Maybe you have heard of AirTran Flight 297 and the swirl of publicity surrounding it? If you have heard of it, you likely have no clue what to believe and what not to believe, but one thing you can believe is that there were Muslims misbehaving on this flight. See a video below.

The short story, and a portion that seems to be confirmed, is that at least one Muslim man misbehaved on the plane before and while the plane was preparing for takeoff. The Captain returned to the gate and he and his “interpreter were removed from the flight. Eleven traveling companions also got off the flight, but then reboarded and continued with the flight to the Houston destination – but before the flight could take-off, approximately 12-15 passengers – all unconnected to the group of 11 Muslims, refused to continue with some of the offending Muslim men back on the airplane.

The first thing to know is that initial reports refused to identify the men as Muslim. Although AirTran said the problem arose from the main perpetrator not speaking English, they did not mention that the man spoke Arabic. No one at AirTran other than the flight crew, seemed to be bothered that the man could not understand the flight attendant when she told him to turn off his cell phone. Let’s face it – if you are speaking on a cell phone on an airplane and the attendant tells you turn it off, and gestures a bit so that you get the message…you get the message.

I have found two sources that seem to be credible: 1) Doug Hagman writing and investigating for CanadaFreePress and a video just out today on WSBTV.com.

Doug Hagman at CanadaFreePress (CFP)  said he was contacted two days after the incident by a passenger on the flight. His organization spent several days thoroughly investigating the claims, and there was indeed more of an incident than a man refusing to turn off his cell phone (or take photos with a cell phone – it is unclear what he was doing, but his cell phone was turned on).  According to Mr. Hagman, all of the men in the Muslim group knew each other. They all have a connection to an Islamic center, that according to the report, is under some kind of investigation. That is a very important bit of information, and no where have we seen this in the mainstream media. All were dressed in “Muslim attire”. Two of the men were seated in first class and the remainder were scattered thoughout the plane. There was loud speaking in Arabic and some singing in Arabic. Now friends, if that isn’t scary, what is? The original flight crew refused to continue on, and the flight was delayed about two-and-a-half hours until a replacement crew arrived.

CFP says after the flight was in the air and on its way to Houston, the flight “was not without its curious incidents by the very same Muslim men who caused the initial delay and disturbance.”

Without apparent legitimate purpose, one Muslim passenger moved a stowed bag from one part of the aircraft to another, well away from his seated position. Another spoke loudly in Arabic, with all appearing to interact in one form or another.

CFP says they  interviewed seven people directly involved in the incident. The interviews included two law enforcement officers:

…”who handled the after action reports, the situation pertaining to the initial 13 and remaining 10 or 11 Muslim men allowed to continue their travels was far greater than an incident involving the unauthorized use of a cell phone that resulted in a minor flight delay, as reported by the mainstream media. According to one airline security official, “This was a deliberate, well planned attempt to disrupt a domestic flight that was organized in advance of the boarding of these [Muslim] passengers. The purpose of their actions appeared to be multi-faceted, not the least of which was an attempt to change their status from passengers to victims of religious profiling.

So why would the AirTran corporate office say that most of the stories circulating are “urban myths?” Here is an explanation by Hagman:

…the TSA and other government agencies want to keep very quiet.  The reasons, I have been told, is fear of predatory lawsuits, negative publicity from accusations of religious profiling, and the obligatory subjugation to mindless mandatory Muslim sensitivity training that make a mockery of our American system of values. Interestingly, one airline official told me “we don’t want to become another flight 300,” which is a reference to a very similar scenario that took place aboard US Airways Flight 300 exactly three years ago.

Read the entire story at CanadaFreePress.

There is another eye-witness that Snopes is reporting. The man’s name is Chaplain Dr. Keith Robinson. He put his story in a pdf, and Snopes linked to it. Robinson said he was booked on AirTran 297 but arrived late for his connection and could not board. He was re-booked on a later flight and was settled in at the departure gate when he noticed that AirTran was back at the gate. He approached the desk and asked if he could board the flight. He could see officials approach the plane, and a flight crew deplane. The attendants behind the desk were concerned but not willing to tell him what was going on.  He says a passenger who refused to continue on told him that there was Arabic singing and dancing on the flight before the cell phone incident. Robinson was allowed to take the flight to Houston with this looney bunch. He said conditions were tense. You can read the pdf document at Snopes. Understand that I have no way to know if Robinson is real.

At the least, I believe Doug Hagman’s story. There is a very important lesson to learn here. Now imagine that you were on that flight. And imagine that AirTran valued the perception of their corporate image more than they valued your peace of mind. Imagine that AirTran let these men back on the flight to travel right along with you. This is what we are facing today.

The option would be to get off of the flight, since passengers were fortunate that a very astute  Captain took them back to the gate. Yet, you needed to get to Houston. You paid your money and you were faced with a group of radicals who at the very least, wanted to create an environment that would allow a lawsuit against AirTran. We saw what happened with the case of the Flying Imams. They won. The airline lost. So I have empathy for AirTran, but there is a time when you must value your passengers, not your intruders. And never must we forget that it was radical Muslims who flew into the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and radicals who caused a flight to go down in Shanksville. If we are going to discriminate against someone, as happened in this incident, it should not be law-abiding passengers.

The video below was posted today by WSBTV.com in Atlanta. It features a very compelling story by a passenger of Flight 297, Brent Brown, who runs a security consulting company. He says the Muslim men roved the aisles and were on their phones. Brown felt relieved when the Captain returned to the gate, which Brown saw as a move to secure the cabin. Unfortunately, the men got off…but 10 of the 12 got back on.

I would have been one of the customers deplaning. I’ve never instigated a lawsuit in my life, but had I been on that flight, I think I would consider suing AirTran for failing to protect my rights to a “normal” flight, when they could have easily done so, instead of protecting their own behinds from a lawsuit carried forth by CAIR – the Council on American Islamic Relations – an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holyland Foundation terror funding, and believed to be a front for Hamas. CAIR enjoys non-profit status in this great country of ours. We need to take back our airways.

See the Video here—>Click here

Thanks to Bloviating Zeppelin for the video.