A Frontier Airlines flight from Columbus, Ohio, has made an emergency landing at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport and was sent to an unused taxiway far away from all other aircraft at the airport after the pilots reported a potential hijacking event.
The incident started to unfold as Frontier flight F9-2539 was on final approach to Atlanta Hartsfield when the pilots reported what is known as a Level 4 alert.
In the aviation industry, a Level 4 alert is internationally known as “an attempted or actual breach of the cockpit.”
Levels of unruly passenger behavior
There are four internationally recognized unruly passenger levels:
- Level 1: Disruptive behavior such as verbal disruption and refusing to comply with crew member instructions.
- Level 2: Physically abusive behavior, which could include pushing or shoving crew members or other passengers.
- Level 3: Life-threatening behavior, which also includes any use or threat of use of a weapon.
- Level 4: An attempted or actual breach of the cockpit.
After landing on Runway 8L located at the north end of the airfield, the pilots of the Airbus A320 aircraft were ordered to taxi to the very southern end of Atlanta Hartsfield on an unused taxiway known as 5G.
From there, the aircraft was isolated and surrounded by emergency responders.
It soon transpired that a passenger sitting in 3A was threatening to kill the person sitting beside him and claimed that there was a bomb on board the aircraft.
The aircraft remained on the ground for nearly two hours on Sunday afternoon until a SWAT team arrived and removed the passenger from the aircraft. At the time of the report, all of the passengers had been deplaned onto the tarmac via a mobile staircase, and a search of the plane is ongoing.
Given the size of Atlanta Hartsfield, operations at the airport have not been affected while the law enforcement operation continues.
A bomb threat made against a plane in flight is treated extremely seriously and could land the alleged perpetrator in big trouble. The suspect could be charged with one of several laws that carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in a federal prison.
Also on Sunday, an American Airlines flight from New York JFK to Chicago O’Hare was diverted to Detroit Metro Airport after a passenger caused a disturbance on board.
Few details of the incident are known at this time, but flight AA-2819 was also isolated in a remote part of the airfield as law enforcement responded to the incident. In a statement, the FBI confirmed that it was also on scene.
There is no unused runway at KATL. A blogger claiming to be knowledgeable about aviation, should probably know a little bit about the World’s busiest airport. No such thing as an unused runway.