This past Wednesday afternoon a Delta regional jet, operated by Compass Airlines, was diverted to Tucson. The plane was enroute from San Antonio to Los Angeles, when the flight attendants notified the pilots of a disturbance. This led to two F-16 fighter jets being scrambled to “escort” the plane. Per ABC News:
NORAD confirmed to ABC News that it scrambled two F-16 fighters to intercept the jet, which was carrying 80 people, including passengers and flight crew. The plane’s flight crew notified the captain and copilot of the disturbance, leading to the F-16 fighter escort. The NORAD spokesman did not have details on the disturbance itself but said whatever it was met the criteria to launch the fighters, which monitored the plane until it landed in Tucson. Citing “operational security”, they won’t say where the F-16s launched from.
A source tells ABC News one passenger accused another passenger of having a firearm, but when the aircraft was swept and passengers re-screened, no weapon was found. According to another source with knowledge of the investigation, the passenger reported to have a firearm was detained, but authorities later discovered he did not have a weapon on him. The man had a history of mental illness, the source said.
Twitter user @ryanhealy was live Tweeting the whole situation, including a video of the passenger in question being removed from the plane:
https://twitter.com/ryanhealy/status/745774864489844736
While there aren’t many details officially being released, it seems like the passenger made a “verbal threat to the aircraft.”
https://twitter.com/ryanhealy/status/745769079290531840
That brings me to the part I don’t understand — what’s the point of having two F-16s escort the plane?
Fighter jet following Delta Compass Air emergency landing in Tucson pic.twitter.com/qmQH3Os2Sl
— David Butow (@DavidButow) June 22, 2016
As the Twitter user who was on the flight bluntly points out, the only thing they could do is shoot down the plane in case it gets hijacked.
https://twitter.com/ryanhealy/status/745763228794290177
Unless we’ve been lied to all along, the pilots had full control of the aircraft, and nowadays we have reinforced cockpit doors, no? If so, there’s no way the passenger could have gained access to the cockpit. So even if he was able to blow up the plane, does the US government just want to do it on their terms own instead, or…?
It’s not uncommon to see F-16s scrambled in situations like this, but it’s something I’ve never been able to rationalize.
Can anyone make sense of that?
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