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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...73414575808.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_newyork
Handgun Ends Up On Wrong Flight
A JetBlue pilot's backpack containing a handgun was picked up by an unsuspecting passenger and the bag was brought aboard a flight at John F. Kennedy Airport Thursday, according to officials with knowledge of the incident.
The pilot, Michael Connery Jr., 49, of Orlando, Fla., told officials he had put down his bag containing a HK .40-caliber gun, which he is licensed and authorized to carry on flights, and three clips with 37 rounds of ammunition along with his other bags. He was chatting with a Delta pilot at the ticket counter in Terminal 5 when he noticed the bag was missing around 7:20 a.m., the officials said.
A man who was heading to West Palm Beach accidentally picked up the bag, thinking it was his daughter's carry-on luggage.
As the daughter was stowing her bags inside Flight 49, she noticed that she had a backpack that wasn't hers. After asking the passengers around her if the bag was theirs, she notified a flight attendant, the officials said.
The flight attendant made an announcement about the bag over the PA system and when no one claimed it, she checked inside the backpack and found the pilot's identification but not the gun, which was in another bag inside the backpack.
The flight attendant gave the backpack to the ticket agent. By this time, the pilot had reported his backpack and gun missing. The Port Authority Police were called just after 7:50 a.m. and after ascertaining that the pilot was certified as a federal flight desk officer and allowed to carry the gun, they turned the case over to the Transportation Security Administration, officials said. A spokesman, Nicholas Kimball, said the TSA is investigating the incident.
The pilot was scheduled to fly JetBlue Flight 1051 to Pittsburgh, officials said, but was ordered not to. The flight was delayed by about an hour while a replacement pilot was found.
JetBlue did not respond to a request for comment.
Handgun Ends Up On Wrong Flight
A JetBlue pilot's backpack containing a handgun was picked up by an unsuspecting passenger and the bag was brought aboard a flight at John F. Kennedy Airport Thursday, according to officials with knowledge of the incident.
The pilot, Michael Connery Jr., 49, of Orlando, Fla., told officials he had put down his bag containing a HK .40-caliber gun, which he is licensed and authorized to carry on flights, and three clips with 37 rounds of ammunition along with his other bags. He was chatting with a Delta pilot at the ticket counter in Terminal 5 when he noticed the bag was missing around 7:20 a.m., the officials said.
A man who was heading to West Palm Beach accidentally picked up the bag, thinking it was his daughter's carry-on luggage.
As the daughter was stowing her bags inside Flight 49, she noticed that she had a backpack that wasn't hers. After asking the passengers around her if the bag was theirs, she notified a flight attendant, the officials said.
The flight attendant made an announcement about the bag over the PA system and when no one claimed it, she checked inside the backpack and found the pilot's identification but not the gun, which was in another bag inside the backpack.
The flight attendant gave the backpack to the ticket agent. By this time, the pilot had reported his backpack and gun missing. The Port Authority Police were called just after 7:50 a.m. and after ascertaining that the pilot was certified as a federal flight desk officer and allowed to carry the gun, they turned the case over to the Transportation Security Administration, officials said. A spokesman, Nicholas Kimball, said the TSA is investigating the incident.
The pilot was scheduled to fly JetBlue Flight 1051 to Pittsburgh, officials said, but was ordered not to. The flight was delayed by about an hour while a replacement pilot was found.
JetBlue did not respond to a request for comment.
