Jacksonville Beach family aboard plane diverted for bomb threat

Ireland flight received phoned in bomb threat

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A family of four had a great vacation overseas, but their flight home was an experience they'll never forget. The Jones family's trip back from Ireland left an impression on Pam Jones and her family.

"Our flight number was 777, so I thought it was going to be a good luck flight," said Jones. 

She said when the flight landed, there were signs that something was wrong. The flight was diverted to an isolated part of the Philadelphia International Airport Wednesday afternoon, and was met by federal and local authorities.

"As we landed, we looked out the window, saw fire trucks, no ambulances, just fire trucks, and police and such going by. But they went by very fast. Looked like they went behind us," said Jones. 

Eventually the plane stopped and the engines shutdown. Only then did the pilot tell passengers that he was sorry for their inconvenience and explained that a telephone threat about a bomb was made about the US Airways flight before it landed.

"Next comes police chief on speaker, said again, bomb threat, sorry for inconvenience, we'd have to depart the plane carrying everything we had carried on, jackets, backpacks, purses, because we would not be allowed back on the plane," said Jones.

The Jones family followed directions, in order to let bomb sniffing dogs do their job, while FBI agents interviewed all the passengers.

"It was very interesting to see, even the dogs, they looked like they were happy doing their jobs. So nothing felt terrifying," said Jones.

After FBI agents interviewed every person on the plane, Jones and her family got the all-clear to fly home to Jacksonville. 


About the Author:

Kent Justice co-anchors News4Jax's 5 p.m., 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts weeknights and reports on government and politics. He also hosts "This Week in Jacksonville," Channel 4's hot topics and politics public affairs show each Sunday morning at 9 a.m.