Charges filed in hijacking scare that forced PDX F-15s to scramble
SEATTLE - A Hawaii man has been indicted for allegedly making a hoax call to the FBI in January claiming that a passenger on board an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle was a hijacker.
Two F-15s from the Oregon Air National Guard base in Portland scrambled
to escort the jetliner after the FBI received the call, and agents questioned a passenger on board the plane for nearly two hours after it landed at Sea-Tac Airport.
Once the FBI determined that the passenger was not an actual threat, agents went about tracking down the person who had made the hoax call and prompted the unfounded hijacking scare.
Ultimately, investigators identified a suspect, Timothy David Hershman, 58, of Kona, Hawaii. He was indicted Wednesday by a Honolulu federal grand jury on one count of filing false information and hoaxes.
If convicted, Hershman faces a possible maximum of five years in prison.
The two F-15 jets from Portland escorted Flight 819 from Hawaii to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a threat call was received Jan. 17 at the Honolulu FBI office claiming that a passenger on the plane was a hijacker.
Agents talked to the unidentified passenger for nearly two hours, said Ayn Dietrich of the Seattle FBI Office. She described him as cooperative.
Officers boarded the jet through rear stairs and removed the man from the plane, airline spokesman Paul McElroy said. The passenger had been seated at the back of the aircraft and "slept most of the flight," he added.
Court papers filed Wednesday did not explain how the FBI identified Hershman as the suspected hoax caller.
good job to the pilots for not shooting the plane down
@Phuzz Can you imagine having to authorize that call?
He probably saw the man make it through security with four ounces of shampoo and some toenail clippers while wearing shoes...that would bring down any plane.
It is absolutely right to prosecute hoax threat callers! Many things could have gone horribly wrong, with many unknwing passengers and others placed in imminent danger! Give the dingbat in Hawaii the maximum!
Bill it to training
I wonder what the pilots thought when they saw F-15s in their rearview window?
@BertThey used their air brakes and pulled over immediately.
His fine should include the cost of the scramble.
Lots of commenters on the first news article opined it was a girlfriend from hell. I pointed out it was probably a copycat of a guy who did the same thing and was in the news just days before this happened. They didn't give a motive but I'll bet there was a mutual female aquaintance involved. Sounds more like boyfriends from hell to me.
How was this guy considered a threat in the first place when he was sleeping in his seat? The flight crew should have notified controllers that the guy was not a credible threat.
They'll never see the money, and now we (taxpayers) have to waste MORE money putting the hoax caller in prison.Â
@axpman Â
 If you only knew how many miles the police drive around doing nothing and the military use in "training" flights.Â
Even more to the point, how is he a threat if the TSA is doing their job? You mean the TSA let a terrorist on a plane, well gee, then what do we need them for if they can't perform a simple task.
@axpman Â
because the terrorists are always going to have the jump on new ways to hijack and/or blow up planes than the TSA is going to have to figure out what to look for. Could anyone anticipate R Reid's shoe bomb? No they couldn't and that's why they scramble planes instead of relying on the armchair logic of KATU blog experts.
@ormom So basically what you're saying is Lets live in fear of the boogie-man or some guy in a cave.. and scrambling these planes has been so effective in keeping the hoax callers at bay, has it? I can guarantee you there will be more hoax callers. Consider the hoax 911 calls that send out swat teams to peoples homes by people that have gamed the VOIP networks. Â
 Sending planes up is retarded when there isn't a true highjacking in progress. They've re-enforced the cockpit door, put weapons in there, but the pilot never reported it as a highjacking, nor used the 7500 squawk code, heck not even 7700.Â
@axpman  Good point....whomever agreed to scramble the jets perceived an anonymous caller had greater credibility that a "terrorist" been allowed to board a plane than the TSA had credibility that they could prevent that from happening.
That is a real telling vote of no-confidence against the TSA from a fairly well placed official.
This may be a different sort of question ..... What exactly were the fighters going to do if the plane did not follow their escort?
@MickRoh Well if they were Subaru jets they would pull in front of the airliner and strt flying 10MPH slower.  just saying...
When we don't want to have another 9/11, in this case the plane would be shot down.
The way we have communication breakdowns, that could have easily happened. The fighters are scrambled. The pilots are on their I-pads playing games, the fighters try to communicate to them, they do not respond. On air to air missile right up the tailpipe and ballgame over.
The authorities should give him a Habanero and Poi enema and call it even.
Ouch!!!!
No harm done. Stop wasting money filing charges.
@Oregon7812Â Are you serious? They wasted money chasing down this false tip, even more so than what it takes to file the charges. Not to mention, if we let this go then people will be able to harass folks by calling in false reports and letting the police deal with it.
What an idiot!!! Does Alaska have a Federal Prison. If so, when he is found guilty send up there. No Poi for you!!!!
@dkgiovenco Heck, just drop him off to play with the friendly polar bears.
@dkgiovenco Â
If Alaska doesn't have a prison there are several corporate prison contractors that are ready with plans to build one in AK....for a price and a long-term contract including a guaranteed bed count.