On November 18th, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published THIS story of an account written by a man known as “Ted” or “Tedd” Petrunas claiming that there was a “terrorist dry run” on an Airtran flight (Flight 297) he purportedly took from Atlanta to Houston.  Journalist Terry Maxon of the Dallas Morning News wrote a post on the newspaper’s aviation blog which can be read HERE.

 

Frankly, the story immediately struck me as false and you’ll find my comments responding to the story on the Dallas Morning News blog entry linked above.  Anyone who has traveled regularly has seen odd things happen on a flight and I’m no exception.  However, the account was notably racist in my opinion and didn’t contain any of the “normal” reactions by airline crew and staff that one would see in such a situation.   The account of this man storming down aisles and taking charge is in direct conflict with any flight attendants normal reaction to a situation.  Flight attendants are not weak and frail creatures and even a FA who has only a year on the line has already become a immune to odd behaviors on the part of crew.   They don’t burst into tears when yelled at.  They certainly don’t allow passengers to take over for them.

 

But what really bothered me about the story was the racist descriptions of “muslims”.  First, how do you identify a muslim?  I’m sure that I cannot do so with any certainty.   And what is the attire of a muslim?  I ask because muslims quite literally come from around the world and a muslim from Indonesia or China is a very different person from one from Pakistan or Yemen.   In short, this story of a terrorist dry run stank. 

 

Terry Maxon followed up on the story on December 4th with a post that can be read HERE.   He noted a story done by TV station KHOU (found HERE) .  In this story a Chaplain Dr. Keith Robinson (no relation) is quoted extensively about witnessing some of this story and claims to have spoken to Mr. Petrunas.    It was notable that, by this time, Mr. Petrunas had refused to speak on camera to KHOU citing that financial considerations keeeping him from doing so.  Imagine my complete lack of surprise at that.   However, Chaplain Robinson’s account lacked a certain genuine feel to me as well.  If you watch the video, this is a person who does not seem to be relating a first hand account or even doing a good job of relating a second hand account given to him. 

 

I’ll also point out that Chaplain Robinson is in the uniform of a law officer in the video and a search on Google reveals that Chaplain Robinson has some kind of association with several right wing websites.  Just one example of that is HERE.  His own authored account on that website is quite self serving and lacks credibility when you read it in its entire context as well.  I would not be surprised to learn at some point of an existing relationship, even a slim one, between Mr. Petrunas and Chaplain Robinson.

 

Additionally, the KHOU story quotes Airtran saying that the account given by both Chaplain Robinson as well as Mr. Petrunas did not track with statements obtained from the flight crew.  Mr. Petrunas also said to KHOU:

 

Petruna stands by his statements, with the exception of his description of the men’s attire. He also said he never witnessed the men watching porn, as he said in the e-mail.

 

and we have this:

 

In a statement to 11 News, AirTran said, “A number of the allegations included in the article posted by Mr. Petruna conflict with the statements obtained by the flight crew.”

 

A ha.  Suddenly we’re backing away from the most obviously outrageous parts of the account. 

 

By this time, I had decided that this had been a run of the mill conflict on the aircraft which required the airplane to return to the gate.   Airtran wisely decided to make a statement after investigating further which can be found HERE toward the bottom of the Dallas Morning News blog post.  However, conspiracy theorists were quick to mis-interpret Airtran’s statement with respect to the crew change.  Namely, Airtran said: 

 

The crews were swapped. This is a common occurrence in the aviation industry for any number of reasons. If a Crew Member cannot or will not continue a flight, we must replace that Crew Member.

 

My first thoughts were that Airtran may have made an error with the phrasing of that last sentence since it could lead to open speculation and it did.  Conspiracy theorists immediately grabbed on to that part of the statement as an “a ha” moment.  Again, any person who has traveled regularly on airlines and certainly any aviation enthusiast or airline employee knows that crew changes such as this can happen for many more plausible reasons such as the delay causing the crew to “time out” on its available duty time.  This happens almost daily and I suspect that is what happened this time as that flight was likely a “turn” from ATL to HOU (Houston) and back with no reserve crew available in Houston to take over.

 

But wait, there is more.  This morning the Atlanta Journal Constitution published this STORYand the Dallas Morning News (Terry Maxon) posted this entry on the Dallas Morning News Aviation Blog HERE.  In short, it seems that Airtran has discovered that Mr. Petrunas wasn’t even on the flight.    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said:

 

In its continued investigation into the incident, the AJC made several attempts to speak to Petruna about the incident. He has declined throughout the week to respond to repeated e-mail and phone attempts by the AJC to talk to him.

Additionally, interviews between the AJC and people on the plane,  airline officials  and federal agencies did not corroborate his story of what occurred on the flight.

 

and also had this:

 

Nancy Deveikis was seated in seat 29A aboard Flight 297, directly behind an unidentified man who she believes spoke Spanish. Deveikis said the man was looking at pictures on a camera, and did not understand a flight attendant’s requests to turn the device off.

 

and also this:

 

Keith Robinson didn’t make it to the gate in time to board Flight 297 for its initial attempt to depart.

 

How many people miss their flight and notice something on a monitor that indicates a flight is coming *back* to the gate?  The short answer is no one does.  I’m even pretty sure that no status on an airport monitor would show that flight coming back to the gate.   Indeed, it takes airlines quite a long time to update status on those monitors when everything is going well. 

 

It would appear that anyone who decided to jump on this train and speak to the media early on decided to have their 15 minutes of fame instead of contributing to the truth.  Shame on both Mr. Petrunas and Chaplain Robinson for lying and contributing to racists fears when it comes to air travel.   Shame on them for their characterizations of the air crew and staff as well.

 

I offer a big thank you to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for doing what a newspaper should do (investigate and get the truth) instead of buying into the sensationalism of fear.  In addition, kudos to Terry Maxon for following this and keeping it balanced rather than buying into the sensationalism of fear.   Shame on KHOU for racing in to fan the flames.    Finally, thanks to Airtran for being brave enough to investigate, make a statement and do their best to moderate this situation as well. 

 

I wish I could say I was shocked to read these revelatioins as the story unfolded but I am not.  This kind of fear mongering poorly serves the country and I do hope both of these men hang their head in shame but I somehow doubt that that will happen.    Nonetheless, it remains quite safe to fly in this country and I hope anyone who is flying soon has a great trip.

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