Bomb scare diverts flight

149 on board use slides to exit plane; officials say note was hoax

10/30/2001

From Staff and Wire Reports

An American Airlines flight from New York to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport made an unscheduled landing Monday night after a passenger found a written bomb threat on board, officials said.

The note was a hoax, according to an FBI agent who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Flight 785 from La Guardia Airport landed just after 7 p.m. at Washington Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia.

The 141 passengers and eight crew members on the Boeing 757 were evacuated using emergency slides, according to a recorded statement by airline spokesman Gus Whitcomb. Some passengers suffered sprains and other minor injuries while exiting the plane.

The passengers, originally scheduled to arrive at D/FW Airport about 9:15 p.m., were expected to arrive in Dallas about 2 a.m. Tuesday on another aircraft.

"There was a threat and it is being investigated," said Paul Malandrino, an operations manager at Dulles International. "Everyone is safe."

After the plane landed at Dulles, two airport runways were closed for an hour and 40 minutes while investigators searched the aircraft with bomb-sniffing dogs.

Law enforcement officials interviewed passengers.

Dulles continued to operate normally, with planes landing and taking off on schedule, after the unscheduled landing.

- Dallas Morning News staff writers Kim Horner in Dallas and Michelle Mittelstadt in Washington, D.C., and The Associated Press contributed to this report.