Panicky Annie Jacobsen, the prophetess of doom who lived through the frightening “dry run” in the sky by a bunch of Syrian musicians and lived to tell about it, appears to be officially discredited.
Did, as a passenger reported, 7 of the 13 Syrian musicians whose behavior was terrifying some passengers stand up in unison and take strategic positions by the lavatories and the exit door during final approach to Los Angeles, an act that would have been a frighteningly overt and unambiguous provocation?
They did not, according to the Federal Air Marshal Service, which had previously left unchallenged assertions by Annie Jacobsen, a freelance writer on the flight, that they did.
“What happened was, they were already standing up in the aisle before the seat belt signs became illuminated,” said Dave Adams, a spokesman for the agency, which represents air marshals who travel undercover on airplanes.
“The flight attendants asked them to sit down and the men respected the orders and sat in their seats. Two gentlemen asked why they had to, and a flight attendant told them ‘Because, so please take your seats.’ And they obeyed,” he said.
The new information, he added, came from “subsequent interviews of flight attendants on this matter by our personnel.”
So there was absolutely no sudden move by the men on final approach?
“None,” Mr. Adams said.
Annie is sticking by her story and insists that two other passengers have corroborated it — but she refused to say who they are. Needless to say, I’m extremely skeptical.
As usual, World O’Crap has the best analysis of this, plus many more links debunking Annie’s silly story.
1
By jeremy
Well, it appears that our Annie can’t leave it alone. Once again, she’s writting Part IV: Terror in the Skies, Again? that goes into all the new things she’s learned! It’s a big conspiracy against Annie, to discredit her!
I guess she craves the talk show circuit attention, but worse is her high level of self-importance.
August 5, 2004 @ 5:32 pm | Comment
2
By richard
She’s self-obsessed. If she lets the story go now, the spotlight goes off of her, and she’ll do all she can to keep it shining. Thanks for the link.
August 5, 2004 @ 5:38 pm | Comment
3
By hkreportage
Next thing we know, there will be a story written by her about a man she saw out on the wing, ripping the electrical grid out of the plane’s engine during a lightning storm.
“He was there, I saw him! Didn’t you see him?”
Like that John Lithgow scene in the Twilight Zone, the Movie.
August 5, 2004 @ 6:13 pm | Comment
4
By jeremy
HKreportage, if you ever have the chance / luck, you have to watch the original episode from the TV series.
The passenger is played by Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. He did a great job.
Man, that’s a great TV show.
August 5, 2004 @ 7:00 pm | Comment
5
By Michael
Seems weird that no one has asked the obvious question: how do Syrians normally behave on planes? After all, customs differ. On some airlines, the passengers all applaud if the pilot makes a successful landing 🙂
August 5, 2004 @ 11:54 pm | Comment
6
By Sam_S
“On some airlines, the passengers all applaud if the pilot makes a successful landing :)”
Hell, I jump up and cheer everytime I manage a landing alive in China!
August 6, 2004 @ 10:36 am | Comment
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By T. Arpin
I have travelled to Jordan and Egypt many times. The description of Arab passengers wandering around up and down the aisles, congregating near the lavatories, and ignoring the seat belt signs sounds like every flight I have been on. Arabs tend to be a sociable lot and aisles are too narrow to congregate in. I think they may consider the seat belt sign more of a suggestion than a rule.
August 14, 2004 @ 9:35 am | Comment