# Would They Ever "Turn The Airplane" Around? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693 "2010-04-20T00:56:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/21 "2010-04-21T14:59:23Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > But do you think they’d do it for fear? If somene said, as Emily did, she was too frightened to fly and was about to panic. > > In the orginal _Bob Newhart Show_ case Emily only made it where the plane was taxing to the runway. Oh, sure. Better than having a full-up panic attack while inflight. Back in '97 I was on a plane that returned to the apron for similar reasons. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/22 "2010-04-21T18:07:12Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > A [great circle route](http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LAX-NRT%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=) doesn’t come close to Siberia. But planes don’t always fly the great circle route. When I flew direct from DFW to Tokyo, the pilot who was hanging around the back and talking to us (he was the shift of the crew that was not on duty at the time) told me that they can often see islands belonging to Russia out the starboard windows, but when we were there it was overcast so I didn’t get to see. Speaking of long flights that aren’t on the great circle, when I flew from Amsterdam to Atlanta, the first state we flew over was Michigan. Look at _that_ on a map. ETA: “Hi, Bob!” ---
**Author:** ![Methyl\_Ethyl\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Methyl\_Ethyl\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Methyl_Ethyl_Death)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/23 "2010-04-21T20:08:53Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > If the passengers are being disruptive enough the plane will be diverted. I don’t know of any case where it was someone with a fear of flying that caused problems. But drunk belligerent people have caused flights to be diverted. The disruptive passenger tends to be handed over to police. This happened to a dumbass friend of mine about ten to twelve years ago. Plane takes off from Texas, he’s drunk as hell, the crew quit serving him, he curses, yells, makes threats, they land in Tennessee where the cops are waiting for him. Plane continues on to it’s destination. He died at the tender age of 41 a year and a half ago with a BAC of .35. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/24 "2010-04-21T20:09:59Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > I was on an airplane that left the gate, sat on the runway for a couple hours, and then went back to the gate. It was scheduled for US cross-country and storms came up across the entire north-south in the midwest prohibiting our flight. > > They brought us back so we could get food. Eventually we reboarded and were cleared for takeoff. > > I’m sure this type of thing happens all the time. I was on a flight from St. Louis to Des Moines once. Ten minutes outside of Des Moines (seat belts on, tray tables in the upright position) the pilot announced that the Des Moines airport was fogged in, so we would be diverting to our alternate airport. Which was. . . St. Louis! Much groaning among passengers, including audible cries of “can’t you at least take us to Omaha? It’s closer!” Upon arriving back in St. Louis, we all got off and went to rebook our flights. No more than 10 minutes later, the airline announced that the Des Moines airport was now open, and if we got back on the plane real fast, they’d go ahead and fly us back there. About half the passengers made it back to the plane. When people wonder why TWA didn’t survive, that’s one of my standard answers. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/25 "2010-04-21T20:32:43Z")
Not always ‘turn the plane around’, but sometimes they eject a passenger in the middle of the flight. Had a case here a few years back where a passenger on a Northwest flight incoming to Mpls-St. Paul refused to stop smoking on the flight. After the flight attendant, and then a pilot also came back and told him he had to put his cigarette out, and he still refused, the pilot turned and went back to the flight deck (to insulting comments from the passenger). Then came an announcement on the PA system: _“We will be making a quick unscheduled stop in South Dakota, to let off a passenger so he can smoke. We still expect to arrive at Mpls-St. Paul airport around our scheduled time.”_ And they did. They landed at a small town airport, removed that passenger from the airplane, and took off again, headed for Mpls-St. Paul airport. The smoking passenger was left at that small airport, where there were very few flights. And Northwest wouldn’t let him onto any of theirs, and they informed the other airlines about this, so the other airlines were also hesitant about selling this guy a ticket. I think I recall that he finished his trip a day later, via Greyhound bus. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/26 "2010-04-21T20:36:07Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > …sometimes they eject a passenger in the middle of the flight. Just have to say, this creates a mental image even more draconian than what actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/27 "2010-04-21T20:40:55Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Speaking of long flights that aren’t on the great circle, when I flew from Amsterdam to Atlanta, the first state we flew over was Michigan. Look at _that_ on a map. It’s not as surprising if you look at a globe instead. The Bangor, Maine airport actually advertises its services to European carriers who fly to the US and Caribbean as a fast-turnaround, full-service, well-located place to dump unruly passengers. They do a pretty steady business there, too. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693/28 "2010-04-23T21:22:43Z")
They didn’t turn the plane around yesterday, but instead [landed in Albuquerque](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36737268/ns/travel-news/). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-they-ever-turn-the-airplane-around/536693.md?page=1)