Pilot of plane grounded by snowstorm pleaded with police for help as passengers angered by seven-hour delay grew hostile



Federal authorities investigating why 200 people were kept waiting at Bradley International Airport in 'disgusting' conditions for so long

Pilot terrified passengers by telling them they had 30 minutes of fuel... but the airport was an hour away



JetBlue flight 504 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, diverted to Newark, New Jersey, because of treacherous conditions



Landed at 1.30pm and did not move until 9pm - there was no food, water or working toilets



Newspaper reporter on flight tweets: ' Lady on board just broke down. Like that guy who cried in his cell at beginning of Shawshank'

The pilot of a plane grounded for seven hours because of the freak October snowstorm was forced to call for police back-up when passengers grew hostile.

Angry passengers on the JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Newark, New Jersey, were kept on the tarmac in 'disgusting' conditions after being diverted to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut.

In a recording obtained by LiveATC.net, the pilot said: ' I got a problem here on the airplane, I'm gonna need to have the cops on board.

'There's a cop car sitting in front of me right here right now. I need some air stairs brought over here and the cops brought onboard the airplane.'

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Blizzard: Passengers were left tired and angry after being kept on board a JetBlue flight at Bradley International Airport for seven hours. Snow had made conditions difficult

Frustrated: Passengers were left without food, water or working bathrooms and journalist Andrew Carter, pictured second row on right with his head turned, Tweeted his annoyance

The 200 passengers spent seven hours locked on board the plane without food, water or working bathrooms on Saturday.

A dozen travellers called 911 after receiving little explanation and the ordeal was only ended when police and firefighters came on board to help a paraplegic flier who had difficulty with the circulation in his legs.

Those wanting to leave were then told by the pilot they could do so at their own risk, as the unseasonally early snow continued to fall. Loud cheers greeted the announcement.



The plane had left Florida at 10am but was unable to land in Newark Liberty International Airport because of the adverse weather conditions. It sat motionless on the Bradley runway from 1.30pm to 9pm.

Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection division is investigating how the debacle could have happened, with the time limit of three hours set out in the bill of rights well surpassed.

JetBlue issued a statement apologising for the incident, blaming an 'unusual combination of weather and infrastructure issues'.

Fury vented: Mr Carter, a reporter with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on the flight to cover a football game in New Jersey, kept his followers updated while on board If the government determines an airline has violated the tarmac delay rule, that carrier could be fined as much as $27,500 per passenger. However passengers do not get a cut of the fines.

One passenger told ABC News that while the plane was circling Newark Airport, the pilot told them from the cockpit that they only had 30 minutes of fuel left. He then terrified passengers by adding that the nearest place to land, Bradley Airport, was an hour away. The pilot then came back on the PA system to provide reassurance and clarify they did in fact have enough fuel to reach Bradley.

Passengers: Mr Carter, left, was exhausted after the ordeal, while a passenger who would only identify himself as Robert, right, said he was furious



After the flight landed at 1.30pm, the pilot told passengers they would de-ice, re-fuel, and then fly on to Newark.



After nothing happened for two and a half hours, a Bradley Airport representative boarded the plane to assess the situation. There were further delays when more flights landed as a result of diversions.



'The airport infrastructure was just overwhelmed,' said JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin.



According to JetBlue, there were at least 23 diversions to the New Jersey airport, including six JetBlue flights and an international flight from American Airlines.



A statement from the airline read: 'The airport experienced intermittent power outages, which made refueling and jetbridge deplaning difficult.'



For the next four hours, passengers were told that the airport has only one tow bar to bring the planes in off the tarmac and that international flights were the priority.



Then from 8.30pm a paraplegic man began to complain of intense pain. According to ABC News, he had not been moved for leg circulation or been taken to the bathroom since before boarding the plane in Florida.



State police, Emergency Medical Services and an ambulance were called. Other passengers were then allowed to leave the plane.



Help required: Passengers on board dialled 911 after hours of being told they couldn't leave. Fire and police crews arrived

Andrew Carter, a football writer for the Sun Sentinel newspaper in Florida who was intending to cover the Miami Dolphins game against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands, was one of those left stranded.



'Still on the plane. We haven't moved. Now EWR closed. Getting ugly in here. People yelling wanting to get off,' Mr Carter posted on Twitter just before 6pm.

'This is awful customer service,' he added to his followers. 'Still on the runway. Still blizzarding outside. Aren't there rules about how long they can make people sit here?

'To answer questions we're on Tarmac. No water. Bathrooms don't work. Don't know the reason why we're stuck. It changes.

'Lady on board just broke down. Like that guy who cried in his cell at the beginning of Shawshank. Can someone sneak me in Rita Hayworth?'

While on the plane, Mr Carter told the Hartford Courant via cell phone: 'It's been a long day. There's been no real explanation as to why we’ve been sitting here for seven hours.



Still delays: Stranded passengers rested on cots at Bradley International Airport, a day after the snowstorm in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, forced them to stay on board the plane

'We ran out of water. The bathrooms are all clogged up and disgusting. The power would go off every 45 minutes for five minutes or so, and that would freak people out. I've heard about these kind of stories.



'We're close to the terminal. We can look out the window and see other planes.'



Mr Carter said that while a few arguments popped up, passengers had mostly been well behaved. However he added that some were screaming: 'Get us off this plane!'

Passenger Todd Bailey told FOX Connecticut that some passengers were extremely frustrated.



'People are on their last edge,' Mr Bailey said from onboard. 'It's just crazy. Everybody is freaking out here. They're tired of it.'

Another man on the flight, who would only identify himself as Robert, said: 'At the three-hour mark they told us by law they had to let us off the plane.



'They were waiting for a tug to take us to a gate. We heard that same message at the four-hour mark, and continuing until state troopers boarded the plane for a medical emergency.'



Passengers told how they thought the long delay was down to the airport rather than the airline.



Another passenger told NBC Connecticut: 'I'm frustrated with this airport, because they obviously don't have very clear operations and they can't deal with anything out of the ordinary.'



Victoria Lucia, another JetBlue representative, added: 'JetBlue is doing everything possible to ensure our customers affected by today's unusual combination of weather and infrastructure issues are being well cared for. We apologise for the experience.'



Governor of Connecticut Dannel Malloy had arranged for 1,000 cots to be delivered to the airport to help make stranded passengers comfortable over night.

In 2007, four JetBlue planes packed with passengers were stuck on the runway at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York for more than nine hours.

Bradley International Airport refused to comment.

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