A flight crew used a lasso rope and tie wraps to restrain a South Korean man who attempted to open a plane door mid-flight on Monday.
The incident began approximately one hour into the flight from the Philippines to South Korea, reported CNN. Airline officials grew concerned about the 19-year-old passenger’s suspicious behavior and promptly relocated him to the front row of the aircraft, close to the exit door, for monitoring. According to officials, the man had complained of chest pressure.
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Without warning, the man dashed towards the emergency door and made an attempt to open it, reported CNN. However, the alert flight crew acted swiftly, and immediately subdued the man using a lasso rope and tie wraps. Upon landing at Seoul’s Incheon Airport, the passenger was handed over to local authorities. (RELATED: NYC Woman Busted During Attempt To Smuggle $15k Of Oxycodone Into Rikers Island)
The man was charged with violating the Aviation Security Act. Further investigation revealed that samples of the man’s hair and urine, tested by the National Forensics Service, came back positive for drugs.
“I felt I was being attacked,” the passenger told reporters on Tuesday when asked why he attempted to open the plane’s door, according to CNN.
This incident bears striking similarities to a previous event that occurred just a month ago when a man in his 30s successfully opened an aircraft’s emergency door moments before landing. Nine passengers had to be taken to the emergency room for breathing problems once the plane landed.
If a plane door were to open mid-flight, “anyone standing near the exit would be ejected into the sky; the cabin temperature would quickly plummet to frostbite-inducing levels, and the plane itself might even begin to break apart,” airline pilot Patrick Smith told The Telegraph.
Nevertheless, it is very hard to open a plane door because the cabin pressure won’t allow it, reported The Telegraph.