Scare at Lynchburg airport delays flight for 3 hours

Passengers on a flight out of Lynchburg Regional Airport had to be offloaded from a plane while a bomb dog checked it Sunday afternoon after a man commented that the plane would crash, according to airport and Campbell County officials.

U.S. Airways flight 4423 was supposed to leave Lynchburg for Charlotte around 2:30 p.m., Airport Director Mark Courtney said. Instead, it was delayed for nearly three hours while Transportation Security Administration workers and local law enforcement made sure it was safe to fly.

Campbell County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Kevin Schmitt said a 23-year-old man was overheard on his mobile phone making the comments while he was standing in the airport lobby.

“He was overheard by a TSA official making the comment that the plane wouldn’t make it to Charlotte — that it would fall out of the sky,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt said the man broke his phone in half when a TSA worker approached him so authorities would not be able to determine whom he was speaking with.

Courtney categorized the man’s comments as being threatening, but Schmitt said it appeared the man did not actually threaten the plane or its passengers in a way that he could be charged with a crime. He was not named since he was not charged.

Instead, Schmitt said, the man was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital for a mental emergency custody order.

“According to deputies, he told the TSA he was God, but his back hurt, so he wasn’t going to show them his powers,” he said.

Courtney said the aircraft, which had taxied away from the terminal, returned to the airport building where passengers were offloaded. He said a Lynchburg Police Department dog trained to detect explosives was used to scan the plane. Each piece of luggage from the plane was checked by the TSA before it was declared safe to take off.

U.S. Airways spokesman Jonathan Freed said the plane was cleared to take off around 5:15 p.m.

Courtney said he was pleased with the way the incident was handled. He said this was the first time something like this has happened since he came to the airport in 1999.