A bomb threat forced an American Airlines flight to divert and do and emergency landing earlier this week. American Airlines flight 1804 landed on Knoxville, Tennessee around 10 pm last Tuesday, January 31.
The American Airlines flight 1804 was originally headed from Charlotte to Indianapolis, with 100 onboard passengers and the cabin. The flight didn't reach their destination as the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing following an apparent bomb threat.
The pilot made a distress call at McGhee-Tyson Airport in Alcoa, Tennessee, requesting for permission to land and emergency crews be on standby. Upon arriving at the airport, law enforcement was already on the scene, and about 5 officers immediately searched the plane along with a police K9.
Ross Feinstein, American Airlines spokesperson said that all passengers were able to get off the plane safely after an initial search, and were given hotel rooms at Knoxville to spend the night. He also said that the apparent bomb threat was made through a non-credible robocall.
In an interview by local8 News, passenger Aaron Ingram said: "When we landed they said they got word back from air traffic control to the plane that there was a credible bomb threat." The Knoxville Police Department Bomb Squad searched every bit of the American Airlines aircraft but found no trace of any bomb.
Passenger Keith Entwistle described what happened during the scary flight in an interview. "Cops came on came back and the row right in front of me took two Middle Eastern guys out. One older gentleman one younger gentleman. When the cop asked him to come with him he asked should I take my bags with me and he said no don't take your bags leave them right here. Once he took the bags off we were able to get off the plane," he said.
"I texted my wife I love you just in case, because I really thought we were crashing. When we finally did land that's when he came on and said there was a bomb threat. I'm still shaking it's been like an hour that was the scariest thing I think I've been through, and they weren't in a big rush to get everyone off the plane you know when there's a bomb threat I wanted to get off the plane."
Witnesses reported that the two men who got questioned by the authorities also got released the same day. It's still isn't known who made the bomb threat and the motive behind it.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
