“Passenger Arrested After Trying to Open Door During Flight” Update: Another incident
Update: Aviation Nation blogger and journalist Annie Jacobsen notes another incident on a separate Frontier Airlines flight.
Via Fox News, here’s your homeland insecurity story of the morning (hat tip – Roger). John Doe passengers helped restrain the suspiciously-acting passenger:
A passenger tried to open a plane door during a Frontier Airlines flight on Saturday morning but was subdued by airline staff and passengers, an airline spokesman said.
Police and Transportation Security Administration staff met Flight 514 after the plane landed in New York City and took the man into custody, said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas.
Hodas said the man, whose name was not released, would not have been able to open the door even if he had not been subdued. “You need special training to open the door,” he said.
There were 128 passengers and five crew members on the plane, Hodas said.
Passenger Bobby Vigil of Estes Park told KUSA-TV in Denver that the man had been acting strangely. Vigil said he and other passengers helped a flight attendant tie the man to his seat with duct tape.
“The whole rest of the flight, all the way in, he was yelling and trying to bite the tape, and they ended up restraining him with an extra lap belt,” said Vigil.
The NYDailyNews has a photo of Bobby Vigil and some more details about the arrested passenger:
Vigil said the crazed man was bouncing up and down in his seat for most of the flight, clutching several boarding passes and kicking the row in front of him.
“He was playing with his hair, picking at his face and counting his fingers,” said Vigil, 45, of Estes Park, Colo. “I thought he was anxious to get home or something.”Vigil said his rowmate left his seat to go to the bathroom in the front of the plane and briefly tried to open the cockpit door. The man, whom he described as Asian and about 20, then returned to his seat, only to get up 15 seconds later, go to the back of the plane and attempt to open the cabin door.
“I heard the flight attendant say, ‘Help me!’” Vigil said. A struggle broke out, and Vigil and two other male passengers rushed over to help the attendant restrain the passenger.
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In this case it sounds like a nut and not something more sinister, but check him out anyway.
And good job to thoughs who restained him.
thoughs = those
Nice to see the passengers jumped in to help the flight attendant subdue the guy. Maybe some people have learned something after 9-11 after all. I am impressed at their willingness to get involved and act like sheepdogs, not sheep.
xplodeit by definition anyone who tries to open a plane door while at 30,000 plus feet is a nut, sinister or not.
Am I the only one who thinks it’s funny that the “John Doe” in this situation is named Vigil?
True.
Is he Asian as in the American version of Asian? or would that be the European version of Asian? either way great going John Doe’s. I do not forsee another plane being taken over by terrorist’s as all are willing to take them down because it will be a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation and American’s will damn well do:-)
This is a great. Not only a fine example of public spirit and John Doe in action, but also adds to the list of 1001 ‘good’ uses for ‘duct tape’
Asian heh?
Panic attack.
Crazy, regardless.
How does one know that this is not a terrorist pretending to be crazy?
I hope they used that seatbelt extender to wack him across the head a few times to get his attention.
He needed to be subdued and quickly before panic set in. Panic on an aircraft is not good. Great job guys!
“We don’t know what motivated the man to try and open the door, but we are certain it isn’t terror related.” — Usual GVMNT response…
I wonder why it is that some people just cannot board an airplane, sit down, and shaddap for the ride. What is it that attracts these nutcases? Do we need to have sanity tests for passengers?
Hodas said the man, whose name was not released, would not have been able to open the door even if he had not been subdued. “You need special training to open the door,” he said.
No there’s a clueless sort. If it was going to be a terrorist attack, you can be darn sure the guy got whatever training he would need to complete his mission.
Do the airlines understand this yet?
Michelle please keep an eye on this as updates are available. I think there is more to this than mentally disturbed as an issue.
Rick, No, they do not.
Rubbish. Every airline safety card in the back seat pocket of every airline seat of every airline includes instructions for opening the cabin doors during an emergency.
Most airliner doors (I have heard that some have mechanical locks triggered by speed) are held firmly (very firmly) in place by the pressure differential betweem the inside and outside of the plane. They are designed so you have to pull them in a bit before you can open them; watch how the cabin attendant does it next time you fly. This design ensures an airtight seal and provides a passive safety feature in case of a latch or hinge failure.
If the air pressure differential is only 1 psi, and if the door is about 6 feet by 4 feet (72 x 48 inches), then there are 3456 square inches on the door, so it would take 3,456 pounds of force to pull the door open.
This guy couldn’t have opened it, but it has nothing to do with special training and everything to do with not being Superman.
Well, at least we know it’s physically impossible to open the door while 30,000 feet.
Yes.
PHYSICALLY impossible.
Ah, how do we know the guy DIDN’T have ’special training?’ Color me paranoid, but if non pilots can actually learn how to fly jet aircraft from schools they found on the back of match books, how hard would it be to find someone to teach you to open the door? Airline INsecurity about spells it out.
Hats off to Mr. Vigil and his roomate!
Glad that all turned out okay … about time passengers got some moxie again …
What struck me about the story is the eerie similarity it bears to an old episode of C.S.I. … in that one the guy got killed by the passengers before they landed in Vegas … as I recall the guy in the story had an undiagnosed health problem that was responsible for his behavior … anyway … kind of curious to hear what the guys problem was …
The “Asian” and “about 20″ raised my eyebrows a bit. Even if it is strictly the “American definition” of Asian, there are plenty of Asian countries with significant Muslim populations…
And as for him actually being able to do it? Dasoku explained clearly what I’ve heard before: for a plane in flight, one person, no matter how knowledgeable and/or determined, does not have the physical strength to do it. But still, someone like that needs to be subdued. Good on Mr. Vigil and the other passengers who helped.
maybe I’m reading between the lines too much or just a cynic now days.. but the nut was only described as ‘Asian’
if the guy was white anglo saxon looking, would they have released the name then? or is the guy ‘asian’ looking only because of the middle east is still in Asia?
Dip down to safe altitude, open door, throw sicko out, panic attack solved…at least for the passengers.
Sounds like a mental case, or some sort of medical problem associated with either flying or the altitude.
I wondered how long it would take….
My thoughts too, and great job by the crew and the John Doe guys.
FEED A TROLL AND WATCH HIM GROW.
Dang it, I copied and pasted wrong post.
Meant to agree with:
Troll messed me up with that stupid remark.
“Subdued,” eh? That’s a nice name for it. I’ll bet that’s not the word running through the passengers heads when they were “subduing” the guy.
To Dave C
You are right – a lot of articles the last few months have stopped referring to Middle Easterners and describing known muslims very genericly as “Asians”. Just like they try not to give their names for as long as they can – and also immediately disclaim any terroristic association with the activity.
Just like the TV shows and movies try to portray all their bad guys as cultist rightwing Christians, instead of EVER being Muslim terrorists.
Our media didn’t so behave during WW2.
I notice that some are so offended that many have been detained due to the no-fly lists, etc and so few really charged/perceived as REALLY a threat – but they are not offended that those whom the general public still view as a serious threat, such as the 6 flying imams, and the 19 on the flight the WSJ author wrote about in her “Terror In The Sky” series of articles, are considered extremely dangerous and an ongoing threat by most Americans who hear of them – yet these same security forces declare blankly that they are not even suspicious at all!
This clod in charge of our homeland security, and the DIM POLICIES that rule such PC baloney over it – how indecent they are.
How soon till the guy starts talking about suing the passengers and airline?
Am I paranoid, or are they withholding his name on purpose?