CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The FBI is investigating alleged assaults on an American Airlines flight from Orlando to Charlotte.
According to the police report, two women reported being assaulted while in flight. American Airlines says the crew requested police because of a passenger disturbance. Officers met the plane when it landed in Charlotte on Thursday afternoon.
The two alleged victims are women, ages 31 and 48. The FBI confirmed it’s investigating the case, but did not release any further details about the incident. NBC Charlotte talked by phone to former assistant director of the FBI, Chris Swecker, described some of the challenges of investigating crimes on an airplane.
“There are challenges when a crime happens aboard an aircraft because witnesses are in transit and they’re always going somewhere else, so it’s hard to track them down,” Swecker told NBC Charlotte.
The alleged crime happened at around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, according to the police report. American Airlines sent a statement to NBC Charlotte reading in part, “Yesterday, upon landing in Charlotte American Airlines flight 1695 from Orlando was met by local law enforcement at the request of the crew for a passenger disturbance.”
Swecker says several factors determine whether a case will move forward.
“It has to be a significant enough assault to go to court, and the witnesses, the victims, have to be willing to testify and available to testify, so all of that weighs in,” Swecker told NBC Charlotte.
American Airlines says no crew members were involved in the incident. At this point, no charges have been filed in the case.