Satan-spouting man diverts flight

[ZeitgeistObserver]

Satan-spouting man diverts flight

By Tim Korte, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 23, 2010




ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A flight from Los Angeles to Florida was diverted to Albuquerque early Friday after a passenger sprayed the first-class cabin with a water bottle, tried to open a cabin door and threatened to blow up the aircraft.

Crew members and passengers on Delta Air Lines flight 2148 to Tampa, Fla., subdued Stanley Dwayne Sheffield, 46. He was taken into federal custody after the plane landed at 1:30 a.m. Friday.


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2010/04/24/13705186-ap.html

[Forkboy]

1. I'd like to apologize to the rest of the passengers.

I really just had Watain on my IPod and was only singing along. :shrug:

[DevonRex]

8. LOL. I was just going to ask what you were listening to during the flight.

Then I read the body of your post and found out. :rofl:

:hi:

[Forkboy]

10. I was surpised I even made it through security....

[hlthe2b]

2. Gee, what fun...

:sarcasm: All's well that ends.... I guess

[notadmblnd]

3. But it's not terrorism. I guess there's only one kind of terrorism, the brown skinned kind.

Sheffield then went to a lavatory and, while returning, grabbed a 2-liter water bottle from a drink cart and sprayed other passengers.

"Get behind me, Satan," Sheffield told the flight attendant.

When flight attendants asked Sheffield to return to his seat, he refused, then tried to open the aircraft's main door while making threats about blowing up the airplane.

"I am going to bring this plane down," Sheffield said. The complaint said he also shouted: "You need to land this plane or I'm going to blow it up" and, "I will blow up this plane and take you all with me." He then approached the cockpit door, again shouting, "Get behind me, Satan."

FBI Supervisory Special Agent Darrin Jones said authorities do not believe the incident was related to terrorism.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

4. No, this incident has gotten surprisingly little attention.

It must be because the name is 'Sheffield'.

[MercutioATC]

5. It's NOT "terrorism"...it's the actions of one mentally unstable person.

I guess it really depends on one's definition of terrorism, but it has nothing to do with your "brown skinned" claim.

[geckosfeet]

6. Couldn't anyone who spouts some religious source for their terrorist act

claim insanity? Or the less invective "mentally unstable"?

Delusional, in that they are acting out of beliefs rooted in unsubstantiated beliefs.

What makes some terrorists and some simply "unstable"?

How would you explain to passenger and flight attendant families how "unstable" this man was if he had succeeded in opening the cabin door?

[MercutioATC]

7. As I said, it depends on one's definition of "terrorism".

From the details in the article, this man's actions were not:

1) indicative of an attempt to attack our country or way of life, nor

2) did they seem planned in any way, nor

3) did they seem to represent a desire to induce "terror".


No preplanning, no political/social component, no apparent thought-out attempt to terrorize people.

Regardless of the color of his skin, the guy's just unstable.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

9. People trying to set fire to their shoes or underwear

are also mentally unstable.

[geckosfeet]

12. Invoking god, throwing things at passengers, trying to open cabin door,

trying to gain entry to pilots compartment.

This does not seem to to represent a desire to induce terror? And how does one evaluate whether this was planned or not?

What does it for me is invoking religious rhetoric in reference to passengers and flight crew. This surely represents a threat upon their way of life.

No argument that the guy is unstable. Maybe a bad drug experience.

As I said, my feeling is that anyone who attempts an act of terror is by definition unstable. It may not have been a politically or socially motivated act of terror. From what I read, it was purely misguided theological belief. He apparently believes that his behavior is justified based on his beliefs. Is he psychotic? Delusional? "Unstable"? Yes to all three probably. Does that excuse his threats? If you say so.

In any case - I would have been terrified and probably knocked him into next week.

[MadHound]

11. No, it isn't terrorism, it sounds more like mental illness

And possibly somebody who was off his meds.