Moment armed cops swarm baggage hold on NYC-bound plane after banging heard at 30,000ft sparks fears of trapped worker
THIS is the moment armed cops swarmed a diverted plane after banging was heard from the cargo hold at 30,000ft.
The American Airlines pilot told passengers that a person could have been making the noises, sending panic through passengers, Clarin reports.
Flight AA954 was en route to New York from Buenos Aires on Thursday when turned around after 400miles to make the unplanned early landing.
Passengers and crew members reported hearing unusual banging noises coming from the cargo hold where the baggage is securely stowed.
The pilot announced that the plane was returning to Buenos Aires due to a problem and then revealed that there was a person locked in the cargo hold hitting a blunt object, apparently to be rescued.
The hold is not usually accessible while the aircraft is in flight and is not used to store live cargo.
Airport security said: “Noises were heard in the cargo hold, enough to give rise to suspicions that there was something unusual.
“The captain referred to a security problem due to hearing noises that coincided with the presence of a person in the cargo hold.”
Heavily armed cops and sniffer dogs were put on standby to welcome the flight back and check for danger.
Footage filmed by those on board after the aircraft landed showed a SWAT team armed with firearms and shields entering the hold.
The officers are carried up to the fuselage of the plane on the lift which usually raises up luggage.
Once they reach the top, the officers charged in with passengers in their seats filming.
Other airport workers could be seen nearby on the ground to witness the unusual incident.
However, when police got inside the hold found nobody there.
They reported: “The hold was opened and the unloading of the luggage containers began, without anything outside the normal parameters being seen at the time.”
TRAPPED
A similar incident occurred with a United Airlines flight in 2017 when a baggage handler was trapped in the hold for an hour.
The jetliner flew from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Washington Dulles International Airport with the man stuck in the hold.
When the aircraft touched down on New Year’s Day, the man who was an employee of a third-party baggage handler was unharmed.
As well as having none of the safety precautions that can be found in the cabin of a plane, the cargo hold also usually lacks temperature control.
“It surprises me how a person’s co-workers could let that happen when they’re supposed to be checking up on each other,” Paul Thompson, a longtime ramp agent at Denver International Airport told CNN at the time.
“It is up to the gate crew at my airline to check inside the bin before the door is shut.”
He highlighted that a common issue is that while exhausted workers are waiting for passenger bags they fall asleep for a quick “10 to 15 minute” nap in the baggage compartment.
“We’re not supposed to do it, but people do it all the time,” he said.
“I’ve seen it happen pretty frequently,” Thompson said.
“If you’re going to be smart about it – if you’re going to choose to fall asleep inside the bin, you’re going to be close to the door and not hiding back in the corner.”
In 2015, this happened to a baggage handler who woke up to find themselves trapped in an Alaska Airlines flight that had taken off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
After being in the air for 14 minutes the aircraft returned to the airport following the employee’s 911 call and consistent banging on the plane’s bulkheads.