A Turkish man was arrested on the weekend for attempting to #enter the cockpit of an American Airlines flight heading from Los Angeles to Honolulu. He was Duct Taped to his seat by fellow passengers as the flight was not only escorted by two Hawaii National Guard F-22 Raptor jets as it landed in Honolulu, but also greeted by the #Federal Bureau of Intelligence.
The man was identified as a Turkish national called #Anil Uskanil, at the age of 25, and he was flying from Los Angeles Tom Bradley Airport to Honolulu, Hawaii. He had allegedly tried to enter the plane's cockpit, which is a breach of US law and something that is only done with special security codes.
The airline company, #American Airlines, had broadcast reports initially to the Daily News claiming that there had been “disturbance during the flight."
The man, Uskanil, was according to sources "loitering" in the vicinity of the airplane's bathroom and seen holding a laptop, according to NBC News reports. He had been asked politely by the crew to go back to his seat, and refused; this was when he had been described as lurching toward the cockpit in an attempt to breach it. Once in #Honolulu, Anil Uskanil was then greeted by FBI officers and escorted into custody.
Duct-taped to his seat by passengers
Two witnesses on the plane reported to the Associated Press that Uskanil was sitting in economy class and couldn’t get into the first-class section when a cabin crew attendant used her meal cart to block him.
According to Hawaii News Now, a passenger named Penny Lorenzen described the man being grabbed and then forced into his seat with #duct-tape, adding that it was "kind of surreal." Her husband, Lee Lorenzen, was in the group of passengers who helped to crush the man's attempts. He described the man as pushing against the heavy meal cart that had been placed to block him, and then being held back by a group of people.
According to news reports, the flight landed without further incident in Honolulu at 11:35 am where law enforcement was waiting to deal with the situation. The Turkish man was then escorted into place custody by federal agents by the FBI.
Passengers on the plane had taken audio recordings that recorded the man being escorted off the flight by law enforcing officials.
In one Instagram video, a user called bplus.noisefloor.dnb wrote: "Crazy! Someone tried to break into the cockpit on my flight from LA to Honolulu. We were greeted by the FBI. They are now taking us off the plane a few rows at a time for dog sniffing and interviews," the caption reads in part.
Reports had also been published on Saturday that the same man was detained by law enforcement at the #Los Angeles International Airport when he had attempted to walk through a door out to the airfield at around 2:45 am. In this instance, LAX police had responded to sightings of a passenger passing from the concourse through a door to the airfield ramp, according to NBC News. In a worrying and unbelievable twist, the Turkish man was seen by an airport contractor and was detained for a few hours.
Media published reports that indicated Uskanil was a proper-ticketed passenger who had made it successfully through the #TSA screening. Although he had been drinking, the police reported that he did not match the criteria for being drunk. After a few hours of questioning he was allegedly cited for misdemeanor trespassing and then eventually released – which was when he climbed aboard his flight, according to NBC News notes.
Authorities indicated that Uskanil had been taken into custody when the American Airlines Honolulu flight landed – and he is is currently being held at the #Honolulu Federal Detention Center. Many in the media were surprised that he was involved in two separate incidents in one day, and wonder why the authorities let him back on a plane.
