Sweetbriar
06-13-2007, 19:03
This is now making the rounds via email, but I did find the original on www.theaviationnation.com . (It's dated June 5, but I did a search here by names and didn't find it. Hopefully this is a first post on it.) Lots of security issues here, but I believe I liked Mrs. Hayden best.....
What Happened on Northwest Flight 720?
By Annie Jacobsen in category Dry Runs and Probes
I just got off the phone with Robert Hayden, the heroic subject of today's Boston Globe article, Graying Duo Keep Passenger in Check. Hayden — a former police chief and former Undersecretary of Public Safety in Massachusetts — was the passenger who handcuffed one man and subdued another man on Northwest Airlines Flight 720, last Saturday.
The two, security-threatening passengers — men allegedly from the Philippines — had been acting strangely during the flight. On both the ascent out of Minneapolis and the descent into Boston, both men simultaneously stood up. One laid down in the aisle, screaming, while the other man stood over the prostrated man.
As the plane was landing, Hayden took being a John Doe to a new level. In a crisis situation, Hayden didn't just see something and say something, he saw something and did something. From The Globe:
Shortly before landing, Bob Hayden and a flight attendant had agreed on a signal: When she waved the plastic handcuffs, he would discreetly leave his seat and restrain an unruly passenger who had frightened some of the 150 people on board a Minneapolis-to-Boston flight Saturday night with erratic behavior.
Hayden, a 65-year-old former police commander, had enlisted a gray-haired gentleman sitting next to him to assist. The man turned out to be a former US Marine.
"I had looked around the plane for help, and all the younger guys had averted their eyes. When I asked the guy next to me if he was up to it, all he said was, 'Retired captain. USMC.' I said, 'You'll do,' " Hayden recalled. "So, basically, a couple of grandfathers took care of the situation."
According to my interview with Hayden, the two, South East Asian men — acting in consort — were suspicious from the get go. "Before the flight took off, the flight attendants had to repeatedly tell the men to get in their seats." The plane took off. Immediately after the Captain made the first announcement, Hayden told me that, "like clockwork, the first [SE Asian] guy got out of his seat and laid on the floor and started yelling. The other guy [traveling with him] stood over him, mumbling and gesturing. To me, it looked strange. It looked staged. So I got up and walked the aisle to see if there was anyone else on board who might be part of it."
Hayden didn't sense that there was anyone else in the duo's group. "For the next two hours, they made people pretty upset," Hayden said. "One of the guys was wild-eyed and strange looking," Hayden said. "He kept walking the aisles. The other guy pulled his luggage out from the overhead and started sifting through it. People were scared." Hayden offered to help the flight attendant if she needed assistance, identifying himself as "an ex-cop."
As the plane started its descent, the Captain made another announcement. Hayden explained what happened next: "Like clockwork, these two guys pop up out of their seats like something from The Manchurian Candidate. One lays down on the floor and starts yelling and the other guy is over him."
That's when the flight attendant gave Hayden the signal. Hayden and the former US Marine subdued the two Asian men using a set of plastic handcuffs given to them by the flight attendant. They also used a seat belt.
I asked Hayden what he thought happened on Northwest Flight 720. "There seem to be two possibilities of what happened on that flight," Hayden told me. "One, they were insane. But it's unlikely that two insane people would be traveling together. Two, it was a diversion or a probe to see how people react. It was bizarre and it was prompted. As soon as the Captain said something, on ascent and on descent, they were up out of their seats like Siamese twins."
According to The Globe, State police troopers escorted the men off the flight. No word on whether or not Homeland Security officials are involved.
At the end of our interview, Hayden directed me to his favorite part of The Globe article — the part about his wife:
Hayden's wife of 42 years, Katie, who was also on the flight, was less impressed. Even as her husband struggled with the agitated passenger, she barely looked up from "The Richest Man in Babylon," the book she was reading.
"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."
Hayden gave me a few more details. "We left the airport, drove home, stopped at the grocery store, bought some groceries — the whole time my wife didn't say a thing about the flight. As we were getting ready to go to bed, she comes over, stands up and gives me a kiss. 'By the way' she says to me, 'Good job on the airplane.'"
(Thanks to Roger Baumgarten and Colonel Dave Gavigan)
What Happened on Northwest Flight 720?
By Annie Jacobsen in category Dry Runs and Probes
I just got off the phone with Robert Hayden, the heroic subject of today's Boston Globe article, Graying Duo Keep Passenger in Check. Hayden — a former police chief and former Undersecretary of Public Safety in Massachusetts — was the passenger who handcuffed one man and subdued another man on Northwest Airlines Flight 720, last Saturday.
The two, security-threatening passengers — men allegedly from the Philippines — had been acting strangely during the flight. On both the ascent out of Minneapolis and the descent into Boston, both men simultaneously stood up. One laid down in the aisle, screaming, while the other man stood over the prostrated man.
As the plane was landing, Hayden took being a John Doe to a new level. In a crisis situation, Hayden didn't just see something and say something, he saw something and did something. From The Globe:
Shortly before landing, Bob Hayden and a flight attendant had agreed on a signal: When she waved the plastic handcuffs, he would discreetly leave his seat and restrain an unruly passenger who had frightened some of the 150 people on board a Minneapolis-to-Boston flight Saturday night with erratic behavior.
Hayden, a 65-year-old former police commander, had enlisted a gray-haired gentleman sitting next to him to assist. The man turned out to be a former US Marine.
"I had looked around the plane for help, and all the younger guys had averted their eyes. When I asked the guy next to me if he was up to it, all he said was, 'Retired captain. USMC.' I said, 'You'll do,' " Hayden recalled. "So, basically, a couple of grandfathers took care of the situation."
According to my interview with Hayden, the two, South East Asian men — acting in consort — were suspicious from the get go. "Before the flight took off, the flight attendants had to repeatedly tell the men to get in their seats." The plane took off. Immediately after the Captain made the first announcement, Hayden told me that, "like clockwork, the first [SE Asian] guy got out of his seat and laid on the floor and started yelling. The other guy [traveling with him] stood over him, mumbling and gesturing. To me, it looked strange. It looked staged. So I got up and walked the aisle to see if there was anyone else on board who might be part of it."
Hayden didn't sense that there was anyone else in the duo's group. "For the next two hours, they made people pretty upset," Hayden said. "One of the guys was wild-eyed and strange looking," Hayden said. "He kept walking the aisles. The other guy pulled his luggage out from the overhead and started sifting through it. People were scared." Hayden offered to help the flight attendant if she needed assistance, identifying himself as "an ex-cop."
As the plane started its descent, the Captain made another announcement. Hayden explained what happened next: "Like clockwork, these two guys pop up out of their seats like something from The Manchurian Candidate. One lays down on the floor and starts yelling and the other guy is over him."
That's when the flight attendant gave Hayden the signal. Hayden and the former US Marine subdued the two Asian men using a set of plastic handcuffs given to them by the flight attendant. They also used a seat belt.
I asked Hayden what he thought happened on Northwest Flight 720. "There seem to be two possibilities of what happened on that flight," Hayden told me. "One, they were insane. But it's unlikely that two insane people would be traveling together. Two, it was a diversion or a probe to see how people react. It was bizarre and it was prompted. As soon as the Captain said something, on ascent and on descent, they were up out of their seats like Siamese twins."
According to The Globe, State police troopers escorted the men off the flight. No word on whether or not Homeland Security officials are involved.
At the end of our interview, Hayden directed me to his favorite part of The Globe article — the part about his wife:
Hayden's wife of 42 years, Katie, who was also on the flight, was less impressed. Even as her husband struggled with the agitated passenger, she barely looked up from "The Richest Man in Babylon," the book she was reading.
"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."
Hayden gave me a few more details. "We left the airport, drove home, stopped at the grocery store, bought some groceries — the whole time my wife didn't say a thing about the flight. As we were getting ready to go to bed, she comes over, stands up and gives me a kiss. 'By the way' she says to me, 'Good job on the airplane.'"
(Thanks to Roger Baumgarten and Colonel Dave Gavigan)