An American Airlines plane bound for Chicago was forced to return to the airport from where it had taken off, in the US state of New Mexico, after one of its passengers tried to open the door in the middle of the flight, US media reports.
In a video posted and circulated widely on social media and broadcast by the media, other passengers can be seen trying to stop the man from opening one of the exit doors.
The plane, which took off from the southwestern city of Albuquerque, was flying at an altitude of nearly 8,000 meters before it changed course, according to flight tracking data.
Moment passengers tackle man to the ground then duck-tape him after he tried to open the door mid-flight pic.twitter.com/HM8zrpTtvC
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) February 21, 2024
“American Airlines Flight 1219 returned safely to Sunport International Airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico at approximately 2:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday, February 20, after the crew reported a disturbance caused by a passenger,” the airline said on its website. US Civil Aviation Administration (FAA).
“The FAA is investigating,” it added, without giving further details about the incident.
Asked by the ABC television network, Blaise Ward, one of the passengers, described how the man “had already lowered the safety mechanism and had both hands on the lever. There was a difference in pressure, like a hiss,” he described.
Although the U.S. hasn’t had a plane crash in 10 years, authorities are on high alert in the industry following an incident last month when the door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 came off mid-flight.
The number of unruly passengers has skyrocketed in recent years, reaching a record of nearly 6,000 incidents in 2021, according to FAA data. Incidents fell to around 2,000 in 2022 and 2023.
Source: RES-MPE
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