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The joke that bombed before take-off

By Neil McMahon
July 7, 2005

The traveller came to Sydney from Wagga Wagga on business, had six or seven beers in the city, then went back to the airport to catch a plane home. He boarded the Rex flight and, as it taxied to take-off, police say, he decided to crack a joke.

As a flight attendant checked the aircraft, Nicholas Desmond Lucas, 60, allegedly gestured to the woman sitting in front of him and said: “What are you looking for - the bomb? She’s got it.”

These days, cracks like that are no laughing matter. The attendant alerted the pilot, who did what all airlines have to do in security-conscious times: he stopped the plane before take-off, returned to the terminal and had the man arrested. The Federal Police say the flight was terminated.

According to the police statement of facts, Lucas claimed later he “cannot recall in specific detail” what happened on board. But he was still charged with making a threat against aviation security, one of scores of people to fall foul of new rules governing threats to Australian aircraft.

Since the rules took effect on March 5 more than 70 passengers have been detained and questioned for making “inappropriate comments” in airports and on board. That is about five a week.

The problem has become so disruptive that the Federal Police yesterday issued an appeal to passengers: stop fooling around. “While it might be the Australian way to make light of serious topics, comments such as ‘Never mind the bomb in my bag’ are not funny … there is nothing amusing about having to evacuate an airport, delay flights, re-screen hundreds of passengers and their luggage … as a result of a thoughtless comment.”

The fallout from such jokes depends on when and where they are made. A joke made at check-in might inconvenience only the joker; but a crack made after a plane has left the terminal disrupts the airline and other passengers and delays later flights.

The new rules make it illegal to “engage in conduct that a reasonable person could interpret as a threat to commit an act of unlawful interference with aviation”. The maximum penalty is a $5500 fine. Since March, there have been five convictions, with $3000 the highest fine issued so far.

The Australian Services Union, which covers check-in staff, said the problem was not new and that employees had been pleading for action for years.

Its secretary, Linda White, said: “It just took Australia four years post-September 11 to do anything about it.”‘

She said passenger aggravation at tighter security and long queues played a part. “People get irate so they say it in anger and never really mean it. But for our guys at the front line, it’s not for them to determine whether you are a terrorist or not. They have to take it seriously.”

Airlines now have signs in airports advising passengers that action will be taken.

A Qantas spokeswoman said that the airline tried, in some cases, to recover the costs caused by delays.

Virgin Blue said it had strict procedures in place to deal with all threats. “The key thing we have to convey is that jokes are not tolerated when it comes to safety,” a spokeswoman said.

Sydney Morning Herald

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