Man Leaps from Moving Plane at LAX After Attempting to Break Into Cockpit
A passenger on a United Airlines flight departing from Los Angeles International Airport was hospitalized Friday night after attempting to break into the cockpit and then exiting the moving aircraft, authorities said.
United Express Flight 5365, an Embraer 175 operated by SkyWest Airlines, was pulling away from the gate shortly after 7 p.m. local time when the man pounded on the cockpit door in an attempt to breach the cockpit, he then opened one of the aircraft’s doors, which deployed an emergency slide, which he then used to reach the tarmac, according to statements from the airport, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and SkyWest.
The audio from the pilot’s call to air traffic control, the pilot can be heard reporting the incident.
The pilot first asks controllers to “please call law enforcement,” explaining that “we might have had a passenger that was a threat level jump out of the aircraft.”
The aircraft returned to the gate without further incident.
The flight finally departed at 10:36 p.m. local time and arrived in Salt Lake City at 1:25 a.m. MDT, 3 hours and 40 minutes later than scheduled.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)