Off-Duty Pilot Arrested After Bomb Remark

NEWARK, N.J. — An off-duty pilot was charged Wednesday with making a terrorist threat for mentioning the possibility he had a bomb in his luggage on a jet bound for Los Angeles from Newark International Airport.

The remark Tuesday night prompted the captain of the Continental Airlines jet to have security officers and bomb-sniffing dogs check the Boeing 757 jetliner, delaying the flight for more than six hours, officials said.

Mohamed Hassan Helal, 30, was ordered held on $10,000 bond. He was arrested Tuesday night by police from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

Helal, of Danville, Calif., flies for Midwest Airlines, a charter carrier based in Egypt. He was ordered off the plane after getting into an argument with a flight attendant about carry-on luggage. He allegedly made the bomb comment as he was being escorted off.