Jetliner escorted by fighter jets to Detroit Metro Airport

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) -- Fighter jets escorted a Northwest Airlines jetliner with 78 people aboard to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Thursday because a note was found mentioning a bomb.

Flight 191 from Reagan Washington National Airport to Minneapolis was diverted to Detroit Metro and landed at 10:12 a.m., Northwest said in a statement.

Passengers were taken off the plane, an Airbus A320, airline spokeswoman Mary Beth Schubert said. The plane had 73 passengers and a crew of five.

A passenger "was thumbing through the magazine pouch and reads a note indicating that there was a bomb on the plane," FBI Special Agent Hank Glaspie said.

The note then was turned over from a flight attendant to the captain, who was directed to land the plane at the nearest airport, Glaspie said.

Federal agencies were at the airport conducting an investigation, which included interviewing passengers and crew members, he said.