[Chris Cram]

not clear... hummm

The teen explained the ritual after being questioned by crewmembers of the flight, which had left LaGuardia Airport around 7:30 a.m. and was operated by Chautauqua Airlines, authorities said.

Officials with the airline, however, said crewmembers "did not receive a clear response" when they talked with the teen, according to a statement issued by Republic Airways, which owns Chautauqua.

I suppose if he didn't have the Prayer Book...
His explanation may have gone over like white noise...

Morning Service
Meditation before putting on the Tephillin:
In the act of putting on the Tephillin I desire to fulfill the commandment
of my Creator who instructed us to put on the Tephillin. As it is written: And
you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets
between your eyes. Within the Tephillin are inscribed four chapters of the
Torah, which proclaim the absolute unity of G-d, and remind us of the miracles
He wrought for us when He took us out of Egypt, and declare His sovereign
power over all things in heaven and on earth.

He instructed us to put the Tephillin upon the hand in remembrance of His
mighty arm, with which He delivered us from the bondage of Egypt; and
opposite the heart, as a token of you duty to devote the impulses and
emotions of our heart to His service, praised be He. We put the Tephillin on
the head, as a token of our duty to devote the mind, with all its faculties, to
His service, praised be He.

And may my observance of the commandment of the Tephillin draw unto me
sacred influences and holy thoughts, and guard me from every inclination to
sin, in deed as in thought, that I may freely serve the Lord as it is in my heart
to do. Amen.