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LAS Flt Diverted Unruly Pax

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CaptJax

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Posts
310
Las Vegas Bound Flight Diverted Due to Unruly Passenger

(Jan. 23) -- A United Airlines flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to Las Vegas was diverted to Denver Saturday after a passenger walked to the front of a plane carrying a bag and tried to open an exit door in flight, passengers said.

Authorities met the plane on the ground and took the man into custody. The man, described as scruffy and unkempt by passengers, was sitting in the rear of United Airlines Flight 223.

Sergei Sandou, 42, of Las Vegas, who was sitting two rows behind him, said he knew something was wrong when he saw the man walking to the front of the plane.

"I said, 'This guy looks strange to me,'" Sandou told AOL News. "He tried to open the door." Sandou said he headed to the front of the plane to confront him.

Passengers said the man also knocked on the cockpit door.

A traveler in first-class grabbed the man's arms, according to witnesses. When Sandou got to the front, he took hold of the man, keeping his arms behind his back.

Barry Eynon, 59 of Coopersburg, Pa., said he also helped in bringing the man down.

"I would say there was six or seven people involved in subduing him," said Eynon. "He was very disoriented."

According to passengers, the man had several drinks while in air and was seen taking pills.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was interviewing the man. She said she did not know the man's name.

"All I can tell you was there was a disruptive passenger and the flight crew decided to divert that passenger to Denver," said Trevino.

Trevino said the flight was diverted at 5:10 p.m. MST.

Ray Holloman, an AOL FanHouse reporter who was on the flight and sitting directly behind the passenger, said the man was sitting in seat 26E.

Holloman described the passenger as about 6' 1" and up to 270 pounds with blond hair and wispy facial hair. "He was a large guy and an unkempt guy," he said.

Holloman said the man brought on two carry on bags: a black backpack and a brown bag.

He carried the brown bag with him to the front of the plane.

After the man was subdued, passengers and flight attendants started questioning him.

When he was asked what was in the bag, Sandou said the man said, "You'll see."

For that, "I twisted his arms a little more tight," said Sandou.

Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Transportation Security Administration and Denver Police Department were on scene.

Calls to the Denver police department and FBI were not immediately returned.

Flight 223 was originally delayed three hours for a mechanical problem.
 
The man, described as scruffy and unkempt by passengers...about 6' 1" and up to 270 pounds...a large guy and an unkempt guy
So, he was just a regular, everyday passenger, the same one who sits next to
me everytime I DH.
Passengers said the man also knocked on the cockpit door.
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Land Shark.
 

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