iceman49

A United Boeing 767-400, registration N69059 performing flight UA-104 (dep Jun 23rd) from Houston,TX (USA) to Munich (Germany), was enroute when the captain disposed of ammunition (10 bullets) in his possession into the toilet. Later he informed authorities about the ammunition, the flight was continued to Munich where the aircraft landed safely. The aircraft was guided to a remote parking position, where passengers disembarked. The toilet waste tanks were subsequently emptied and searched for the ammunition, 6 bullets were found, Bavaria's Luftamt grounded the aircraft, a second search found the remaining 4 bullets, the aircraft was released to return to service.

The aircraft remained on the ground for 6 hours and departed for its scheduled return flight UA-133 to Washington Dulles,DC (USA) with a delay of 4:15 hours.

A source had told The Aviation Herald that the aircraft was enroute, when the captain discovered that he was still carrying ammunition consisting of 10 bullets in his luggage, the ammunition not being permitted to be taken into Germany. The captain therefore decided to get rid of the ammunition and disposed of the ammunication into a waste bin. "Unfortunately" a passenger lost her ring in flight, the flight attendants assisted in the search for the lost ring and also checked the waste bins. A flight attendant thus discovered the bullets, dutifully brought and reported the bullets to the captain, who now decided to ultimately get rid of the bullets and dumped them down the toilet. Later the flight attendant inquired again about the bullets, the captain realized that she would file a report, explained the situation to her and informed ground. The aircraft was taken to a remote parking position after landing, airport fire fighters used protective suits while emptying and filtering the waste tanks, recovered 6 bullets in that search, Germany's Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA) grounded the aircraft. A second search discovered the remaining 4 bullets, too, and the aircraft was able to depart for its return flight with a delay of 4 hours.

The Aviation Herald tried to verify the occurrence over the next almost two weeks, stating in all inquiries to Authorities in Germany and the USA that the story is so extremely unbelievable that it must be true again, but remained unsuccessful. Almost about to give up almost two weeks later and stop monitoring the occurrence The Aviation Herald succeeded in getting a first official confirmation from Munich Airport, who confirmed the aircraft had been directed to a remote parking position and departed with a delay, Munich Airport however did not want to comment further on the narration of the event by our source.

A second contact with Germany's LBA (Civil Aviation Authority) brought up the pointer to contact Bavaria's Luftamt, which oversees Bavaria's Civil Aviation on behalf of the LBA. Dr. Simone Hilgers, Press Spokeswoman of Upper Bavaria's Government, told the Aviation Herald on Jul 8th 2015, that they are aware of the occurrence. The details as provided by our source, with the exception of the lost ring not known to the Luftamt, are consistent with the information of the Luftamt.

John Carr

Assuming ALL the details are correct, that's painful to read.

Like some of the FSAP/JSAP and now known as ASAP reports I've read.

The kind where a pilot/crew made a mistake, even one that seems simple/basic.

But then, the ASAP gets better, way better. The person writing the ASAP THEN goes on about how they THEN exercised willful non-compliance or what have you to try to rectify/unfornicate the situation.

Example;

"We started the take off roll, about 40-5-60 kts (whatever, "low speed" regime) we realized we didn't have the proper flaps set. We had plenty of runway, so we placed the flaps in the proper configuration and continued the takeoff. Rest of flight uneventful........."

airbus300

United pilot flushed bullets down toilet on plane
Associated Press
DAVID KOENIG 1 hour 6 minutes ago
DALLAS (AP) — A United Airlines captain threw bullets in a trash bin accessible to passengers and later flushed them down a toilet on board a flight that he was piloting to Germany.

The Transportation Security Administration and the airline said Thursday that they were investigating the incident.

United spokeswoman Karen May said that the pilot should not have thrown the bullets in the toilet. She said the pilot is allowed to carry a gun on domestic flights under a post-9/11 federal program intended to make planes harder to hijack. The pilot did not take his gun on the June 23 international flight from Houston to Munich, she said, but he realized during the flight that he had left ammunition in his bag.

The pilot dumped the bullets before reaching Germany, which has strict gun laws.

"He did incorrectly dispose of the ammunition," May said, "but it is likely that the pilot is not going to face any criminal charges."

A TSA spokesman confirmed that the agency is investigating but declined to say more. The Federal Aviation Administration and aviation authorities in Munich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

United declined to name the pilot. He is likely to be very experienced — it takes many years of seniority for pilots to become captains on international flights for major U.S. airlines.

May said the pilot was still employed by United, but she declined to say whether he had been grounded.

"We are investigating," she said. "I can't give any details about his status other than he is still with us."

The incident was first reported by The Aviation Herald, which said that a flight attendant looking for a passenger's missing ring found 10 bullets in a waste bin and alerted the captain. He flushed the bullets down the toilet and alerted German authorities when he realized that the flight attendant would report the incident, according to the Herald.

After landing in Munich, the plane taxied to a remote area where passengers got off and the waste tanks were emptied to find the bullets.

John Carr

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/ha...ml#post1924773

iceman49

Later United confirmed that the captain incorrectly disposed of the ammunition, it is not likely though that he needs to face criminal charges. He should not have thrown the bullets into the toilet. Pilots are permitted to carry guns on US domestic flights, the pilot did not carry his gun on the flight to Munich but subsequently realized he still had the ammunition in his bag and dumped the bullets into the toilet before reaching Germany, which has strict gun laws.

United States Transportation Security Agency confirmed they are investigating the occurrence.

jungle

Well, gosh darn it, we can all feel safer now. TSA is on the case.

RhinoPherret

You bet jungle.
If any agency knows its way around the can, TSA surely does. They will get to the bottom of this incident in no time at all.

jungle

A million dollars will be spent over two dollars worth of ammo.
Victory will be declared.

badflaps

Yeh, they will flush the perp out....and put a lid on it.

NotPart91

He probably would have been better leaving them in the cockpit. He was in conformance of U.S. law as an FFDO on a CONUS Flight. I'd bet German Authorities wouldn't have a problem with it as he as an FFDO never attempted or intended to introduce the prohibited item into the Country and the fact that the A/C was scheduled to RTB CONUS. It's the TSA that will cause more unnecessary heartburn for the guy. What happens when a domestic flight has to divert OCONUS with an FFDO aboard???? Same theory, no intent present to disembark the items from the A/C.