Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when he
refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas flight.
The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to Sydney and
apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be more important
than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian
counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the man into custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police
officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no charges
filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed to
comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone; listen
to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are told to.
There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will interfere with flight
controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a cabin projectile when the
aircraft touches down.

http://www.gadling.com/2008/09/04/pa...383x1200520721

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

paddy_nyr writes:

A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when he
refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas flight.
The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to Sydney and
apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be more important
than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian
counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the man into custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police
officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no charges
filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed to
comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone; listen
to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are told to.
There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will interfere with flight
controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a cabin projectile when the
aircraft touches down.

That's certainly true, but a laptop will still be a cabin projectile even when
it is turned off, unless it is also stowed properly (and how many passengers
do that?).

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

On Sep 5, 1:17*pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
paddy_nyr writes:
A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when he
refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas flight.
The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to Sydney and
apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be more important
than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian
counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the man into custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police
officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no charges
filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed to
comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone; listen
to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are told to.
There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will interfere with flight
controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a cabin projectile when the
aircraft touches down.

That's certainly true, but a laptop will still be a cabin projectile even when
it is turned off, unless it is also stowed properly (and how many passengers
do that?).

I do, but of course I don't the money to buy a new laptop if mine gets
tossed and then is broken.

M. Graham

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

paddy_nyr wrote:
A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when he
refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas flight.
The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to Sydney and
apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be more important
than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian
counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the man into custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police
officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no charges
filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed to
comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone; listen
to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are told to.
There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will interfere with flight
controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a cabin projectile when the
aircraft touches down.

http://www.gadling.com/2008/09/04/pa...383x1200520721



Other than the subject of the article, I don't see an official statement
indicating there was an "arrest", only that he was question by 6 cops.

I think this was a stupid response. Why did they force passengers to
wiat for the "Australian counter terrorist first response force" to
arrive? Did they believe this was a terrorist plot?

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

In message mrtravel wrote:

I think this was a stupid response. Why did they force passengers to
wiat for the "Australian counter terrorist first response force" to
arrive? Did they believe this was a terrorist plot?

Likely standard policy, if for no other reason then apprehending him
during general deplaning would be far more difficult.

What are you going to do, ask him to wait in his seat? That didn't work
very well when asking him to turn off his laptop.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

DevilsPGD wrote:

In message mrtravel wrote:


I think this was a stupid response. Why did they force passengers to
wiat for the "Australian counter terrorist first response force" to
arrive? Did they believe this was a terrorist plot?


Likely standard policy, if for no other reason then apprehending him
during general deplaning would be far more difficult.

Yes, but I doubt the guy with the laptop really needed to be carted off
by 6 guys with assault rifles.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

Shawn Hirn writes:

Then he should have turned off his laptop when directed to by the cabin
crew. Problem solved.

So if it's okay for six people with assault rifles to cart him off if he
refuses, is it okay for them to shoot him? If not, why not?

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Shawn Hirn writes:

Then he should have turned off his laptop when directed to by the cabin
crew. Problem solved.

So if it's okay for six people with assault rifles to cart him off if he
refuses, is it okay for them to shoot him? If not, why not?

I think there's a rule that if you're in an airport, the Police have to kill
you with a taser.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

Shawn Hirn writes:

Was my previous posting not clear? We are talking about a passenger on a
commercial airline who was taken off the plane by law enforcement
personnel for failing to follow the cabin crew's orders. No one shot the
guy, so don't get so upset.

I never get upset.

My point was that the reaction was out of proportion to the "crime."

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

In article ,
Mxsmanic wrote:

Shawn Hirn writes:

Then he should have turned off his laptop when directed to by the cabin
crew. Problem solved.

So if it's okay for six people with assault rifles to cart him off if he
refuses, is it okay for them to shoot him? If not, why not?

Depends on his actions. If he is threatening with lethal force, then
they have every right to shoot his ass. There is a continuum of force
that cops are taught from the first day of the academy.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

In article ,
Mxsmanic wrote:

Shawn Hirn writes:

Was my previous posting not clear? We are talking about a passenger on a
commercial airline who was taken off the plane by law enforcement
personnel for failing to follow the cabin crew's orders. No one shot the
guy, so don't get so upset.

I never get upset.

My point was that the reaction was out of proportion to the "crime."

Whose? The cops or the airlines?

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

Shawn Hirn wrote:
In article ,
Mxsmanic wrote:


Shawn Hirn writes:


Then he should have turned off his laptop when directed to by the cabin
crew. Problem solved.

So if it's okay for six people with assault rifles to cart him off if he
refuses, is it okay for them to shoot him? If not, why not?


Was my previous posting not clear? We are talking about a passenger on a
commercial airline who was taken off the plane by law enforcement
personnel for failing to follow the cabin crew's orders. No one shot the
guy, so don't get so upset.

He refused to turn off a laptop. Can you explain why they need 6 members
of a anti-terrorist task force to handle this?

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

In article , mrtravel wrote:


He refused to turn off a laptop. Can you explain why they need 6 members
of a anti-terrorist task force to handle this?

If past experience is an indication, probably because the airline just
reported something like unruly passenger which can mean anything from a
PO'ed little old lady to a 6'7" 300 pounder on angel dust. You always
try to bring more to the party than you need because you really don't
know the size of the party until you get there.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
...
In article , mrtravel wrote:


He refused to turn off a laptop. Can you explain why they need 6 members
of a anti-terrorist task force to handle this?

If past experience is an indication, probably because the airline just
reported something like unruly passenger which can mean anything from a
PO'ed little old lady to a 6'7" 300 pounder on angel dust. You always
try to bring more to the party than you need because you really don't
know the size of the party until you get there.

and there surely were 6 guys with nothing to do at the time.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

In article ,
"Jim Davis" wrote:

"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
...
In article , mrtravel wrote:


He refused to turn off a laptop. Can you explain why they need 6 members
of a anti-terrorist task force to handle this?

If past experience is an indication, probably because the airline just
reported something like unruly passenger which can mean anything from a
PO'ed little old lady to a 6'7" 300 pounder on angel dust. You always
try to bring more to the party than you need because you really don't
know the size of the party until you get there.

and there surely were 6 guys with nothing to do at the time.

Maybe. Also the possibility of hitting on a female FA. I did note
when I was still working as a police beat reporter back in the day that
a fight at a strip club was usually better attended than one at the
local Irish Pub (g).

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

On Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:56:56 -0400, "paddy_nyr"
wrote:

A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when he
refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas flight.
The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to Sydney and
apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be more important
than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian
counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the man into custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police
officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no charges
filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed to
comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone; listen
to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are told to.
There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will interfere with flight
controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a cabin projectile when the
aircraft touches down.

http://www.gadling.com/2008/09/04/pa...383x1200520721



Gracious...it took six armed anti-terror police to do this? Must have
been a slow day for anti-terror efforts...oh wait, every day is a slow
day in 99.999 per cent of the world's airports. Guess they were
wqorried someoine might actually start doing a cost-risk analysis and
wonder if that many fully armed people, theoretically highly-trained
and expensive people need to stand around 24-7 doing so very very
little.

Maybe they thought he had a rogue copy of Microsoft Flight Sim running
and planned to take over the fly by wire controls and crash them all?

The man is an idiot, true but *six* armed cops?

Jim P.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

Jim Davis wrote:
"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
...

In article , mrtravel wrote:


He refused to turn off a laptop. Can you explain why they need 6 members
of a anti-terrorist task force to handle this?

If past experience is an indication, probably because the airline just
reported something like unruly passenger which can mean anything from a
PO'ed little old lady to a 6'7" 300 pounder on angel dust. You always
try to bring more to the party than you need because you really don't
know the size of the party until you get there.


and there surely were 6 guys with nothing to do at the time.



Sure, perfect time for a real event to occur.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:56:56 -0400, "paddy_nyr"
wrote:

A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when he
refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas
flight.
The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to Sydney and
apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be more important
than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian
counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the man into
custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police
officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no
charges
filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed to
comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone;
listen
to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are told to.
There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will interfere with
flight
controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a cabin projectile when the
aircraft touches down.

http://www.gadling.com/2008/09/04/pa...383x1200520721



Gracious...it took six armed anti-terror police to do this? Must have
been a slow day for anti-terror efforts...oh wait, every day is a slow
day in 99.999 per cent of the world's airports. Guess they were
wqorried someoine might actually start doing a cost-risk analysis and
wonder if that many fully armed people, theoretically highly-trained
and expensive people need to stand around 24-7 doing so very very
little.

Maybe they thought he had a rogue copy of Microsoft Flight Sim running
and planned to take over the fly by wire controls and crash them all?

The man is an idiot, true but *six* armed cops?

There really isn't any other kind. Nor should there be.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

Oh good for you !!

"Shawn Hirn" a écrit dans le message de
...
In article ,
Larry in AZ wrote:

Waiving the right to remain silent, Mxsmanic said:

paddy_nyr writes:

A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when
he
refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas
flight. The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to
Sydney and apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be
more important than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the
Australian counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the
man into custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police
officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no
charges filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed
to
comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone;
listen to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are
told to. There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will
interfere with flight controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a
cabin
projectile when the aircraft touches down.

That's certainly true, but a laptop will still be a cabin projectile
even when it is turned off, unless it is also stowed properly (and how
many passengers do that?).

In my experience, nearly everyone. But there's always a fool
somewhere...

I certainly stow my laptop safely away when the cabin crew asks
passengers to do that.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:19:09 GMT, Larry in AZ
wrote:

Waiving the right to remain silent, said:

Gracious...it took six armed anti-terror police to do this? Must have
been a slow day for anti-terror efforts...oh wait, every day is a slow
day in 99.999 per cent of the world's airports.

Hey genius -- 99.9 percent of police go home at night having not made an
arrest.

Should we lay them all off according to your Bozonian logic..?

Most police get to perform police functions a lot in their carreer,
arrests are only one part of it. I submit that "anti-terror" police
will have only slightly more work in this counrty than blimp spotters
along the coast watching for incoming German Zeppelins.

Regular police perform a thousand different functions. "Anti-terror"
police obviously don't. And waiting for a genuine terror threat is a
great way to have a safe non-threatening job for life since you can
always tell people "OOOH, scary bad men are out there right now, trust
us, we have to wait for them so we can't be doing anything else
meantime." That's why six showed up liikely...only thing that broke
up a long boring day probably. Firemen at least get genuine fires to
deal with.

The "new" breed of terrorist doesn't stand about threatening to blow
something up, thus giving the cops something to work with and all the
high drama any TV producer could dream of. He walks up, pulls the pin
and "boom": End of terrorist, end of terrorist police, end of that
section of airport. "Halt or I'll shoot" doesn't mean diddley if your
intention is to die in the next few minutes anyway.

There's probably a greater threat of invasion by rabid baboons at most
airports anyway than by the eternal boogey man terrorist.

Jim P.

Passenger arrested for not turning off his laptop
 

In article ,
wrote:

O
Regular police perform a thousand different functions. "Anti-terror"
police obviously don't.
I am not so sure in many respects. First of all, with the changes
in where the funding is coming from and for, I see some regular units
add "terror" to the name for funding purposes. Do a couple exercises in
moon suits as "bioterrorism" (but also good practice for haz mat
deployments in general) and go about their regular business. Other than
bio, pretty much every other "terror" evolution has applications in real
life (I mean a terror SWAT call out at the operational level isn't all
that different from a regular SWAT call out with the possible exception
of a few extra Feds underfoot getting in the way(g). In the final
analysis, at the level of the cops and firefighters, WTC was a fairly
standard multi-casualty disaster response.
The other thing is that the news dudes have discovered that "terror"
can add to circulation or viewership. Don't know if terror was tacked on
to the name by the newsies or was really part of the name.