Man who made Sea-Tac bomb threat appears in court

A man who arrived too late to board his flight out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday afternoon called 911 from a payphone and said there was a bomb on the plane, hoping the delay would get him on board, according to federal investigators.

When the call did not delay the departure of Northwest Airlines Flight 980, Kou Wei Chiu of Nashville, Tenn., placed two more calls to 911 and again said there was a bomb aboard the Memphis-bound plane, according to court documents.

Port of Seattle Police responded to Gate S-7 to try to identify the source of the bomb threats. An individual in the area told Officer Jason Coke he had overheard Chiu make the calls.

When Coke confronted Chiu and asked him if he had made the bomb threats, Chiu replied: "Regrettably, yes I did," according to court documents.

Chiu appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle today and was charged with one count of providing false information or threats about the placement of an explosive on an aircraft.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Chiu will appear in federal court again Friday for a hearing to determine whether he will be detained until he goes to trial.

The plane, which had traveled only a few miles after its 12:30 p.m. takeoff, was rerouted back to Sea-Tac. It was parked in a remote section of the airport, where police with bomb-sniffing dogs checked the plane and passengers' baggage.

By 4 p.m., Port of Seattle police had finished their sweep and found no threat, airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt said. Because the plane was fully fueled, causing it to weigh more than its normal landing weight, officials then checked for structural damage.

Passengers reboarded, and the plane departed again at 5:14 p.m., Betancourt said. The plane, an Airbus A320, had 142 passengers and five crew members.

It's not the first time someone has made a bomb threat at Sea-Tac — in fact, it's not the first time someone has made a threat to try to avoid missing a flight.

One person phoned in a threat while his plane was still at the gate because he thought he was going to miss it, Betancourt said.

In another instance, a disgruntled man falsely reported that SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) was on a plane.

"It costs people a lot of time and frustration," Betancourt said. The stress of air travel and missing a plane can cause people to "sometimes act in ways that, after the fact, look pretty bizarre."

Information from Seattle Times staff reporter Christine Clarridge and The Associated Press is included in this report.