![]() There were conflicting reports soon after the incident. “The passenger was restrained onboard and was removed from the flight by law enforcement without further incident when the aircraft arrived back at Seattle,” the airline said in a prepared statement. The flight departed again for Beijing shortly after midnight local time Friday.ĭelta described the event as a “security incident with a passenger.” Hudek was also injured, but declined treatment from medics and was taken into custody, Cooper said. The flight attendant and a passenger were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, airport spokesman Perry Cooper said, without giving further details about the injuries. PT, flight-tracking website FlightAware shows. PT, turned back and landed at Sea-Tac airport at 7:09 p.m. The Boeing 767-300ER, which had taken off at 5:24 p.m. He remained “extremely combative” all the way back to Seattle and needed to be restrained by multiple passengers until the Delta flight landed, according to the complaint. Several first-class passengers and the flight attendants eventually were able to restrain Hudek long enough to put zip-tie handcuffs on him. Hudek was able to break away several times during the altercation. ![]() “Hudek did not seem impacted by the breaking of a full-liter red wine bottle over his head, and instead, shouted ‘Do you know who I am?” or something to that extent,” according to the complaint. Hudek then attempted again to open the exit door.Īs the struggle continued, another flight attendant grabbed two wine bottles and struck Hudek in the head, breaking one. ![]() During the altercation, Hudek punched a flight attendant twice in the face and hit another assisting passenger with a bottle of wine. The flight attendants then signaled to passengers they needed help. However, at a lower altitude, according to the complaint, it was possible the door might open. According to the complaint, Hudek was able to move the door handle mechanism and push the emergency release lever halfway.Īircraft cabin doors cannot be opened at high altitudes because of the differing pressures inside and outside the jet’s cabin, and the Delta plane was cruising at high altitude, at 32,000 feet, when the incident happened. Two flight attendants tried to subdue Hudek but were pushed away, and he continued his attempt to open the door. The battle in the galley near the cockpit of Delta Flight 129, which was headed to Beijing with 210 passengers and 11 crew aboard, began as the airliner cruised near Canada’s western coast about an hour into the flight.Īccording to a criminal complaint released Friday, Hudek - who was traveling in first class on a dependent travel pass, a perk afforded to family members employed by the airline - attempted to open the forward exit door on the right side of the airliner. That carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000. The suspect made an initial appearance in federal court Friday in Seattle, hearing the criminal complaint of one count of interfering with a flight crew. Joseph Daniel Hudek IV, a 23-year-old passenger from Florida, was arrested after the plane returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, FBI spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich-Williams said. SEATTLE - An unruly passenger who authorities say was trying to open an exit door on a Delta Air Lines flight to Beijing fought with the cabin crew and a passenger and was conked over the head by a flight attendant with two wine bottles, a criminal complaint alleges.
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