TWA Flight Is Delayed by Bomb Threat

A Trans World Airlines flight from Lindbergh Field was delayed for several hours Wednesday morning for a search of the plane by bomb experts following threats from an anonymous caller, officials said.

According to FBI spokesman Gary Laturno, a San Diego couple who had reservations for TWA Flight 700, bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, received several phone calls Sunday from an anonymous caller warning them not to take the 8:20 a.m. flight.

The couple reported the calls to TWA officials but did not cancel their flight plans, Laturno said.

“Somehow the captain became aware of the threats Wednesday and told airline officials,” Laturno said, adding that the FBI was called in to investigate at 8:30 a.m.

TWA officials decided on a complete search of the Boeing 767 and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s explosives team was called in, Laturno said.

Passengers were asked to disembark and to re-enter the waiting area while the plane was towed to the isolated southwest corner of the airfield and searched, San Diego Harbor Police Officer Bruce Hebets said.

A search by dogs and harbor police found nothing on board, Lindbergh Field manager Bud McDonald said. The luggage was also unloaded and passengers were asked to claim it while the dogs sniffed for explosives. Again, nothing was found.

The alert was canceled at 11 a.m., Hebets said.

The plane was allowed to depart “sometime around noon,” McDonald said.

No other air traffic was affected, airport officials said.