Summary
- Passengers aboard CM393 experienced a bomb threat scare when a suspicious item, an adult diaper, was present in the aircraft’s toilet.
- The flight needed to make a U-turn and return to Panama for safety reasons, causing delays and disruptions to its scheduled operations.
- Copa Airlines prioritizes passenger and crew safety and operates a 92 Boeing 737 aircraft fleet, serving 81 destinations across the Americas.
Passengers onboard Copa Airlines flight CM393 destined for Tampa got the fright of their lives on Friday when there was a report of a bomb threat. The Boeing 737-800 had departed from its home in Panama City, destined for Florida, when a suspicious item was within the aircraft’s toilet.
Once the aircraft had landed safely back at Panama’s Tocumen International Airport (PTY), anti-explosive teams inspected the aircraft. Panama’s Civil Aeronautics Authority reported that an adult diaper was the suspicious item in the lavatory.
Photo: Milosz Maslanka | Shutterstock
The nappy diverted flight.
CM393 had initially planned to operate an uneventful flight between Panama City and Tampa, Florida, on the infamous Friday, October thirteenth. It had pushed back from PTY at 09:44, eight minutes behind its scheduled departure time of 09:36. The flight, which might normally take in need of three hours to finish, had been cruising at its 30,000 ft altitude when the reports of the suspicious item were positioned.
In line with various reports, at roughly 35 minutes after departure, the aircraft made a U-turn back near the Colombian island of San Andrés, off the coast of Nicaragua, and traveled back to Panama out of caution at a speed of around 400 knots. The aircraft traveled back over Panama City before touching down at 11:00 local time.
Photo: Copa Airlines
The aircraft in query holds the registration HP-1832CMP and serial number 40789. Its first flight was recorded by Airfleets on July seventeenth, 2013, and delivered to Copa on August 2nd that 12 months.
Copa Airlines
Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A, more commonly referred to as Copa Airlines, is well recognized throughout Central America, with its hub at Tocumen International Airport. The airline, founded in 1947, is a member of Star Alliance and operates a fleet of 92 aircraft (all the Boeing 737 variant).
Photo: Felipegsb | Shutterstock
Currently, the airline services 81 destinations throughout the Caribbean and North, Central, and South America, visiting as much as 30 countries, and was the primary airline in Latin America to operate the Boeing 737 MAX 9. The airline’s longest flight is to Uruguay, where the seven-hour service connects PTY to Carrasco International Airport (MVD) in Montevideo, covering 3,385 miles or around 5,447 kilometers.
Sources: Flightradar24