FIGHTERS TAIL 747 2 passengers cleared in terror false alarm SPORTS FINAL Edition

• Published in: Daily news (New York, N.Y. : 1920)
• Main Author: JOHN MARZULLI and MAKI BECKER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS With Ellen Tumposky, Richard Sisk, Greg B. Smith and Martin Mbugua
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y Tribune Publishing Company, LLC 01.03.2002

Air India Flight 101 had left Heathrow Airport with 378 passengers and 19 crew yesterday when the guard told his bosses a passenger aboard the Boeing 747 resembled one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, U.S. officials said. Fearing another Sept. 11, Canadian and then U.S. fighter jets tailed the plane as it made its way to Kennedy Airport, where it landed about 4:45 p.m. and taxied to a remote part of the tarmac. 2 scooped up U.S. officials took two people - a British man and an Irish woman - from the plane, whisking them away in an 11-car convoy. Not taking any chances, the FAA asked for help from the Canadian Air Force, whose jets tailed the flight from a distance until it reached U.S. air space, said Maj. Ed Thomas, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado.