[MilCom] KBKF: 21 APR 2006

[Amtrak35 at aol.com]

    United Airlines Flight Diverted to Denver   

  DENVER (AP) -- A passenger who claimed to have a bomb aboard a United 
Airlines flight was subdued by passengers as the California-bound plane was 
diverted to Denver International Airport, airport officials said.

Two F-16 fighter jets from Buckley Air Force Base scrambled to escort the 
plane as it flew into Denver Friday, according to Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, a 
spokesman for NORAD.

"They followed to make sure nothing untoward was going to happen," he said.

Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega was arrested after the plane landed around 4:30 
p.m., FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso said.
        
Three Secret Service agents traveling between assignments who happened to be 
on the plane helped detain the passenger, said Secret Service spokesman Eric 
Zahren.

After the A-320 Airbus landed, it taxied to a remote part of the airport 
where the passengers got off and were bused to the terminal.

None of the 138 passengers or six crew members was injured, airport spokesman 
Chuck Cannon said. The flight was headed to Sacramento, Calif., from Chicago.

Authorities searched the aircraft for explosives and re-screened luggage and 
passengers before they reboarded the plane, which took off for its original 
destination around 7:30 p.m., Kelso said.