UPDATE: La Andy Hien Duc has been released from prison, despite confessing to consuming a marijuana-laden chocolate bar prior to his flight. During a Singapore Airlines flight from San Francisco to Singapore, Hein Duc insisted there was bomb onboard, prompting the Singaporean Air Force to scramble fighter jets in order to accompany the Airbus A350-900 to Singapore Changi Airport. No bombs were found.
Hien Duc was charged with assault against a flight attendant (he slapped a Singapore Girl) and for making a false threat of terrorist acts. He was found guilty of assault and served four weeks in jail, but the greater bomb threat charge was dropped after medical experts deemed he was schizophrenic. As a judge explained:
“His delusionary beliefs, auditory hallucinations, as well as psychotic thought disorder have greatly contributed to his offending behavior.”
Hein Duc has now been released and will be deported to the USA.
During the proceedings, Hein Duc admitted to consuming a marijuana chocolate bar prior to his flight. Considering Singapore’s strict anti-drug laws (including the death penalty for certain egregious cases), I am somewhat surprised the consumption of illicit drugs did not negate the insanity defense. Then again, his U.S. passport probably helped…
The original story, from September 29, 2022, appears below.
La Andy Hien Duc, a 37-year-old American national, has been charged with making false threats of terrorist acts and for the suspected consumption of controlled drugs. His antics onboard a Singapore Airlines A350-900 flight prompted the Singaporean Air Force to scramble fighter jets in order to accompany the flight to Singapore Changi Airport.
American Arrested For Making Bomb Threats On Singapore Airlines Flight
In short, seven hours into a 16-hour flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Singapore (SIN) onboard SQ33 on September 27, 2022, Duc suddenly blurted out that there was a bomb onboard. He grabbed a carry-on bag (it wasn’t his own) and claimed the bomb was inside.
The owner of the bag stood up and clarified that it was his big and there was no bomb inside. Shortly thereafter, Duc grabbed another bag and claimed the same thing. He allegedly said:
“I’m certain there’s a bomb in this bag. Arrest me if I’m wrong, but please this is an emergency. You must search this bag.”
The crew restrained the man in the back of the aircraft and out of an abundance of caution, alerted Singaporean authorities. Out of an abundance of caution, the flight was escorted to SIN by a cadre of Singaporean Air Force F-16C/D fighter jets.
The plane landed safely at Changi Airport at about 5:50 am. On the ground, it was carefully searched for bombs, with passengers not allowed off for another four hours.
One passenger onboard, Daniel Smeltzer, offered a riveting account of what occurred on Twitter:
I have to compliment the staff of @SingaporeAir aboard SQ33 with my family and I. They handled the passengers – fainting ones, “unruly”ones and all – in a very respectful manner. I’m thankful the unruly passenger was mistaken when he announced, “there’s a bomb on the plane!” pic.twitter.com/irYrXceSuc
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 28, 2022
And 2 hours later, I was the first one to report the unruly passenger who announced there was a bomb on the plane. You don’t want to hear something like that these days, and especially on a plane so I immediately reported him to the staff who then escalated.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
The bomb announcement incident occurred around 7 hours into the flight while most people were sleeping. It seemed to me that he was not an immediate threat but since I was with my 2 kids and wife, still worrisome.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
Later the man who announced the bomb on the plane “randomly” grabbed the man immediately behind me’s carry-on luggage and said, “there’s a bomb in this bag” and he would’ve opened it except the flight crew intervened and the man behind me said, “excuse me sir that’s my bag.”
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
Had it been a bomb, it would’ve been unfortunate as it was opening immediately adjacent to my seat … in front of the rear toilets on the starboard side of the plane next to the exit & a sleeping honeymoon couple who were totally unaware, with their face masks and headphones on!
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
Thankfully though, it was just a small suitcase of chocolates and small gifts for the man’s family in Malaysia.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
Following that, the man was escorted back to his seat, he was visibly anxious and it seemed from observing him closely that he was very concerned that there was a bomb he was attempting to discover rather than being a terrorist threatening the flight.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
And within less than 15 minutes he ran to the same area near my seat and grabbed a random bag from the overhead storage of another passenger, brought it down to the floor and the flight crew immediately acted to stop him.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
He said something close to, “I’m certain there’s a bomb in this bag. Arrest me if I’m wrong, but please this is an emergency. You must search this bag.” From there the staff talked him down and took him to the back of the plane to relax and calm down.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
Many other things happened including the passenger getting physically resistant to the crew and staff… thankfully they did a great job of keeping everyone safe and cooperating with the Singapore police who later interviewed me and a few others once we landed.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
In the end the situation was well managed. No one wants a delay or inconvenience but I’m SO thankful to God it was not a real threat, and that no one was injured.
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
There was more drama on the flight as well:
This wasn’t the only thing that occurred on the flight. Oddly enough, my wife and I both played key roles in our economy section of the plane. She was the first responder to a woman who fainted as she tried to make her way to the restroom. She aided the #singaporeair staff. pic.twitter.com/uHZVKowBfB
— Daniel Smeltzer (@dsmeltzer) September 29, 2022
What a flight…
CONCLUSION
An American has been arrested and charged for making a false bomb threat onboard a Singapore Airlines flight. If drugs are found in his system, he may face a very serious sentence in a nation that does not take kindly to drugs or joking about bombs.
Well done #RSAF pic.twitter.com/UBeaoo4y17
— CryptoBull1024 (@CryptoBull1024) September 28, 2022
image: Singapore MINDEF
I believe if he has something in his system = death penalty. F around and find out.
I agree,, but obviously he is not aware of caning. But we probably never see him again.
Having previously consumed it is not the same as being in possession in terms of Singapore law, unless he was in possession of the drugs, he won’t hang.
I’ll put money though on a long jail sentence and the cane.
Singapore won’t execute an American citizen over a crime where no people were actually harmed. I’m not defending his actions, but the caning incident in 1994 was a bigger row than the Little Red Dot would have ever hoped for. They’ll punish him, but in a normal and humane way.
The courts in Singapore act without fear or favour as Michael Fay found out to his cost. This guy will find the same. They have recently caned two German guys so this one will not be let off.
Some people should stay at home and watch tv the rest of their life.
Sounds like he might
Such an eventful flight, crazy man making bomb accusations, woman fainting, etc. I wonder if the passengers could see the F-16 escorts?
In contrast, my Singapore Airlines flight LAX-SIN was nothing eventful. Reasonably good service. Man next to me didn’t talk with me but we exchanged newspapers so we both read 2 newspapers. A steward in the back offered me extra donuts because “they are going to thrown away anyway after the flight”. Then we landed at roughly 5:30 am and I was working by 8:30 am to the amazement of others at work that Singapore office.
I’m curious how long the fighter jets escorted the plane? Surely, they didn’t escort it for the remaining 9 hours. And I’m always curious exactly what the fighter jets are really going to do as they escort? If the plane diverts off course in anyway are they going to shoot it down or something? Seems like it’s more a different way to communicate with the plane with a different set of eyes in case they aren’t getting good information over the radio.
According to this article, the incident started about 7 hours into the flight. That might be about 2130 Singapore time. The plane may have been in the vicinity of the Marshall Islands. It may be taken place over several hours between the first outburst and the second outburst.
The plane flew in the vicinity of Palau and northern Philippines. The police were notified at 0240 Singapore time. By then, the plane probably had overflown slightly south of Manila. Rather than backtrack to Manila, it continued to Singapore, landing at 0551.
My guess is that the RSAF F-16’s did not take off until 0315 at the earliest. Many air forces have planes on either 5 minute, 15 minute, or 30 minute alerts. 5 and 15 are really rapid responses. Even 30 is so. Perhaps, the RSAF was notified by 0300 and launch was at 0400. By then, the plane was 1:50 to landing. My speculation is that the F-16’s reached the plane around 0450 and escorted the plane for about 1 hour or about 600 miles. If this happened, the F-16’s flew a trip of about 1200-1400 miles, which is well within the range of a F-16.
According to the internet, the F-16 has a range of 2,425 miles and a combat range of 575 miles (engage target 575 miles away and then return to base).
The fighter escorts can report the exact position of a crash. They can send a psychological message to the hijacker. They can also shoot down the plane if it looks like the plane is deliberately trying to crash into a populated area.
Nice of Daniel guy to thank God. As if God exists or even tried to help.
Idiots rely on science and other humans and then thank god, how utterly thankless and lacking humility. Thank science and the other humans first. It’s time “Thank God’ is construed as an insult.
The best one is when there is an accident with a bus full of children and only some survive and then the parents of the surviving children “thank God” for saving them. If God saved those, then he also condemned to death the ones who perished. *shrug*
Yawn… really? Start a religion debate? In the comment section? With strangers on the internet? Get a life.
Misappropriation of achievement or misattribution of effort is frowned in every walk of life except when it comes to religious people who conveniently coopt all achievements of science for their own God. Your God didn’t do s$it. It was science. Time it was said loudly.
Just as the churches make aggressive efforts and sends people to our homes to turn us into christians, It’s time scientists started visting churches to show them why God does not exist. Yup, that’s right visit the church. And time aethist organization were given non profit and tax exempt status in their quest to turn everyone aethist.
Inappropriate place for religion bashing. You just HAD to make a comment like that in an aviation discussion?
And PS if God didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be here to spout your insensitive nonsense.
Why are there so many aggressive asian men on airplanes as of late?
Because you touch yourself at night.
I wonder how long it will take for cries about how ‘inhumane’ the Singaporeans are when his sentence is passed down? Wrong carrier, wrong place.
I was thinking the same thing…I wouldn’t do this on Singapore airlines…they aren’t going to offer community service for 20 minutes as restitution. Maybe they will even find out he was chewing gum while he was having his outbursts!
This dude is going down. No fun ahead in his future. Shameful. He will get the full ride. Enjoy
What an idiot…
I wonder if the man’s name wasn’t ethnic he would not have been referred to as an American national instead of just an American.