From his small office tucked into a corner near the Delta Air Lines ticket counter, Bangor police sergeant Donald "Ward" Gagner serves as the resident expert when it comes to diverted flights -- he once handled two in one day back in 2001. A tall, imposing figure, Gagner said he and his law enforcement colleagues have earned the respect of transatlantic pilots who know Bangor can swiftly take care of any trouble on board and send the plane back into the sky.
"Yeah, try to land an unscheduled flight in Boston or New York," said Gagner, who said it would take hours to get a plane on its way again at those busy airports. "Someone called [diverted flights] our cottage industry." Then lowering his voice, he jokes, "We take out your garbage."
Marines coming home from Iraq leave notes on a board at Bangor's airport honoring those killed in the war.
(Bob Delong For The Washington Post)
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Gagner has developed a technique he uses for booted passengers, many of whom initially put up a fight or make a scene on board. But once in handcuffs in the squad car, the obstreperous tend to calm down.
"We give them a reality check," he said. "We handcuff them, sit them in the car and then pull out just a bit, and let them watch the aircraft" leave them behind. "Soon, they are very cooperative."
Gagner was rewarded for his expertise with his first trip to London recently, where he was called to testify against two rowdy British passengers who were forced to deplane in Bangor after becoming intoxicated. The experience led Gagner to conclude that Britain is more forceful than the United States when it comes to prosecutions of unruly passengers.
"The Brits try to make an example out of them," Gagner said. "They'll give them a year" behind bars, he said.
The airport has seen a steady decline in the number of diverted flights for unruly passengers since the terrorist attacks in 2001. Officials attribute the change to more vigilant passengers who are less tolerant of bad behavior. On the flight with the drunken bachelor party, for example, several off-duty police officers who happened to be on board helped control the situation, Gagner said.
Besides the incident involving Islam, there was only one other security-related diversion this year. A Chicago-to-Casablanca flight was rerouted to Bangor over concerns that a bomb was on board. It turned out to be a false alarm raised by a man who had recently left his wife.
More common in Bangor these days are the military flights that make a pit stop on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan or on their return home. Bangor is their first, or last, chance to set foot on American soil, a fact that the local veterans group takes seriously. A board in the volunteer office keeps tally of all the military flights that have passed through Bangor since May 2003 -- 648 planes carrying 116,116 service members.
On a recent morning, elderly Bangor residents formed a greeting line for arriving service members, with women volunteers hugging each one. Another volunteer handed out cell phones to service members who wanted to make an immediate call to family or friends.
One wall of the volunteers' office was plastered with newspaper pages displaying the faces of hundreds of service members who have died in the war. Many of the photographs were circled, with short personal notes from service members who had passed through.
"We love and miss you Duff, Love, Amber" read one handwritten note next to a photo of Army Spec. Christopher M. Duffy, a young man in dark sunglasses and camouflage fishing hat. He was killed June 4 in Baghdad.
Another note, in Spanish, said: "Que descanses en paz." It was an anonymous wish for Sgt. Joel Perez, 25, who died in Fallujah, Iraq, on Nov. 2, to rest in peace.
A note scrawled next to the photo of Army Capt. George A. Wood, 33, killed Nov. 20 in Baqubah, Iraq, read: "I can only hope to be half the leader you are and walk in your footsteps."
Robert Solden, 35, a Navy reservist from Front Royal walked into the Bangor airport to stretch his legs before his plane took off for his first tour in Iraq. A local Bangor veteran mistakenly greeted him, saying "Welcome home!"
"I'm missing it already," Solden said. "I wish I was coming back. I'm just looking forward to getting this over with."
