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Woman experiences pre-flight premonitions Dozens inconvenienced for security purposes by Lance Marshall, Staff Writer
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 AUSTIN — A local family's Spring Break vacation was cut short last Friday when mother Carol Hutchison was seized with dire, false premonitions about their upcoming flight.
"I had been feeling uncomfortable about the trip all day," Carol said. "After I handed the gate attendant my ticket, I was hit by all of these images of the plane being hijacked and used in an attack like on September 11, and I just collapsed halfway down the jet-bridge."
"She just kept screaming, 'It's going to explode! The plane is going to crash!'" explained Eric Anderson, the gate attendant for the Icarus Air flight. "Then she started rolling around on the floor and sobbing, trying to grab her kids and hold them in the fetal position."
As per new FAA regulations, armed federal agents were immediately called in to remove Carol, her husband Terry, and her sons Anthony, 10, and Steven, 8. They were taken into custody at an interrogation center inside the airport while their belongings were inspected by authorities in full view of all the other airline passengers.
Not only did the flight take place after a small delay while the Hutchinsons were being arrested, it was described by one passenger as being "quite possibly the smoothest and most terrorist-free flight in the history of ever."
Despite intensive interrogation, authorities were unable to determine the validity of any information Carol seemed to possess about an impending terrorist attack against America. "She just kept telling us how terrorists were going to fly the plane into buildings, nothing really all that interesting or even unique," Chief Investigator Robert Hill said. "I did think the fact that she thought they were going to fly it into that little ball restaurant on top of that tower in Dallas was pretty funny, though. I don't think that would send much of a message at all."
Carol was not the only one inconvenienced by the experience, however. Her husband Terry and her two sons had to come to grips with the fact that their vacation to Walt Disney World was ruined by Carol's overactive imagination and inability to get a hold of herself.
"I had planned on spending the weekend relaxing at a resort and taking my sons on Space Mountain," Terry said. "Instead I spent seven hours trying to explain to some Rumsfeld-type character why having a pack of Camel cigarettes doesn't make me a threat to national security."
"Well, I think it's safe to say that this trip couldn't have gotten off to a worse start," Terry reportedly said after reuniting with his family after hours of individual interrogations. "At least we finally get to go home now."
Minutes later, the entire Hutchinson family was seized by authorities and placed in a cell in the detention center. They are expected to be released sometime next week. |
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