Summary
Passengers on an American Airlines flight from Milwaukee to Dallas-Fort Worth restrained a Canadian man with duct tape after he allegedly attempted to open a cabin door mid-flight, claiming he was the “captain” and needed to exit.
The man became aggressive, injuring a flight attendant as he rushed toward the door.
Several passengers, including Doug McCright and Charlie Boris, subdued him, using duct tape to secure his hands and ankles.
Authorities detained the man upon landing, and the incident remains under investigation.
Toothbrush
Headphones
Neck pillow
DUCT TAPE.
The passenger was seen lying on his stomach with his hands behind his back bound as well as his ankles with duct tape, the report said.
So for future reference, especially for those of you who do such things recreationally, facedown restraint is very risky from a respiratory standpoint, especially with the limbs back in the hogtie position, that is how the cops kill people (I would say accidentally except they have enough education on the topic to preclude that). But ultimately I’m mostly just glad they kept him from opening the plane. That’s the obvious first priority there. Damn.
But ultimately I’m mostly just glad they kept him from opening the plane. That’s the obvious first priority there. Damn.
It’s physically impossible to open a door on an airplane during most stages of the flight. The door first needs to move inward before opening, and the pressure differential is absurd. The handle would break long before you’d open the door. The only time it’s really possible is near the ground as you’re coming in to land or taking off (which did happen recently).
I’m going to trust that you’re correct.
But I’m still going to duct tape the psychopath for everyone’s safety, including the psychopath.
That’s not true on every plane.
Typically for doors that don’t open inward first, they have interlocks.
For example, the over wing doors on a 737ng don’t open inward, they are actually spring loaded on a hinge and swing directly outward, there is a locking pawl that engages and disengages automatically under specific circumstances, requiring the squat switches on the landing gear to be engaged and the throttles to be in an idle position.
Boeing aircraft have this safety feature where it fucking immediately falls off so you can always get out if you are the Captain and need to escape from the bad duct tape wielders.
Opening the door during flight is attempted murder of everyone on board, fuck him. I hope it was hard to breathe the whole time and they put him in a nice padded cell for a while.
Considering he was claiming to be the captain and trying to get off the plane it seems highly likely he was having some kind of mental breakdown. He needs proper medical care and a psychological evaluation, not summary execution. Yes he was a danger to himself and others, but that doesn’t mean he’s guilty of attempted murder. A padded room might be appropriate depending on the psych evaluation, but wishing suffering on him without knowing the full situation is too much.
Found the cop.
They probably were going through some kind of mania or hallucination episode.
Don’t always assume the worst in people, “eye for an eye” has never worked.
“Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” is the more accurate version I think
This saying is a pet peeve of mine, because it’s so contrary to the actual meaning of “eye for an eye”, which is a prohibition against escalation. Like in this case the guy injured someone’s neck and wrist, so the maximum punishment would be injuring his neck and wrist, not killing him. That’s not to say “eye for an eye” is an ideal justice system, just that it is opposed to wanton revenge and violence.
I like that saying, I’ll be reusing it.
It’s the original saying 😭
Uh, no? “An eye for an eye.” is old school ancient.
It was however a limiting statement. When Hammurabi made “an eye for an eye” into law, it meant you couldn’t just go kill a man’s entire family over losing an eye and call it justified.
Where the counter comes from doesn’t preclude this, but is an evolution of it. If the law says your family takes their eye in revenge for them taking yours, then they take revenge for what you did, etc. It creates a potential for a cycle of vengeance. It’s better than nothing probably, but it also has serious flaws.
In most airplanes, it’s impossible to open the doors while the plane is in the air due to air pressure keeping them in place.
That doesn’t give anyone a pass to try and open it.
No, but it does mean that calling it attempted murder is a bit strong. They were trying to do something that’s physically impossible for them to do. It’d be like calling it attempted murder if I went up to someone and tried to use my psychic powers to explode their heart.
It’s an attempt to harm, and you will be prosecuted for it.
I am specifically addressing the comment:
Opening the door during flight is attempted murder of everyone on board
It is not attempted murder. The case you link to backs me up:
Gapco is charged with interference with a flight crew, and attempted damage to an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.
Why no attempted murder charge, if it’s attempted murder?
Ok well, im not going to argue over nonsense with you.
Maybe try to reason about why an insane person might do that instead of assuming that everybody is evil?
Feel free to reason it out with someone on your next flight as they do everything described in the article. Have fun.
That’s not how plane doors work.
Yes it is. Unless they’re under like 5,000 feet there’s hundreds of pounds of pressure holding the door closed.
Just looked it up, it’s over 20,000 lbs of force required to open the door when pressurized.
Gilgamesh could easily open that
The handle will rip off the door before it gets anywhere close to opening.
It’s why plane doors open inwards before they open outwards. The air pressure means the door cannot possibly open inwards when at altitude.
This is very calming to hear & I feel like it needs to be mentioned lots more when we hear about these incidents! no sarcasm, it’s honestly good to think it’s not so easy
I mean, it’s an attempt, but it’s in no way possible to actually do. That’s thousands of pounds of pressure on that door. I’d bet on the handle breaking off before the door opens mid-flight.
I understand the need to neutralize the threat but duct taping someone to Texas is just cruel
Truly a punishment that doesn’t fit the crime.
Why is duct tape easily available on the airplanes then normal rope to tie? Are the airplanes required to use the duct tape in an emergency case?
2 things
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when it’s an airplane we call it speed tape and its used all over the aircraft, mostly by maintenance, to keep the plane together. Don’t worry about it.
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This probably wasn’t duct tape anyway, but special tape for passenger restraint, similar to zip ties, that is stored on board for use in this type of situation
There is duct tape carried on some commercial airliners.
This is not the same as speed tape, and aluminum tape is not generally carried on airliners. That stays with the mechanics.
- when it’s an airplane we call it speed tape and its used all over the aircraft, mostly by maintenance, to keep the plane together. Don’t worry about it.
…prior to this comment, I hadn’t.
I had one flight where we watched the mechanic go out to the plane’s wing and get up in there with duct tape and sticks.
And people ask why we train to jump out of Air Force planes…
Speed tape is a very different thing vs ducktape. Ducktape rips off at speed, speed tape doesn’t, hence it being called ‘speed tape’ (there’s even different grades rated for different speeds). It’s also only used for sealing gaps in housings or smoothing damaged aerofoil surfaces, its never used for retention of working parts.
(okay I’ll admit that sometimes it’s used to hold hoses or wiring in place when a retention clip or cable run has been damaged, but thats bad practice and its quite safe. There’s a few planes out there that even natively use it for the wiring harness in some really awkward, low-risk sections)
Suuure… That’s what you guys want us to believe. Big Aviation Mechanics are all in on it together! They take a roll of tape out to the plane and make sure the passengers see it. It’s all a big show! Don’t think we don’t know that the plane actually just sits there while you guys change the backgrounds!
;)-
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Duct tape is used on airplanes all the time, so it’s readily available & multi-purpose. While it looks super sketchy, it’s actually pretty decent for a temporary fix until a proper repair can be implemented. Sometimes they’re criticized for leaving the temporary duct tape fixes on far too long. 🙃🙃🙃🙃
It’s 100% true. Nothin more permanent than a temporary fix
It makes sense because the tape is more versatile, and because practically nobody knows how to tie good knots.
Why would an airplane need regular rope?
Alternatively, duct tape might have been something the passengers had on hand so they didn’t have to request something from staff
When are we ever going to use the fucking rope?
To board the airships, obviously.
Assuming it wasn’t a Boeing, he wouldn’t have been able to get the door open, so at least they weren’t in any real danger.
Well, not from the door opening, you are right (pressure difference and such). But he already injured a flight attendant, so I guess he wasn’t going to say “oh well it doesn’t open, I tried, I’ll sit down quietly now”.
I wasn’t meaning to suggest that. Just that he wasn’t endangering everyone on the plane.
Well, not everyone at the same time, just one at a time! Lol
I understand what you mean, I’m just kidding.
“Whoopsie-doodles! Sorry y’all, I thought that was gonna open. Don’t mind me none!”
Tbf, being with a violently aggressive person in a tight enclosed space is still risky regardless
Having worked in childcare in college, I once had a angry child bite me. Their little baby teeth broke skin.
Humans, even without weapons, can do a lot of damage.
I agree. I didn’t mean to suggest that. I was just trying to say he couldn’t have opened the door at altitude.
That’s assuming Boeing parts work as intended which, putting it generously, seems to be less likely than it once was.
Especially after the door fell out of that one plane.
That depends on where in the flight he tried to open the door. The article says mid flight but that could mean anything.
Above 10,000 ft he wouldn’t be able to open the door because of the pressure difference but below that and he would have no problems since the cabin isn’t pressurized and the doors aren’t locked with any key or anything.
Depends on the aircraft. In a 737 the doors drop pins once the takeoff roll begins. He wouldn’t be able to physically open the door at that point.
A319
If you are talking about this, the plane was landing. When it is at cruising altitude, cabin pressure makes that impossible.
AA1915 was an A319.
Oh! I see, thanks.
Something tells me he was not the captain. But I’ll wait for all the facts to come out before I rush to judgement.
Good thinkin, Cap!
Duct taped to the whole of the state?
Live in Texas, can confirm. I’m currently taped to his ankle.
