MABLETON - Security expert Brent Brown, a passenger on the AirTran Airways flight that has become the subject of national controversy, is calling on AirTran to sincerely apologize for the trauma he said the airline caused passengers.

On Nov. 17, Brown, who lives in Mableton, boarded AirTran flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston, which was scheduled to depart at 4:43 p.m. But a disruption by some passengers kept it on the ground for hours.

AirTran officials did not return calls for comment on Wednesday.

Brown is a former Cobb police officer and now is CEO of Chesley Brown Companies, Inc., a 1,000 employee security firm based in Smyrna. Brown said the problem began when 12 people of Middle Eastern descent boarded the plane. Several were talking loudly in a foreign language and were being disruptive, ignoring the flight attendant who asked them to be seated. Instead, they played with what appeared to be a cell phone or Blackberry, said Brown, who watched from business class.

"You could see the tension in the eyes of the flight crew," Brown said.

After that the captain announced that the plane, which was in line to take off, would be turning around because of a security problem, Brown said. Brown turned to his seatmate and told him to expect the blue lights of police cars to approach the plane. But that never happened.

Instead, when the plane returned to the gate, only gate agents were there to greet it.

Two of the 12 Middle Easterners were escorted off the plane, and then a few other passengers got up to leave as well.

"They were obviously frightened," Brown said.

When the remaining passengers saw that no one had asked the 10 remaining Middle Easterners to leave the plane, the majority of the passengers attempted to exit. But when the flight attendant saw she was about to lose most of the plane's passengers, the 10 Middle Easterners were asked to leave, Brown said.

Just as he thought the plane was to take off for a second time, Brown said the captain announced that the luggage of the 12 passengers would be removed from the plane.

Brown said he has no desire to criticize any particular group of people. But given recent events in this country, he finds little use in being politically correct and makes no apologies in identifying the troublemakers as Middle Easterners.

About one hour into the delay, Brown said an AirTran official who said he was in charge of AirTran for Atlanta, boarded the plane and said the flight crew would be changed for legal reasons. Brown said the official indicated the flight crew was over its allotted flight time. But Brown said that the captain later walked past him and said he refused to fly the aircraft after what had unfolded.

"The flight attendants were in tears. Everyone was very upset," Brown said.

The next jolt came when 10 of the 12 Middle Easterners were allowed back on the plane. This caused the majority of the remaining passengers to leave the plane, he said. Brown, who had to be in Houston for business, was deciding what he should do, thinking of his two young daughters at home, when half a dozen AirTran pilots boarded the mostly empty plane. One pilot told Brown the plane was probably the safest one on the runway after all the screenings, so Brown stayed on.

Brown said he doubts the 12 passengers were plotting terrorist activity. But even so, he believes AirTran seriously mishandled the situation. As a seasoned flier, Brown said he's never had a more nerve-wracking experience on a plane.

"I'll tell you one thing, this Baptist was praying in the front," Brown said.

Brown said the captain and crew performed their jobs admirably, but AirTran's corporate people botched the situation by failing to alert the police and failing to tell passengers what was unfolding.

"I think they put our safety in jeopardy," Brown said.

When the plane's captain announces there is a security problem, law enforcement should be called immediately, Brown said. Gate agents aren't trained for that job, he said.

Brown believes police weren't called because AirTran wanted to keep the situation quiet. He said the company has since tried to brush off the issue as a customer-service glitch.

"It was not a customer-service issue. It was a security breach. Either follow the rules to keep everybody safe or have another Fort Hood," Brown said. "AirTran's got some explaining to do."