OT: Be careful with that coffee.

Coffee, with all the cream and sweeteners is probably pretty conductive. They'd have been better off spilling pure grain alcohol on the panel. :-/

--
Paul Hovnanian  paul@hovnanian.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have gnu, will travel.

Better to divert to YYZ than return to ORD-- much less chance of having the flight umm.. terminated.

I don't know. Toronto is noted for fat broad customs agents that get all frothy if you're tired and say you're entering the country on business ;-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Says the guy who wears Fred Mertz pants.

Thanks, Rich

Undocumented migrant worker. ;-)

That broad was something else. It's a miracle I didn't get arrested, at one point I cussed her out :-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

What if the passengers and luggage are just moved from one plane to another because of need to replace the plane?

If the passengers don't have to go to the ticketing / check-in stations on the Canada side of their customs booths, then do the passengers have to clear Canada customs?

Even if they do, I have the impression that Canada customs does not hassle those who can show that they were turned towards the customs booths by flight issues, and can show that they are trying to get out of Canada to get back on their way to a different country. I have heard before that its different for someone not a legal resident of Canada to visit Canada for business.

What if a USA flight between the contiguous 48 states and Alaska makes an emergency landing in Canada? Are passengers screwed if they are not carrying passports? If their checked bags have items legal to have in USA but not in Canada, such as handguns?

--
 - Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)

They'd need to clear customs to leave the secure area. In this case another plane took them back to Chicago the same night, where they stayed in a hotel before leaving the next morning, so they probably didn't have to leave the lounge. Presumably any foreigners requireing visas who had used up their US visa were accomodated by US customs at ORD with an expeditious transit visa. I think they do what they can to make things reasonable in such situations... if there were passengers who were inadmissible for whatever reason, there is a nice holding facility (kind of a motel) near Toronto airport for those about to be deported, I'm sure the questionable cases could stay there. They even have a Boeing 747 'prison bus' for delivering certain overstaying 'guests' back to their overseas homes.

Yes. When I go to Asia, the aircraft often goes through Russian Federation airspace and a couple of times, even Iranian airspace. Both of those places REQUIRE visas procured long in advance to legally visit, but I would expect that if the aircraft was forced to land they'd be reasonable enough, by either sequestering us or issuing

24-72 hour transit visas.

Big companies provide paperwork and coach their employees on what to say when they cross borders. Independent business and small business people are on our own. I had a US customs guy who wanted to charge me a commercial road tax for taking a small box 10 miles to the airport in order to help out a customer. They're always (often rudely) prying as to whether you're 'working' by their definition in the country (usually if you're compensated from outside and it's a short engagement they're okay with it, otherwise degreed engineers from North America are entitled to work for several years anywhere in North America with a minimal amount of paperwork- but they can insist on it). OTOH, you don't want to ever lie to them or you'll end up permanently on a naughty 'list', at best. At worst.. well, they have a great deal of power.

For _citizens_ with balls of steel, you could try to emulate this due (brave, stupid or both, I'm not sure):

?Why were you in China?? asked the passport control officer, a woman with the appearance and disposition of a prison matron.

?None of your business,? I said.

I'm sure they'd be accomodated somehow. In most cases, they'd not leave the plane, or be taken to a secure area to wait for repairs or the arrival of another aircraft. If they were injured crash survivors, they'd be taken to a hospital and formalities would be handled later.. If they left 'bond' they'd have to get through US customs later, which might be more of an issue.

As they're unlikely to have the appropriate few pieces of paperwork to legally import and transport a handgun (restricted weapon) in Canada, customs would hang onto it, (and, of course, return it when they were leaving), assuming it was being legally transported in the first place.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

[snip]

Aha! You met the fat broad ?:-) ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.