Maine drop-off point for flights in distress

Bangor, Maine:  Given the size of the place, the name "Bangor International Airport" might seem a little grandiose. But the airport actually gets a disproportionate share of international visitors.

Of course, many of them are accidental tourists who would rather not be here at all.

Because the airport is on the far north-eastern edge of the US, incoming trans-Atlantic flights confronted with terrorist threats or unruly passengers are often diverted to Bangor, population 33,000.

The latest such incident happened on Tuesday and involved a French passenger who caused a security scare when she told a US Airways crew she had a surgically implanted device. The jet had been travelling from Paris to Charlotte, North Carolina, with 188 people aboard.

"The general public might not know exactly where Bangor, Maine, is on the map," said interim airport director Tony Caruso. But "in the aviation industry, the Bangor, Maine, name is well known, and we have a well-earned reputation for handling these types of situations".

Air-rage episodes

It's the last major US airport for jets headed east across the Atlantic and the first for incoming flights, and its runway is more than 3,350 metres long.

Before 9/11, the airport saw plenty of air-rage episodes, with drunken and disruptive passengers being dropped off to spend the night in the local jail. In the decade since the terrorist attacks, the number of diverted flights has dropped, but the cases are more likely to involve security threats, such as passengers on the no-fly list.

One of the most notorious incidents came in 2004, when a flight was diverted to Bangor after officials discovered Yousuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, was aboard. He was on a no-fly list and barred from the US, so he was sent back to London.

Two years ago, a jetliner set down in Bangor after a former Air Force intelligence officer who had taken a prescription sleep aid claimed he had dynamite.

In 2008, a passenger from Ireland found himself in Bangor after he smoked a cigarette in a bathroom, punched an off-duty airline employee and made threats about hijacking or destroying the plane.