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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Leandro Bolanos, Flight 63 Passenger
Aired December 23, 2001 - 07:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: When passengers boarded American Airlines Flight 63 at -- in Paris bound for Miami, they expected a routine flight on that 767. Instead, they got something much more than they bargained for. Among the passengers, Leandro Bolanos who was instrumental in helping restrain the person who claimed to have explosives in his shoes. Mr. Bolanos joins us now live from Miami.
Good to have you with us sir.
LEANDRO BOLANOS, PASSENGER: Good to be here.
O'BRIEN: All right, tell what you saw and what happened and how close you were to the action.
BOLANOS: All right, I was sitting in row 36. I was about six or seven seats back from the culprit. And I was just reading a book and all of a sudden, I heard screaming. The flight attendant was screaming for help and then I looked up and I saw her struggling with this guy who was about six-six. He had curly black hair, tied in the back.
And then it seemed like 10 seconds went by before like three or four other guys got up and like, lunged themselves towards the suspect, I guess. And they pinned him down and then I got up out of my seat and walked up. And then I saw like something in his hand that was burning. It could have been matches or a lighter. And then at that time, I started to panic and then, finally, they took it away from him. And from then on, they just pinned him down and began to like tie him up and everything. So it's pretty amazing.
O'BRIEN: I'm curious, you said, for a moment there, you began to panic. Was your response more or less automatic -- do something right away? And did you ever feel as if you couldn't get this under control?
BOLANOS: Well, when she first started screaming, I looked up and it was just her and the guy fighting. And at that time, I was kind of in shock. And then after a few more people got up and started to help, I got up as well. And then when I saw the smoke, that's when I started -- it was like a natural reaction of panic. And I didn't know really what to think. I thought it might have been a bomb or something. And it was just pretty frightening.
O'BRIEN: What did this person say throughout the course of this? BOLANOS: I didn't hear him say anything except once, like maybe like 15 minutes into this ordeal, he was tied in the back. His hands were tied behind his back and then he just let out a really loud shrieking scream and that was all. That was all I heard from him.
O'BRIEN: Do you have any sense of what his nationality is?
BOLANOS: I heard some people saying that he might have been North African, Algerian maybe. I don't know. He was carrying a British passport, but that's obviously fake. He's not British.
O'BRIEN: Give us a sense of...
BOLANOS: I'm not really sure.
O'BRIEN: ... once he was restrained and then ultimately sedated by the doctors, what was the mood on that aircraft?
BOLANOS: It was actually pretty calm because no one knew really what was going on. We didn't know -- we just thought -- most people just though he was lighting matches and trying to like light himself on fire, which is pretty bad in itself. But we didn't really know how serious the situation was. So it was actually pretty calm, a pretty contained atmosphere.
O'BRIEN: Did you get a look at his shoes? And do you have any way of knowing one way or another if in fact, he did have explosives in them?
BOLANOS: I think like an hour after this all began, when everyone was back in their seats, like relaxed, one of the flight attendants was walking back with a pair of shoes. They were black shoes like -- I think they were Reeboks. And -- but that's all -- I had no idea of knowing if there were explosives in them or not.
O'BRIEN: Give us a moment to share with us your words of I guess wisdom or advice. This is a tense holiday season for a lot of air travelers and you've endured what a lot of people are fearful of. Would you get back on plane and would you advise others to do the same?
BOLANOS: Well, I think I would because this sort of thing doesn't happen too often. But I mean recently, with American Airlines, there have been a lot of problems so I don't want to -- I think me and my family are deciding that we're probably going to switch airlines to a European airline maybe. I think that would be the safer thing to do because American's pretty dangerous at the moment, it seems like.
O'BRIEN: Leandro Bolanos who is on his way to Nicaragua. We wish you well in your journeys. Thank you very much and congratulations on nipping this situation in the bud and being instrumental on that. We appreciate your time this morning.
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