Six passengers tackle man trying to open plane door in midair, duct tape him

21 February 2024 , 06:41

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An unruly American Airlines passenger was tackled to the floor after he attempted and briefly succeeded in opening the emergency door of the aircraft, video shows (Image: No credit)

A passenger on an American Airlines flight caused terror when he tried to open the plane's door while it was in the air in an incident that was caught on video and shared all over social media.

The man was stopped by six brave passengers who managed to pin him down and tie him up with duct tape and "flexi-cuffs," one of the heroes wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

User @DonnieDoesWorld shared the terrifying experience, posting a screengrab from a video he took and writing: "30 minutes after departing Albuquerque I was shaken out of my Panda Express and Tequila induced stupor by a man trying to aggressively open the airplane door 4 rows back." He added: "Me and 5 other dudes had to wrestle him into the aisle, duct tape his legs, and throw flexi-cuffs on him. Just safely landed back in ABQ but HOLY S**T."

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The incident unfolded on an American Airlines flight from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Chicago (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The flight was heading from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Chicago and was only half an hour into its journey when the incident happened on Tuesday. Another passenger, who wasn't one of the six in the fray, also posted about the event on X, saying it was "one of the scariest days of [her] life."

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"Flying back home from ABQ and we've been in the air for about 30 minutes and a huge gush of wind comes out of no where. This guy opened the emergency exit door. People were tackling him down and put him in zip ties. Had to emergency land back," user @lazydubz wrote, attaching a video to her post that showed the perpetrator, who has not yet been identified by the authorities, being led off the plane along with the six heroes.

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Her account of what occurred indicates that the suspect ended up briefly succeeding in his attempt to open the emergency door, given the "huge gush of wind" that swept through the aircraft.

Another user, @Klipticmusic, wrote that they had been texting user @lazydubz while she was on the flight. He wrote: "Leyla was on this flight and it was terrifying texting her without knowing what was going on. F**k this dude."

A statement from American Airlines provided to The U.S. Sun stated that the flight landed safely and that the perpetrator was led out of the aircraft by local law enforcement in Albuquerque. They stated that there had been "a disturbance in the cabin involving a disruptive customer."

Jeremiah Hassel