Moment Delta passengers and crew wrestle off-duty flight attendant who grabbed intercom and ‘vowed to bring jet down’
AN off-duty Delta flight attendant had to be subdued by his colleagues after allegedly saying he wanted to take a plane down.
The man, whose identity was not revealed, was reportedly on Delta Flight 1730 from Los Angeles to Atlanta when he allegedly took over the intercom before assaulting two flight attendants.
An off-duty Delta flight attendant was subdued by passengers[/caption] Police said he allegedly assaulted two flight attendants and ‘was going to take the plane down’[/caption]Passengers were told that oxygen masks would drop from the ceiling, leaving some fearing the jet was on the verge of crashing, reports CNN.
Delta spokesman Eric Zeugschmidt said the plane was forced to land in Oklahoma City on Friday and no passengers or crew were injured,
The man was described as “strange”and was wearing a helmet with elbow and knee pads.
Passenger Benjamin Curlee, 29, told CNN the “very weird” man had even scribbled a note to flight attendants accusing another flyer of being a hijacker.
When the plane was still two hours from its destination, the captain made a call for help over the intercom for “all able-bodied men please come to the front of the plane for an emergency”.
The man was wrestled to the floor.
He was taken into custody and transported to an Oklahoma City hospital with minor injuries, Oklahoma City Police Capt. Jermaine Johnson told the outlet.
Bomb technicians swept the plane after it landed just after 5am yesterday and the man is now in FBI custody though no charges have yet been filed.
The incident came as the Federal Aviation Administration has worked to crack down on recent bouts of unruly passengers.
Badly-behaved passengers can face up to $35,000 in fines or imprisonment.
The plane was forced to land in Oklahoma City on Friday[/caption]Most read in News
The Federal Aviation Administration has received around 2,900 reports of “unruly behavior by passengers” this year.
Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said in a statement on Twitter that ‘the situation is out of control.’
“Another horrific event on Delta, but across the industry reports of unruly pax (passengers) are up more than 60Xs this year.
“That’s just what’s getting reported. Flight Attendants are heroes, but we prefer not to be.”