Too bad it’s all a fictional land, (though one apparently Glenn Beck’s Project 9/12 website lives in) but still …
Tedd Petruna’s email about a passenger preventing a potential hijacking by “A-Rab Terrists” (h/t to Talking Points Memo)that has gone viral among conservatives reads like parody, but enough people believed it that the airline felt the need to debunk it in great detail. First the email which the great and patriotic Debbie Schlussel tells us is all perfectly true:
(cont.)
From: Petruna, Tedd J. (JSC-DX12)[RAYTHEON TECHNICAL SERVICES COMPANY]
To: undisclosed-recipients
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 11:32 AM
Subject: Long story short….
One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, November the 17th, I returned home. If you read the papers the 18th you may have seen a blurb where a AirTran flight was cancelled from Atlanta to Houston due to a man who refused to get off of his cell phone before takeoff. It was on Fox.
This was NOT what happened.
I was in 1st class coming home. 11 Muslim men got on the plane in full attire. 2 sat in 1st class and the rest peppered themselves throughout the plane all the way to the back.
As the plane taxied to the runway the stewardesses gave the safety spiel we are all so familiar with. At that time, one of the men got on his cell and called one of his companions in the back and proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very aggressively. This took the 1st stewardess out of the picture for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at the time. He ignored her as if she was not there.
The 2nd man who answered the phone did the same and this took out the 2nd stewardess. In the back of the plane at this time, 2 younger Muslims, one in the back, isle, and one in front of him, window, began to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it. Now….they are only permitted to do this prior to Jihad. If a Muslim man goes into a strip club, he has to view the woman via mirror with his back to her. (don’t ask me….I don’t make the rules, but I’ve studied) The 3rd stewardess informed them that they were not to have electronic devices on at this time. To which one of the men said “shut up infidel dog!” She went to take the camcorder and he began to scream in her face in Arabic. At that exact moment, all 11 of them got up and started to walk the cabin. This is where I had had enough! I got up and started to the back where I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size say “I got your back.” I grabbed the man who had been on the phone by the arm and said “you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!” As I “led” him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed out with him. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, “You WILL do the same!” He protested but adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go. As I escorted him forward the plane doors open and 3 TSA agents and 4 police officers entered. Me and my new Texan friend were told to cease and desist for they had this under control. I was happy to oblige actually. There was some commotion in the back, but within moments, all 11 were escorted off the plane. They then unloaded their luggage.
We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happen, when suddenly, the door open again and on walked all 11!! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic (the only way I can describe it). The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw this, she was having NONE of it! Being that I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agent there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with these men. The agent told her they had searched them and were going to go through their luggage with a fine tooth comb and that they were allowed to proceed to Houston . The captain and co-captain came out and told the agent “we and our crew will not fly this plane!” After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. 5 minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on.
Again…..this is where I had had enough!!! I got up and asked “What the hell is going on!?!?” I was told to take my seat. They were sorry for the delay and I would be home shortly. I said “I’m getting off this plane”. The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off. (now I’m mad!) I said “I am a grown man who bought this ticket, who’s time is mine with a family at home and I am going through that door, or I’m going through that door with you under my arm!! But I am going through that door!!” And I heard a voice behind me say “so am I”. Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same. Within 2 minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met with more agents who asked me to write a statement. I had 5 hours to kill at this point so why the hell not. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was cancelled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6pm. I got here at 12:30am.
Look up the date. Flight 297 Atlanta to Houston .
If this wasn’t a dry run, I don’t know what one is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it.
I’m telling this to you because I want you to know….
The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes….
-Tedd Petruna
Except, not one word of it was true, as AirTran’s webpage about this pack of lies makes clear.
After conducting additional research into this situation, we have verified, according to flight manifests (legally binding documents) that the individual that allegedly created a first-hand account of events on-board AirTran Airways flight 297, a Theodore Petruna, was never actually on-board the flight. […]
On November 17, 2009, AirTran flight 297 was scheduled to travel from Atlanta to Houston-Hobby. During taxi a passenger was non-compliant with Crew Members, using a cell phone and taking pictures. The flight taxied back to the gate and the passenger, who did not speak English, and his companion acting as his interpreter were asked to de-plane. They were met by customer service personnel and TSA.
The passengers were allowed to re-board and continued on the flight after speaking with AirTran and TSA representatives. The flight was delayed by more than two hours.
Since the flight and initial media reports, several blogs and Internet sites have recounted the incident as portrayed by a passenger originally scheduled for the flight. Below is that passenger’s account (unedited in any way including spelling and grammar), as reported on several blogs. Highlighted between the passenger’s account, are the factually accurate circumstances surrounding this incident.
We bring this to your attention in order to dispel myths that are beginning to make the rounds in chat rooms, blogs and conspiracy theorists’ Web sites.
Got that. Short version:
1. Tedd Petruna was never on the AirTran flight in question.
2. There were no 13 Arabs or Muslims on board a plane preparing to hijack it or practicing a “dry run” for a hijacking.
3. There were, however, two passengers who did not speak English well (one passenger on the flight claims she believes they were speaking Spanish (h/t to AJC.com) who either did not understand or chose not to follow the flight attendant’s standard instructions to turn off all electronic devices prior to take off. Those passengers were escorted off the plane and interviewed by airport authorities.
4. Eventually the two passengers in question were allowed to re-board and the flight took off after a delay of two hours.
That’s the whole truth. Naturally the wingnut readers of the email believe that AirTran and the Atlanta Journal Constitution which debunked this story are part of some massive cover-up to keep us in the dark about this incident.
The AJC was forwarded the e-mail dozens of times this week, as readers saw Petruna’s tale and noticed conflicting information between it and earlier news reports of the flight delay Nov. 17. Some readers simply asked the AJC to do further investigation into the matter.
But others who forwarded the message to the AJC added accusatory comments suggesting the paper was participating in a politically correct cover-up. The intriguing story made for intense fodder among bloggers. […]
There was no way Petruna could have seen what he described on Flight 297, AirTran said in a statement. Petruna departed from Akron-Canton, Ohio, on AirTran Flight 205 on Nov. 17, officials said. He was supposed to connect to Flight 297 to head to Houston, but he missed his first flight out of Ohio. And therefore, he missed the connecting flight.
“Flight 297, the flight which Mr. Patruna allegedly wrote a first-hand account of, originally pushed back from its gate in Atlanta at 4:40 p.m. EST, a full 26 minutes before flight 205 arrived at the gate in Atlanta making this flight connection impossible,” according to AirTran.
Neither Petruna nor Hackemack responded to requests from the AJC to speak to them Friday evening.
Congrats Mr. Petruna your little hoax has accomplished its purpose: Helping the terrorists keep us all terrorized even when they aren’t even trying. There’s a word for people like you, but I won’t print it here out of respect for my children and family members who occasionally read this blog.
However, for refusing to respond to the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s reporters who attempted to contact you about this fiction there is a word I can use that fits you perfectly: COWARD.
And for my conservative friends, this is why I don’t believe what I read in the emails you send me. You should learn to ignore them, too. It would, if nothing else, help lower your blood pressure levels.
Addendum:
The Mr. Hackemack referred to in the AJC story above, is Gene Hackemack, a “friend: of Ted Petruna who helped disseminate these lies with his own email which begins as follows:
This is unbelievable. The article in the below link does not indicate in the least what really happened.
http://www.khou.com/news/Phone-call-delays-Houston-bound-AirTran-flight-70369417.html
I, Gene Hackemack, received this email from my good friend Tedd Petruna, a diver at the NBL facility [Neutral Buoyancy Lab], at NASA Houston, whom I used to work with. Tedd happened to be on this same Flt. 297, Atlanta to Houston .
In my opinion, the muslims are all getting very brave now, since they have one of their own in the white house……read Tedd’s story below.
Semper Fi
Gene Hackemack
PS…can you imagine, our own news media now are so politically correct that they are afraid to report that these were all muslims…unbelievable. Thank God for people like Tedd Petruna.
A. Gene Hackemack
[Redacted by DS] cell & home
buttonbox01@gmail.com
Mr. Hackemack, for refusing to respond the AJC about your role in spreading this hoax, you also are a COWARD.