WASHINGTON, Aug 16: A Washington-bound flight from London was diverted to Boston’s Logan airport on Wednesday after an altercation between the crew and a passenger.
Soon after the United Airlines flight 923 entered the US airspace a 60-year-old woman passenger became emotionally distraught and had an altercation with the crew, officials said.
This alarmed the pilot who declared an in-flight emergency and diverted the plane to Boston instead of Washington’s Dulles Airport. Fighter jets escorted the airliner to Logan, where it landed without incident.
The passenger, whose name has not yet been disclosed, later told interrogators she was claustrophobic and became very upset and got into some kind of confrontation with the flight crew.
Initial reports had suggested that the woman who caused the diversion had Vaseline, a screwdriver, matches and a note that made reference to Al Qaeda. But an official denied the claims.