Before things got out of hand, it was a typical annoyance that happens once a flight gets airborne: A passenger hit the recline button and sent his seat intimately close to the lap of the guy sitting behind him. What followed wasn't typical at all: a smack to the head, peacemakers diving about the cabin to intervene, tons of jet fuel dumped into the ocean and a pair of Air Force F-16 fighter jets scrambling into the night skies over Washington. It happened late Sunday, just after a United Airlines Boeing 767 bound for Ghana with 144 passengers left Dulles International Airport. Not long after the 10:44 p.m. departure for the overnight flight, the offending seat was lowered into the offended lap, and the fight ensued. A flight attendant and another passenger jumped in between, and the pilot decided to return to Dulles to sort things out, according to sources familiar with the incident who spoke on condition of anonymity. A 767 can take off with 16,700 gallons of fuel, and for the flight of more than 5,000 miles to Accra, Ghana, it would have needed all of that. The full load of fuel weighs more than 57tons, and although a 767 can get that weight airborne, it can't land with it. As they turned back, the United pilots dumped much of it into the Atlantic. Two Air Force fighters were scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base at 11:03 p.m, as the jetliner neared Washington. Since Sept. 11, 2001, fighters stand ready to respond when passengers who might be terrorists cause trouble in flight. Five minutes later, the fighter escorts took up position 1,000 feet above the jetliner, sources said. At 11:10 p.m., the controller requested an update and a voice from the cockpit replied: "The passenger is not secured at this time; the passenger has settled down, though, but an assault has taken place, but at this time he is not secured." Dulles police officers met the flight at the gate, said Rob Yingling, an airport spokesman. The police determined that the incident didn't amount to enough to warrant charges. It was costly, however. In addition to the the fuel cost - jet fuel cost about $3.03 a gallon last month - the flight was delayed until the next morning. Given no arrests, there was no record, so the men's identities aren't known. It is unclear whether they were aboard when the flight again departed on Monday, and if so, where they sat, a United spokesman said.