Security scare ends at Logan

A 59-year-old Vermont woman's behavior aboard a trans-Atlantic flight triggered a massive security response yesterday, with Air Force F-15 jets escorting the plane to Logan Airport, where federal agents seized the woman, authorities interrogated passengers, and police dogs sniffed through luggage for explosives.

The woman was found not to be a terrorist threat. But the day's unnerving events, the first serious scare since an alleged terrorist plot was foiled last week in London, underscored the newly heightened tensions surrounding air travel.

The woman, identified by two local security officials as Catherine C. Mayo, will probably be charged today with interfering with a flight crew, authorities said. Mayo's former husband said she had ``emotional issues" and had been on her way home from vacationing in Pakistan.

United Airlines Flight 923, carrying 182 passengers and 12 crew members, was headed from London's Heathrow Airport to Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., but was diverted to Logan at the pilot's request and landed in Boston at about 10:30 a.m.

Local stations and national cable television networks interrupted regular programming for live coverage. Early reports based on law enforcement sources said Mayo was carrying a note mentioning Al Qaeda, but the reports were later found to be false. Authorities said a search found that she was carrying a Phillips-head screwdriver, hand lotion, and matches. Only the matches are permitted in carry-on baggage.

Travelers departing Heathrow were checked twice yesterday, once at a general security gate, where carry-on bags were X-rayed for prohibited items, and again at the gate, where passengers were questioned, patted down, and asked to hand over their carry-on luggage for a hand search.

About an hour into the flight, passengers said in interviews, Mayo began nervously pacing up and down the aisle while wearing an oversized sweatshirt and muttering to herself. At different times, she told passengers that she suffered from claustrophobia and that she was an undercover reporter testing flight security. At one point, Mayo urinated on the floor, passengers said.

Then, Mayo began screaming at flight attendants who were trying to calm her. Two male passengers stepped in, subdued her, and restrained her with handcuffs provided by a flight crew member. The two passengers, a corrections officer and a federal air marshal in training, took the woman to the back of the plane and sat beside her until the plane landed, authorities said. She continued mumbling to herself but seemed calm by the time the plane touched down at Logan, passengers said. ``It was scary, especially after the terrorist thing last week," said passenger Katie Bartko of Manassas, Va.

Last week, British authorities said they disrupted a terrorist plot to destroy numerous US-bound planes using explosives that were to be smuggled aboard disguised as common liquid containers. That triggered a sweeping ban of soda cans, coffee cups, hand creams, and other liquids and gels in carry-on bags. British authorities have made about two dozen arrests in the alleged plot, mostly young men of Pakistani origin living in the London area. Dozens of other suspects have been detained in Pakistan and Italy.

Mayo had been visiting Pakistan for pleasure, said her former husband, William Mayo, 63, of Northfield, Vt. He said the couple divorced about four years ago.

Asked about Mayo's assertion that she had claustrophobia, he said: ``That wouldn't surprise me that that would have been what happened. She's had some emotional issues in the past."

Federal authorities said yesterday that they would check Mayo's medical history to determine whether she was mentally ill. But they said she was not a terrorist.

US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said in a statement, ``At this time, there is no evidence that this was a terrorist-related incident."

Federal agents took custody of Mayo from State Police at about 5 p.m. and were holding her overnight in an undisclosed location.

Authorities did not release Mayo's name yesterday, but the two local security officials, who asked not to be identified because of the ongoing investigation, confirmed it.

After Mayo was taken off the flight, the other passengers were processed through customs and questioned, authorities said. All luggage on the plane was put into rows on the tarmac and checked by bomb-sniffing dogs.

Governor Mitt Romney said another woman on the flight was also taken into custody for ``immigration issues."

``The federal authorities knew about her presence on that aircraft and had intended to take her into custody when she reached Dulles, but it was the second incident that caused the plane to be diverted," he said.

Romney said the plane was diverted to Logan because it is the first high-security international airport encountered by flights from Europe. In 2001, a Miami-bound flight from Paris carrying shoe-bomber Richard Reid was diverted to Logan.

Passengers on yesterday's diverted flight were bused from Terminal E to Terminal C, where they reboarded a flight to Washington that left Logan at about 6 p.m. Before they left Boston, several described a confusing, harrowing flight across the Atlantic.

Candice Elasmer, 26, of Sydney said Mayo's pacing drew passengers' attention.

``We were all wondering what she was doing," she said. ``No one was scared. It was obvious she had issues, mental issues."

Passenger Janelle Farrell, 26, of Florida, said Mayo was wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt that was clearly too large for the woman's small frame. ``She looked like she was high, or drunk or something," Farrell said.

Another passenger said Mayo said that she was traveling back from Pakistan and that she was a reporter trying to test aviation security to see what she could sneak aboard the airplane.

Passenger Carolyn Brown, from Illinois, said Mayo told her she was claustrophobic and had to walk around to keep herself calm.

The flight crew ``told her to sit down, and she didn't want to sit down" Brown said.

Several passengers said Mayo made repeated trips to the bathroom. Martin Drinkwater of London encountered her just as he was exiting a bathroom.

``She was in a frenzy," he said. ``She then pulled her trousers and knickers down and squatted on the floor" and proceeded to urinate in full view of passengers.

After Mayo was subdued, ``she was mumbling, and you could tell something was wrong with this lady," said Vickie Robinson of West Virginia.

Ann Davis, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said agents have concluded that Mayo had been ``highly agitated and disruptive."

Mac Daniel, Stephen A. Kurkjian, Susan Milligan, and Shelley Murphy of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Emma G. Fitzsimmons contributed to this report.