by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:45 AM ET, Thu November 21, 2024
A passenger onboard American Airlines Flight 1915 was restrained with duct tape after he attacked an elderly flight attendant in an attempt to get off the plane while it was in the air on Tuesday, November 19, prompting an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.
According to the FAA, the flight, which took off from Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport in the morning, landed around 10:00 a.m. local time in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, its original destination. The original FAA statement noted that the crew had reported “a passenger disturbance.”
ABC News reported the suspect tried to open a cabin door mid-flight, and became violent when he was denied.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who spoke to people onboard the plane, noted the suspect was a Canadian citizen and had struck a 79-year-old female flight attendant in his attempt to open the door. Passengers immediately responded by subduing the suspect, eventually restraining him by duct-taping his hands and ankles, and laying him on his stomach for the rest of the flight.
ABC News was told the airport police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation took the man for a medical evaluation. While no arrests have been made, the FAA and the FBI are investigating.
The flight attendant suffered injuries and went to the hospital, but has since been discharged.
"The safety and security of our customers and team members is our top priority and we thank our team members and customers for managing a difficult situation," the airline told ABC News.
Year-to-date, there have been 1,854 incidents of unruly passengers in the skies, according to the FAA’s Unruly Passenger Database.
While that number may seem high, it’s a 15 percent drop from last year. It’s also a far drop from 2021, when we saw unruly incidents skyrocket to historically high levels. In 2021, there were 5,973 unruly passenger incidents.
There were less than 1,000 unruly passenger incidents reported each year prior to 2019, when we began to see the biggest increases in incidents. The FAA can propose fines for unruly passenger behavior of up to $37,000.
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