American Airlines Passenger Arrested After Entering Plane's Cockpit

A man was arrested on an American Airlines flight leaving Honduras for Miami, Florida, CNN reported on Wednesday. The man reportedly entered the cockpit shortly before takeoff and caused damage to the aircraft before trying to escape, but he was arrested by local law enforcement. The date, time and reason for the attack have not been made public.

American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz told CNN that one of the company's planes was at its gate in Honduras, preparing to take off for Miami when this alarming attack took place. It is not clear whether the man snuck past crew members or forced his way into the cockpit, but Jantz said that "crew members intervened and the individual was ultimately apprehended by local law enforcement. We applaud our outstanding crew members for their professionalism in handling a difficult situation."

American Airlines sent a replacement aircraft to Honduras to make the scheduled transit while the damaged plane went through thorough inspections. The flight was reportedly rescheduled for a later time. It is not clear if the reason for this attack was determined.

Airlines have been struggling with a surge in heated incidents on planes in recent months as the travel industry tries to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dozens of stories of passengers lashing out about safety precautions like face masks have made the headlines, and in many of those cases things have turned violent between travelers and/or crew members. The tales run the gamut, with anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers among both the passengers and the crew.

The Federal Aviation Administration received over 5980 complaints of unruly passengers in 2021, it reported. The agency said that 4,290 of those incidents were related to face masks, and that 1,075 investigations were initiated to get to the bottom of those confrontations.

Passengers found to have created problems like these are subject to fines by law enforcement agencies depending on where they are traveling. In extreme cases, airlines can ban specific customers from their flights altogether. Late last month, the FAA took it a step further by announcing that passengers who are found to have caused issues like these can lose their TSA PreCheck credentials. In a joint press release, the two agencies said that PreCheck is a "privilege reserved for low-risk travelers."

At the time of this writing, domestic air travel is facing relatively few restrictions in spite of the surge in COVID-19 cases. The CDC has a dedicated webpage here with information planning air travel as safely as possible in the midst of the pandemic.