Local Woman On Last Flight To Land At LAX Before Ground Stop Declared
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A local woman was on the last plane to land at Los Angeles International Airport before the ground stop was declared following a shooting (see related story).
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Jodie Milkman was on a flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles with her mother. They are going to visit a friend who just had a baby.
Milkman works for the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. She is currently on the plane sitting on the tarmac, waiting for airport officials to allow them to deplane.
When their flight landed, they were told by the pilot that they would not be disembarking.
"He's asked us to be patient. The first words were there's a situation, the police are working on something at the airport and stay tuned. The last one was the city of Los Angeles is working to try to deplane the few planes that were able to land, and they're trying to figure out a place to bring us in and get us off the plane," Milkman said.
Milkman says her flight was actually landing while the shooting was happening, so the airport could not stop the plane from landing. But after it was on the ground, the aircraft was moved to a remote location as a precaution.
"We're all trying to piece it together on our phones, because literally as soon as we landed, I turned my cell phone on to a frantic text from my son, saying there's been a shooting at LAX, am I ok? And I said something, and then all of a sudden, phones kept going on and people were getting the same message and reactions," Milkman said.
Milkman says her flight was the last one to land before the airport closed. Her sister was on another flight expected to arrive 15 minutes later and was diverted to Las Vegas.
