Sydney Airport Message Board - Laptop lands Qantas flyer in hot water

I guess they mean business when they tell you to turn off all electrical devices!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/la...121393686.html

Quote:

Laptop lands Qantas flyer in hot water
Georgina Robinson
September 4, 2008 - 2:11PM

A Melbourne man arrested after leaving his laptop on at the end of a Qantas flight to Sydney today has been released without charge.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers escorted the 35-year-old off the QF418 flight about 15 minutes after it landed at Sydney Airport at 10.15am.

Passengers on the plane were told a "technical issue" was causing the delay before they were all told to take their seats, a witness said.

Two uniformed officers then approached a "well-dressed businessman" in row seven and asked him to accompany them off the aircraft.

"They said to him, 'Sir, we're from the anti-terrorism taskforce', or words to that effect, 'please come with us'," the witness, who did not want to be named, said.

An AFP spokesman today clarified that the officers identified themselves as "counter-terrorist first response" personnel.

"They were the first team to attend, as they were the closest team to the location of the aircraft at the time," the spokesman said in a statement.

The man went with the officers without complaint, the witness said.

He was later surrounded by at least six armed AFP officers outside the airline gate.

The AFP spokesman said the man had been interviewed but was later released without charge, "pending the receipt of legal advice and assessment of further evidence".

Qantas also confirmed the passenger had been taken into custody after he "failed to comply with a captain's directive".

Meanwhile, Qantas was forced to cancel its first morning flight from Sydney to Los Angeles today because of maintenance delays.

An airline spokesman said 154 passengers due to leave Sydney at 9.45am were pushed onto the next two Los Angeles-bound flights at 10.20am and 1.20pm today.

The QF149 plane was delayed coming out of scheduled maintenance at Avalon because another part was needed in a fuel pump change, the spokesman said.