No matter how much you believe in flight safety, no one wants to receive pictures of plane crashes the moment their flight is about to take off, right?
What seemed to be a poor joke ended up on a police report in Israel.
A plane that was already boarding at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday returned to the gate after images of air disasters appeared on passengers’ phones – Israeli officials believe were sent by nine people on board who made the flight using the iPhone’s AirDrop function.
Ofer Levler, a spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority, said the AndoluJet incident, which was supposed to take off to Istanbul, was not a cyber-attack.
The official said the nine suspects, who police say were Israeli citizens and were among the passengers, have been removed and could be prosecuted for disclosing false information.
The crime is punishable by up to three years in prison in Israel, Reuters reported.
“I’m sure the police and security authorities will find out why [os suspeitos] Leffler told Channel 12 TV.
Leffler said passengers who were alarmed by the footage informed the cabin crew, and the pilot made the right decision to return to the gate.
“One woman fainted and another had a panic attack,” one passenger, identified only as Diana, told Channel 12.
Leffler said the plane took off hours after a security check was conducted for the plane, baggage and people on board.
AirDrop, which Lefler said is the method used to transfer files, allows an iPhone user to send photos to other devices nearby if they are configured to accept such input.
