Viral video: Woman tries to storm cockpit, crew tackles her mid-flight
Caught on camera
Video footage from inside Flight 950 shows flight attendants confronting the woman near the cockpit door. As the pilot opens the door, the woman attempts to move forward but is quickly tackled to the ground by a male flight attendant. She reportedly threatened to "kick [them]" while resisting restraint.
Plane returns to gate, passengers removed
As the situation worsened, the pilot made the call to return to the gate. According to the New York Post, both the woman and the disruptive man were removed from the aircraft and handed over to local authorities.
American Airlines later confirmed the incident caused a delay of 2 hours and 25 minutes.
In a statement, American Airlines said: "On Thursday, April 24, American Airlines Flight 950, operating from São Paulo (GRU) to New York (JFK), returned to the boarding gate prior to departure due to a safety problem on board. The aircraft was received by police officers and later took off at 12:55 a.m. local time."
The airline reiterated that the safety of passengers and crew remains its top priority.
Airline incidents on the rise
This episode adds to a growing list of mid-air disturbances that have forced emergency responses or delays. The FAA and airlines worldwide continue to report an increase in incidents involving unruly passengers since the pandemic.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
02-07-2025
- Khaleej Times
Lithuania says Moscow behind defacing of anti-Soviet monument
Lithuanian prosecutors said on Wednesday Russia's GRU military intelligence service had ordered the defacement of a monument to an anti-Soviet resistance leader in January 2024. Three residents of Estonia have been charged with travelling to fellow Baltic state Lithuania to carry out the act, prosecutor Rimas Bradunas told a press conference. The statue in southern Lithuanian town Merkine of Adolfas Ramanauskas, kneeling with his rifle in hand, was covered in red paint. Ramanauskas led armed resistance to the Soviet occupation of Lithuania after World War II before being executed in 1957. "Our investigation determined that these people, acting in an organised group, were executing the orders of Russian special services, in particular GRU, to destabilise the country," Bradunas said. Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Two of the three charged are dual Estonian-Russian citizens, while one is a Russian citizen. They were arrested in Estonia and handed over to Lithuania after an investigation involving the intelligence services of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the prosecutor said. The three, who are construction workers, were paid from a few hundred euros to a few thousand euros for their job, which lasted several months and included a survey of potential defacement targets, said Bradunas. They face up to seven years in jail if convicted on the charges, which include assisting another state to act against the Republic of Lithuania. Lithuanian prosecutors charged two people in March with attempting to start a fire at Vilnius IKEA store in May 2024, and accused Russia's military intelligence of orchestrating it. Russia dismissed the accusations as baseless and driven by what it describes as Russophobia. It has denied allegations by all three Baltic states, annexed by Moscow during World War II but now part of Nato and the European Union, of cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns and military pressure, especially since Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2022.
Zawya
12-06-2025
- Zawya
A flight attendant impersonator scammed tickets for more than 120 flights
A 35-year-old man was convicted last week of scoring free airline flights by posing as a flight attendant dozens of times since 2018. Tiron Alexander was convicted by a federal jury of wire fraud and entering a secure area of an airport under false pretenses. Authorities said he took advantage of airline policies that allow pilots and flight attendants on competing carriers to fly free as "non-revenue' passengers. According to the U.S. attorney's office, he fraudulently booked more than 120 flights on four airlines to Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and other destinations. Of those flights, 34 were on Spirit Airlines. In a news release, prosecutors said he claimed to work for seven airlines, providing about 30 badge numbers and dates of hire to book flights through a website available only to flight crew. He still had to provide his name and birth date to get a boarding pass. "That information is how he was ultimately caught, with his fraudulently secured flights piling up in Spirit's log books until it was large enough for the airline to take notice,' court documents say. A federal grand jury handed down the indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in October, but Alexander wasn't taken into custody until February. He was arrested trying to fly from San Francisco to Australia, according to court records. Alexander most recently worked for American Airlines in customer service, court documents say, but had been suspended without pay for about a year when he was arrested. His employment history, as detailed in filings, shows a long interest in aviation. He worked as a flight attendant for two regional airlines between 2013 and 2015. He had since tried to return to the skies, applying to the Alaska Airlines pilot academy in 2022 and for flight attendant jobs at Alaska and Delta in 2024. Prosecutors declined to comment; Alexander's public defenders did not respond to emails requesting comment Wednesday. Alexander was convicted of four counts of wire fraud, each of which could carry a maximum of 20 years in prison, and one count of entering a secure airport area under false pretenses, which has a maximum sentence of 10 years. Each count can also come with a top fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August, according to the Justice Department's news release. It is not the first time a flier has pulled one over on an airline. Con man Frank Abagnale Jr. said he posed as a pilot as a teenager for free flights, a feat that got him portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie "Catch Me if You Can.' A man in India tried to gain his own pilot perks with a fake ID before being arrested in 2019. And a Houston man who had previously worked for an airline pleaded guilty to making false identity cards to get free flights on Spirit in 2021. © Dar Al Sharq Press, Printing and Distribution. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Gulf News
30-04-2025
- Gulf News
Viral video: Woman tries to storm cockpit, crew tackles her mid-flight
An American Airlines flight from Sao Paulo to New York descended into chaos on April 24 after a female passenger attempted to force her way into the cockpit, prompting a physical response from crew members. Caught on camera Video footage from inside Flight 950 shows flight attendants confronting the woman near the cockpit door. As the pilot opens the door, the woman attempts to move forward but is quickly tackled to the ground by a male flight attendant. She reportedly threatened to "kick [them]" while resisting restraint. Plane returns to gate, passengers removed As the situation worsened, the pilot made the call to return to the gate. According to the New York Post, both the woman and the disruptive man were removed from the aircraft and handed over to local authorities. American Airlines later confirmed the incident caused a delay of 2 hours and 25 minutes. In a statement, American Airlines said: "On Thursday, April 24, American Airlines Flight 950, operating from São Paulo (GRU) to New York (JFK), returned to the boarding gate prior to departure due to a safety problem on board. The aircraft was received by police officers and later took off at 12:55 a.m. local time." The airline reiterated that the safety of passengers and crew remains its top priority. Airline incidents on the rise This episode adds to a growing list of mid-air disturbances that have forced emergency responses or delays. The FAA and airlines worldwide continue to report an increase in incidents involving unruly passengers since the pandemic.
