An American Airlines flight bound for Chicago had to return to its departure airport in the US state of New Mexico after one of its passengers tried to open the door mid-flight, American media reported.
A video that has been widely shared on social networks and the media since Tuesday shows other passengers preventing the man from opening the handle of one of the exit doors.
According to flight tracking data, the plane, which took off from the southwestern city of Albuquerque, had reached an altitude of nearly 8,000 meters before turning back.
Thirty minutes after leaving Albuquerque, I was woken from my Panda Express and tequila-induced daze by a man four rows back aggressively trying to open the plane door. Me and five other guys had to wrestle him into the hallway, duct tape his legs and put flexible handcuffs on him.… pic.twitter.com/zkrtEveYgQ
– The Wonton Don (@DonnieDoesWorld) February 20, 2024
“American Airlines Flight 1219 returned safely to Sunport International Airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at approximately 2:40 p.m. local time (21:40 GMT) on Tuesday, February 20, after the crew reported a passenger disturbance “said the American Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority (FAA) on its website.
“The FAA is investigating,” she added, without providing further details about the incident.
Interviewed by ABC, Blaze Ward, one of the passengers, claimed that the man “had already lowered the safety mechanism and had both hands on the lever.”
“He was a big guy and had already done it well and I don't know if you can hear it, but there was a pressure difference, like a hissing sound,” he reported.
Although there has not been a fatal aircraft accident in the United States in more than a decade, vigilance in the industry has increased since an incident occurred last month in which the door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 broke off mid-flight.
The number of unruly passengers has also skyrocketed in recent years, reaching a record high of nearly 6,000 incidents in 2021, according to the FAA. These numbers have fallen to around 2,000 incidents in 2022 and 2023.