A flight attendant, apparently angry about being scheduled to fly Northwest's popular Minneapolis to Saskatchewan route, promoted an emergency landing in Fargo after lighting a fire in the airplane's lavatory. None of the 72 people aboard the plane were hurt in an incident that was yet another ridiculous story for an industry that doesn't need more bad press.
The indignant attendant, 19-year old Eder Rojas, slipped into the rear lavatory while prepping thebeverage cart and allegedly lit some paper towels on fire with a lighter he'd slipped through airport security in Minneapolis. How he managed to do that is a whole other story. When pilot buzzed Rojas to say the cockpit's smoke indicator showed a problem at the back of the plane, Rojas swung into action and extinguished the blaze.
It wasn't until being questioned by authorities later that Rojas cracked and admitted being the airplane pyro. Rojoas has been fired (we would hope so) and charged with setting a fire aboard a civil aircraft. He could face 20 years in prison. Regina, Saskatchewan may not be heaven, but it has to beat two decades living in a cell.
*Photo by Flickr user eyeliam *
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