Sunday, August 26, 2007

Maybe He Saw the Thing on the Wing?

Great old classic Twilight Zone episode, wasn't it? You remember, the one with William Shatner on the aiplane, and he saw the thing out on the plane's wing?

Probably NOT the case with this obviously upset young man in this incident:

Psycho tries to open jet door in air

BY DORIAN BLOCK and BRENDAN BROSH
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Sunday, August 26th 2007, 4:00 AM

Quick-thinking passengers and crew members managed to subdue a deranged man who tried to open an airplane door thousands of feet in the air on a flight to New York yesterday.

"There was a lot of panic," said passenger Bobby Vigil, who sat next to the man for most of the flight and later helped restrain him with duct tape and seat belts. "He tried to open the back door of the plane. He really wanted out at 30,000 feet."

Port Authority police met Frontier Airlines Flight 514 from Denver when it landed safely at LaGuardia Airport shortly before 6 a.m. After determining the culprit was emotionally disturbed, they took him to Elmhurst Hospital Center, Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said. He was not charged.

(...)

Vigil said the crazed man was bouncing up and down in his seat for most of the flight, clutching several boarding passes and kicking the row in front of him.

"He was playing with his hair, picking at his face and counting his fingers," said Vigil, 45, of Estes Park, Colo. "I thought he was anxious to get home or something."

(...)

"I heard the flight attendant say, 'Help me!'" Vigil said. A struggle broke out, and Vigil and two other male passengers rushed over to help the attendant restrain the passenger.

"We taped him up in an 'X' pattern," said Vigil. "He wouldn't stay still or cooperate."

The man, whose name was not released, attempted to bite the tape off his hands and feet. Extension belts were used to keep him in place as the plane prepared to land, Vigil said.


My questions here are these (if you read me regularly, you KNOW I have them) "Was there no indication BEFORE this man got on the plane? Was he acting normally prior to the flight? If there were indications that he was disturbed prior to the flight, why was he allowed on board to begin with?

Or maybe he DID see Shatner's wing rider...

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


Netflix, Inc.



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