# United Airlines flight diverted to Boston after nutjob pulls a screwdriver, note **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 16, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954 "2006-08-16T15:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/41 "2006-08-16T21:08:35Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] **DtC** , do you have a cite concerning the race/ethnicity of this woman? I haven’t seen anything identifying her other than the fact that she is 60. [/QUOTE] [This story](http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/08/16/ap2954568.html) identifies her only as being from Vermont, and a US citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/42 "2006-08-16T21:26:28Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] [This story](http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/08/16/ap2954568.html) identifies her only as being from Vermont, and a US citizen. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I just heard that. Isn’t Vermont the Whitest state in the union? Anyway, I think there’s more to this than “lady has panic attack.” The luggage was on the tarmac being inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs. Maybe the feds required it, but if it was just this isolated example of a woman losing it, that seems to be one hell of a response… ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/43 "2006-08-16T21:29:57Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] If she had been white, there would have been no “terrorist” insinuations, no fabricated screwdrivers or notes about _al Qaeda_ and no national news story. [/QUOTE] Please provide a citation that the person of interest was not white. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/44 "2006-08-16T21:34:26Z")
The story in the online newspaper now is saying: > [@washingtonpost.com](#): > > The Transportation Security Administration said there was no indication that the incident was related to terrorism and denied media reports that the woman had a screwdriver, Vaseline and a note referring to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. > [@Bosda](#): > > I can just imagine somebody trying to read a note with sloppy writing, & deciding that something or other, that they couldn’t read, said “Al Qida” OK, strike “anything handwritten by me or Mr. Neville” from the list of anything I can take on a plane- both of us have totally illegible handwriting. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/45 "2006-08-16T21:39:36Z")
Fox 25 in Boston had interviews with passengers from the plane: [ul] [li]The woman had been behaving strangely, moving back to the restroom repeatedly, according to passengers.[/li][li]Some passengers claim she was writing notes to the flight attendants.[/li][li]After she was restrained, she was handcuffed and placed in the back row of the plane with two men watching her.[/li][li]One passenger stated that he didn’t feel the woman was a threat.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/46 "2006-08-16T21:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Yeah, I just heard that. Isn’t Vermont the Whitest state in the union? [/quote] Actually, i believe that title belongs to Maine, although Vermont used to be the champ, and is still in second or third place. [QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Anyway, I think there’s more to this than “lady has panic attack.” The luggage was on the tarmac being inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs. Maybe the feds required it, but if it was just this isolated example of a woman losing it, that seems to be one hell of a response… [/QUOTE] Just out of curiosity, for you to be convinced that this was, in fact, just a panic attack, exactly how many articles would you need to see in which the TSA explicitly states that there was no terrorist connection and that the cause of the disturbance was panic brought on by claustrophobia? Would 10 be enough? 100? A Google News search using the words “diverted flight” brings up at least 680 articles related to this incident alone, and virtually all of the recent stories (i.e., after the initial misinformation) have had quotations from Boston airport officials, the FBI, and the TSA stating very clearly that, as far as anyone can tell, the cause of the problem was a panic attack, and that there is no terrorist link in evidence whatsoever. Given the way you jumped to conclusions in the OP, and expressed a hope that the woman had the “living shit” beaten out of her, you’ll forgive me if i don’t place much credence in your current skepticism. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/47 "2006-08-16T21:48:46Z")
Just out of curiosity, as I’ve seen it reported numerous times (obviously falsely as we now know), what exactly is so sinister about the Vaseline? Are they afraid she may have wanted a quick poke in the bottom or something? What could you use it for to bring down a plane exactly? Why was this picked out as something that would indicate she was a terrorist? Anyone know? -XT ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/48 "2006-08-16T21:51:19Z")
Maybe someone was going to slip a bomb in the…ehm…“back door”, so to speak? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/49 "2006-08-16T21:52:07Z")
That was my thought exactly. 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/50 "2006-08-16T21:53:09Z")
Where is that citation that she was non-white, FTR? I was watching this news all day and didn’t see a single mention. I would hope that this citation would be timestamped earlier than the time the claims were made in here, right? And the citation that she was a Muslim? I can’t find anything, so I must be doing the wrong searches… ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/51 "2006-08-16T21:58:04Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] Just out of curiosity, for you to be convinced that this was, in fact, just a panic attack, exactly how many articles would you need to see in which the TSA explicitly states that there was no terrorist connection and that the cause of the disturbance was panic brought on by claustrophobia? Would 10 be enough? 100? A Google News search using the words “diverted flight” brings up at least 680 articles related to this incident alone, and virtually all of the recent stories (i.e., after the initial misinformation) have had quotations from Boston airport officials, the FBI, and the TSA stating very clearly that, as far as anyone can tell, the cause of the problem was a panic attack, and that there is no terrorist link in evidence whatsoever. Given the way you jumped to conclusions in the OP, and expressed a hope that the woman had the “living shit” beaten out of her, you’ll forgive me if i don’t place much credence in your current skepticism. [/QUOTE] Guess you missed my post [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7686184&postcount=15), champ. I certainly retracted that inflammatory comment, and even in the OP I mentioned that the facts weren’t all in. You don’t find it a little odd that two F-15 jets were scrambled and followed the plane into Logan? It seems we all had significant misinformation at some point. As far as your credence in my current skepticism… not really a big concern of mine. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/52 "2006-08-16T22:00:50Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Just out of curiosity, as I’ve seen it reported numerous times (obviously falsely as we now know), what exactly is so sinister about the Vaseline? Are they afraid she may have wanted a quick poke in the bottom or something? What could you use it for to bring down a plane exactly? Why was this picked out as something that would indicate she was a terrorist? Anyone know? -XT [/QUOTE] I’m assuming it’s related to the whole “no liquids, no gels, no toothpaste” rules that have been in place since last week’s UK arrests. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/53 "2006-08-16T22:03:36Z")
**Loopy, XT** , you guys are _tres perv_ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/54 "2006-08-16T22:09:30Z")
On the other hand, there’s the fun of imagining the look on an airline exec’s face when somebody from Home Sec. tells him “Yeah, from now on, we’ll have to stick a flashlight up your passenger’s Nixon to check for explosives…” ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/55 "2006-08-16T22:14:47Z")
I was going to incorporate the screwdriver, but that would have just been tasteless, now wouldn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/56 "2006-08-16T22:24:34Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Please provide a citation that the person of interest was not white. [/QUOTE] You’ve got me. For some reason I had the impression the woman had been identified as Arabic. Now reading back over the news stories, I can’t find any confirmation of that and I have no idea why I thought that. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/57 "2006-08-16T22:33:16Z")
[QUOTE=Loopydude] I was going to incorporate the screwdriver, but that would have just been tasteless, now wouldn’t it. [/QUOTE] Myself, I’m too pure of heart and clean of soul to even THINK about the screwdriver implications… :eek: -XT ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/58 "2006-08-16T22:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Hopefully they beat the living shit out of her. [/QUOTE] Holy shit. Tell me you’re not serious. This has to be the absolutely most callous thing I’ve heard anyone say in a long time. I can understand the frustration, but seriously, this is low. You actually want someone to be ravaged by a panicked mob. Were you always this mean, or did you take classes? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/59 "2006-08-16T22:42:40Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Just out of curiosity, as I’ve seen it reported numerous times (obviously falsely as we now know), what exactly is so sinister about the Vaseline? Are they afraid she may have wanted a quick poke in the bottom or something? What could you use it for to bring down a plane exactly? Why was this picked out as something that would indicate she was a terrorist? Anyone know? -XT [/QUOTE] Using my imagination, perhaps it was not really Vaseline. Or maybe there was the fear that there was something more sinister concealed within the jar/tube/whatever. Aren’t there actual explosives that are kind of putty-like? I am no bomb or explosives expert, but it seems to me that someone recently was working on combining a couple of otherwise harmless things while on board a plane to make a harmful thing? Yeah, I remember reading that somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954/60 "2006-08-16T22:48:56Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] You’ve got me. For some reason I had the impression the woman had been identified as Arabic. Now reading back over the news stories, I can’t find any confirmation of that and I have no idea why I thought that. [/QUOTE] I can’t let you off so easy. You said, > [@](#): > > If she had been white, there would have been no “terrorist” insinuations, no fabricated screwdrivers or notes about al Qaeda and no national news story. It’s not that you were incorrect about her being Arabic. You insinuated that a whole flock of people were racist because of their actions. That was a nasty cheap shot which had no basis in fact. Who’s the racist here? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-airlines-flight-diverted-to-boston-after-nutjob-pulls-a-screwdriver-note/368954.md?page=4)