Psychic Tip Leads to Canceled Flight

[ceb]

I cannot describe how angry I would be if I were on that flight. :mad:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/03/27/psychic.plane.ap/index.html

The psychic should be fined and/or arrested for calling in a bogus threat, and whomever authorized the search based only upon that call should be disciplined.

[alnilam]

I think I would be very angry too, but the threat could not be ignored. I was on a flight last December that was delayed and searched when a booked passenger who had checked luggage failed to show up at the gate and board the flight. Better safe than sorry.

The caller may very well face a fine or worse.

Cheers !

Alnilam

[anthrosciguy]

As far as acting on the tip, the first thing I'd think of if I got such a call is that the "psychic" planted a bomb.

It would be foolish to ignore the call, but the caller should be arrested and chanrged -- there are laws against doing that.

[Gawdawful]

I was on a flight last December that was delayed and searched when a booked passenger who had checked luggage failed to show up at the gate and board the flight.This, I'd be OK with. Why would someone check their bags, but not show up?
Better safe than sorry.

The caller may very well face a fine or worse.The person who authorized the cancellation of this flight based on a psychic's tip should be the one to be fined/punished/fired. Sheesh, we've got enough problems as it is without listening to crackpots. Now, if the caller had said "I planted a bomb on that plane" or something to that effect, that would be a different matter.

What I wonder is why not one psychic predicted, at least in any specific way, the 9/11/2001 attack? People that aren't even psychic predicted one and the White House failed to heed the warning. Maybe they were waiting for psychics to pipe up with their prediction.


Warren in Oklahoma

[Guerrilla]

The person who authorized the cancellation of this flight based on a psychic's tip should be the one to be fined/punished/fired.

Oh? And what if there was a bomb on the plane? What if the psychic was the one who actually planted the bomb? Threats cannot be ignored, no matter where they come from. It's just not worth the risk. I'd rather have my flight delayed than be blown to bits.

But that's just me.

[ohwilleke]

As far as acting on the tip, the first thing I'd think of if I got such a call is that the "psychic" planted a bomb.

It would be foolish to ignore the call, but the caller should be arrested and chanrged -- there are laws against doing that.

I have to agree. The guy taking the call can't know if the guy calling is really "psychic" or in fact is using that as cover for inside information.

[Bumble Bee Tuna]

They didn't do anything stupid, like hire a psychic. A guy simply called, claimed to be psychic, and said there was a bomb on the plane. This is a bomb threat. It cannot be ignored. They must search the plane. Then, once it was searched, the crew had worked too many hours and the flight was cancelled. Unfortunate, but the airline/security didn't really do anything wrong.
What needs to be done now is to arrest the guy for a fake bomb threat.

-B

[Gary Welsh]

It's psychic terrorism.

I agree that those who claim to be psychics should either have to prove they have psychic powers or face charges as frauds... and in cases like this one, even more severe charges.

[Archetype]

It's psychic terrorism.


I suggest this case be referred to Homeland Security, or perhaps Paul Wolfowitz. I believe there is room in Quantanamo. :D

[Boro Nut]

I cannot describe how angry I would be if I were on that flight. :mad:

Well I for one would have welcomed the tip. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy, so why worry about them (or something). I had a strange psychic encounter once. I was travelling home from a foreign assignment and was minding my own business sitting in Manila airport. When they announced flight 587 was now boarding I got up and started to buckle up my briefcase. The stranger who had been sitting silently next to me for 2 hours suddenly lunged forward and grabbed my arm, and in fractured English admonished me not to get on flight 587 under any circumstances, as he had sensed a great calamity would befall me. He was very serious, bulging eyes, beads of sweat etc. I was quite unnerved by him and took very little convincing, as I had no intention of travelling to Lahore.

Boro Nut

[Gary Welsh]

How about if psychics had their own airline?

Then we could statistically compare safety ratings over time.

The Promo is for "Psychic Friendly Skies" and shows a plane getting struck by a missile and crashing into a town.

"Luckily," the announcer says, "this was not an actual event, but only a premonition from one of our top security executives. This never happened... and CAN'T happen in the psychic friendly skies."

<fade to show a young mother and little girl holding a teddy bear, sitting in a plane. They smile and the captain smiles back, tipping his hat, which shows the third eye with wings on it -- the symbol of the airlines.>