) with a stop at America West's hub at Port Columbus InternationalAirport (CMH) for onehour. Fiight# 90 madeaschedules landed in ColumbusOhio at 1410 hours and was directedbyair traffic control to the extreme West End of runway 10U28R. CMH PD, CMHAirport Operations,CMHFire Rescueand America West ground support weredispatched tomeet theaircraft onrunway 10L/28R. CMH Airport Operations closed Runway 10L/2BR at 1419 hours. Immediatelyupon placement of the portablestaircase and the opening of the aircraft's door, CMH PD enteredthe aircraft andwithin two minutes, escorted two males off the aircraft and placed them in theback seat of patrol car #360. CMHAirport Operations arranged for the removal of the remainingpassengers via twoshuttle busses.All remaining passengers were bussedto the USCustomsholding areafor debriefing.At approximately1445 hours, FBI Special Agent| [arrived onscene. SpecialAgentl [and another FBI SpecialAgent conducted nterviews and/or obtainedstatements on CMH PDVoluntary Witness Statement Forms from the flight crewandpassengers.AgentL Hook the lead in thei interviewing process.My involvement in these interviewswas to document the interviewee's responses. Agentl tasked all the questions duringthe interviews.,submitted to the Interviews or voluntarily submitted statements. ::::::The following is abrief summaryfrom information providedby the flight crew's: 9/11LawTwo males boarded flights 90 in Phoenix, Arizona. One of themales, in a brownshirt, stopped in Enforcementfront of thecockpit, said a few words to another passenger, and walked towards the cockpit. The PrivacyFirst Flight Attendant observed this action, and intervenedbystepping In front of the cockpit door.Sheasked the passenger to find his seat.One of these passengers occupied seat 6Awhile theother one sat in the last row. The passengersitting In seat 6A escorted his friend sitting in row 22to theempty seat located at 5A. Awhile later, thepassenger in the brownshirt askedtheFirstFlight attendant If this flight goes directly toWashington. She said "no* and he becameveryupset Sheadded that there is aone-hour stop inColumbus, Ohip. He returned to hisseat.Approximately two hours into the flight thepassenger n thebrown shirt walked into first classsection andcontinued walking towards thecockpit door. Hetried to openthe door. He wasverysubtle in his actions and he did not force the door open. The cockpit crewwas unaware of thisactivity. The First Flight Attendant witnessed this activity, walked up to him, andtold him to usethe lavatories In the backof theaircraft. TheFirstFlight Attendant called the Second FlightAttendant and relayed the incident about thecockpit doorand the questioning about theirdestination .Washington D.C. The SecondFlight Attendant called the cockpit and relayed theactivity experienced by the First Flight Attendant. The Second FlightAttendant also suggestedAmerica West Operations be informed. The cockpit crew took into consideration the concern bythe SecondFlight Attendant and requested&bomb-sniffing dog.Special Agent. Jand a FBI team interviewed both suspects at CMH PD Headquarters. 1declined to participate in these interviews sincemy information frominterviewing the flight crewsuggested nobreach ofsecuritynor anyinterference toflight crew occurred. I felt that FAASecurity had nofurther involvement inthis situation. Informationobtained throughCMH PDindicated suspects were traveling toWashington D.C.for ameeting at the Saudi ArabianEmbassy. CMH PD also stated that the suspects werestudents majoring in linguistics. Suspectswere later released andbookedon an 8pmAmericaWest flight toWashington.Follow up Investigation revealed both suspectsdid not haveany checked in luggage. Nosuspicious items were found in their carry-on luggage. City of Columbus K-9 did not detect anytraces of explosives aboardthe aircraft's cabin nor in the aircraftcargo hold.


4/5

May-Z7-O2 O7:42P CASFU TPA 813 348 1579 P.05

All interviews conducted at the scene indicated that the no inflight breach occurred. The cockpitcrew never heard anyone trying to open thecockpit door.At 1440 hours the local America West Station faxed copies of the suspect's reservation andticketing history to America Wesfs Corporate Security Director Jean Morris.Any request for ticketinformation must go through America West Corporate Security Office at (480) 693-5571or (480)693-8316.Informationprovided from CaptainL _ J Approximately two hours into theflight between Phoenix, Arizona andColumbus. Ohio the cabin crew informed usabout a concernthey had on the behavior of two passengers. Wewere Informed that one ofthese passengerstried toopen the (locked) cockpit door. Iwas also informed that these passengers wereconcerned about the 'stop over atColumbus'' andwhether or not therewin be more stops prior totheir arrival Into Washington D.C. t alerted America Westof the situation, and my desire tu -determine If any checked baggage was associated with these two passengers. Their interest inthe aircraft concern me, and I felt that weneeded to inspect and/or match each bagwith apassenger prior to further travel. The aircraft was instructed to an isolated parking spot until theaircraft hadbeen inspected upon landing in Columbus.information provided bv 1* OfficerL . Approximately hallway through the flight,thecockpit crewwas alerted about two suspicious individuals on the flight. Our main concern was theseriousness that was sensed from the second flight attendant. We ware informed that theseIndividuals were very concerned that the aircraft would be stopped in Columbus and not goingnon-stop to DCA. We were also informed that one of these individuals came forward from coachand tried to open the cockpit door, not forcibly, but just to see if it can open. This informationwasrelayed to our Systems Operational Control.When we were in range to talk to CMH Operations,CaptalnT tasked me to relay to OPS that:-lt:would beagood ideate have abomb-snifriin&dogcheck the airplane.Information provided bv First Flight Attendant!.

9/11Personal__ Invirinn theboarding of Flight#90 in .Phoenix, I wasstanding in the front of theaircraft when I noticed a passenger stoppedat the Privacyentrance to the cockpit. This passenger, wearinga brownshirt, said something to his friend nexttohim in a foreign language, and then he took a step forward owards the cockpit, {.stepped Infront of him and told him to takehis seat. Thesameman in the brown shirt came up to me laterand askedThis plane goes directly toWashington D.C?" I told him "no". Hebecame very upsetand said that he was told that this plane goes directly toWashington. I told himthat this planestops in Columbus, Ohio for aboutone hour. Hethen repeated" but it will go to Washington,right". 1 said "yes" and told him to take hisseat After about two hours into the fight the sameman In the brown shirt walked into first class from coach and went directly to the cockpit door. Hetried to open it. The door was locked. Iapproachedhim and told him hecould not go In thereand

he asked "why", gave me a puzzled look, andstarted to returned to his seat when I told him touse the rest rooms n the back of theairplane. I alerted the second flight attendant about theIncident that just happened. We then monitored their actions through out the flight.Information provided bv Right AttendantL JAmale passenger sitting inseat6Aasked me,during my passenger count for his friend^sitting in the last row, to join him In theempty seat which was next tohim. I attempted to delay this activity since we were readytoclosethe main cabin door. He got out of his seat, walked back to his friend, and accompanied him tothe empty seat in6B. Right AttendantC_Jnformedmeabout the incident with the cockpitdoor and the questioning about the CMH stop over. I informed the jump sealer who Ibelieve wasa pilot for Evergreen, anAmericaWest employeewho was a company auditor, and the Captainabout my concerns about these passengers.


5/5

May-27-02 O7:42P CASFU TPA 813 348 1579 P.O6

9/11 LawEnforcement'Privacy

During the interview of Flight Attendant! H-Agentl" liremindedl \e not too Include the oI [referred toTAA Profiling" and "usual profiling* several times. He was the flightattendantwho initiated the call to the cockpit, and he requested the captain to notify operations Iabout the incident with the cockpit door and the questioningabout the flight. He also stated that '\ e did not observe anytclosely watched the two passengers for the remainingportion of the flight. He even searched the \ y a f t e r one of the passstated that the passengers had possible last names with Middle Eastern origins, which caused :him "concern'. Flight Attendant! ioroduced a waltet size Private Investigator's license toAoent| I ........... ............... .............. ;

,_. 9/11Information provided bvpassenoerl LIobserved while still inPhoenix ayoung p .foreign looking male who intently asked the stewardess "will we be inWashington on time, are rersonalthere any delays?" He was very observant and made direct eye contact with the stewardess. ppvacyDuring the flight the male passenger and acompanion were speaking loud in their own languageand were jovial.Information provided bv Gary MUNRO: I was one of the supervisors on duty Friday afternoon atthe CMHTracon.America West Flights 90 called in with a situation. After receiving a briefsummary of the incident we decided to keep the aircraft on the runway and not direct it to itsscheduled gate. CMH Operations closed Runway 10L/28R at 1419 hours. The runway wasopened at 1607 hours. All air operations were transferred to 10R/28L Even with the dosedrunway, CMH did not encounter any delayed flights.ATC tapes can be reviewed on Monday.

Joyce B. Scott, Manager,Chicago Civil Aviation Security Field Office

t7 b7 other flights 911 fdr- faa memo re america west 90 suspicious incident 11-19-99185

Documents