Fighter jets from the Maine Massachusetts Air National Guard were scrambled to intercept a US Airways jet late Tuesday morning.
US Airways Flight 787, a Boeing 767-200ER enroute from Paris to Charlotte was over Newfoundland when it diverted for unknown reasons. The crew subsequently declared an emergency and is now set to land in Bangor, Maine.
The nature of the emergency was not immediately known, but air traffic control communications indicated that the plane was going to be met by law enforcement after landing, according to AlertNewEngland.
[UPDATE 12:18PM ET] Flight 787 has landed safely in Bangor. US Airways says the emergency was sparked by a “security issue.”
[UPDATE 12:55PM ET] The interceptors were two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles from the 104th Fighter Wing out of Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Mass. NORAD authorized the planes to fly at “maximum subsonic speed,” reported AlertNewEngland.
[UPDATE 3:55 PM ET] The New York Times reported more details about the scare. According to the article, a female passenger claimed to have had a device surgically implanted in her. A French citizen, she was traveling alone from Cameroon to the US for 10 days, but had no luggage. She was arrested after the plane landed in Bangor, but no devices were found.
Flight 787 took off from Bangor at 3:28 pm to complete its trip to Charlotte.
