Police called it a “scary mistake”. But how did it all actually happen?
by Zebunnisa Mirza
Aaron Haight was travelling from Vancouver to Collingwood, Ont. for a shooting competition on June 14th, 2011.
With him, he carried a Glock 22 and Baby Eagle 941. Both were legitimately licensed to him. He was given permission by the RCMP to travel with the weapons.
“You’re supposed to declare these and they’re supposed to go through special baggage,” Haight told CTV News. “That’s not what happened this day.”
Air Canada’s customer service agents were on strike. At the check-in counter, Haight told a manager he had two guns. He asked for the form that he knew he needed to fill out in order to bring his firearms with him.
He never said he was a police officer, but what he was handed was police paperwork. The form looked unfamiliar to Haight. But since he was asked to, he went ahead and filled it out anyway. On it he specified that the RCMP had authorized his travel with firearms.
While going through airport security, he was told not to walk through the metal detector. Instead, he was once again asked for his badge. Haight said he didn’t have one and produced his gun license instead. He was allowed to proceed.
“They proceeded me onto the plane,” Haight said. “I was looking around and wondering why are they letting me on here with two pistols in a briefcase?”
Before boarding the flight, Haight asked if it would be a problem to bring the guns on the plane. He was told to give the case to a flight attendant who brought them on board for him.
Midflight, he was asked to produce a badge. Once again he said he didn’t have one. This is when the pilot sounded the alarm and police were called.
Haight was arrested and jailed for three hours before release. The charge? – impersonating an officer.
“Through the investigation it was determined that there was no mention whatsoever on his part that he was a police officer,” Cst. Thomas Ruttan from the Peel Regional police told CTV News. “At some point someone believed he was a police officer, gave him the proper documentation to fill out to actually board the plane with his firearms. It’s a scary mistake.”
A mistake that worries Haight for more than the obvious reason.
“Now as a Canadian I’m wondering, how lenient are we being?”
In a statement issued by Steven Fletcher of the Ministry of state transport he said:
“There are stringent security regulations in place and we expect them to be followed. We take all allegations very seriously.”
Both the airline and the Canadian Airline Transportation Safety Authority (CATSA) have acknowledged the error.
CATSA says they have investigated and taken steps to identify proper paperwork.
Air Canada has also moved to remind their employees of the proper procedures around such dealings.
Let’s hope such a mistake doesn’t happen again.
Aaron Haight was travelling from Vancouver to Collingwood, Ont. for a shooting competition on June 14th, 2011.
With him, he carried a Glock 22 and Baby Eagle 941. Both were legitimately licensed to him. He was given permission by the RCMP to travel with the weapons.
“You’re supposed to declare these and they’re supposed to go through special baggage,” Haight told CTV News. “That’s not what happened this day.”
Air Canada’s customer service agents were on strike. At the check-in counter, Haight told a manager he had two guns. He asked for the form that he knew he needed to fill out in order to bring his firearms with him.
He never said he was a police officer, but what he was handed was police paperwork. The form looked unfamiliar to Haight. But since he was asked to, he went ahead and filled it out anyway. On it he specified that the RCMP had authorized his travel with firearms.
While going through airport security, he was told not to walk through the metal detector. Instead, he was once again asked for his badge. Haight said he didn’t have one and produced his gun license instead. He was allowed to proceed.
“They proceeded me onto the plane,” Haight said. “I was looking around and wondering why are they letting me on here with two pistols in a briefcase?”
Before boarding the flight, Haight asked if it would be a problem to bring the guns on the plane. He was told to give the case to a flight attendant who brought them on board for him.
Midflight, he was asked to produce a badge. Once again he said he didn’t have one. This is when the pilot sounded the alarm and police were called.
Haight was arrested and jailed for three hours before release. The charge? – impersonating an officer.
“Through the investigation it was determined that there was no mention whatsoever on his part that he was a police officer,” Cst. Thomas Ruttan from the Peel Regional police told CTV News. “At some point someone believed he was a police officer, gave him the proper documentation to fill out to actually board the plane with his firearms. It’s a scary mistake.”
A mistake that worries Haight for more than the obvious reason.
“Now as a Canadian I’m wondering, how lenient are we being?”
In a statement issued by Steven Fletcher of the Ministry of state transport he said:
“There are stringent security regulations in place and we expect them to be followed. We take all allegations very seriously.”
Both the airline and the Canadian Airline Transportation Safety Authority (CATSA) have acknowledged the error.
CATSA says they have investigated and taken steps to identify proper paperwork.
Air Canada has also moved to remind their employees of the proper procedures around such dealings.
Let’s hope such a mistake doesn’t happen again.
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