Man Jumps Out of Taxiing Aircraft at Phoenix Airport

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

A passenger jumped out of a taxiing airplane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Saturday shortly after landing.

Southwest Airlines Flight 4236 departed Colorado Springs Airport at 6:27 a.m. local time and landed 18 minutes early in Phoenix at 7:59 a.m.

As the aircraft, a Boeing 737-700, taxied to the terminal, a 30-year-old man jumped out from a rear door.

“Initial reports indicate that while the flight was taxiing to the gate, a Customer onboard exited the aircraft via a rear galley door,” Southwest Airlines spokesman Dan Landson said. “The flight’s Captain stopped the aircraft and notified Air Traffic Control.”

The man ran to the airport’s fire station and locked himself in a dormitory room there, said Phoenix Fire Department Captain Todd Keller in a statement.

Firefighters coaxed the man into unlocking the door.

“He was then evaluated, treated and transported to a local hospital for a lower extremity injury,” Keller said.

No charges had been filed against the man at press time.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)