Police on Wednesday arrested a woman after she allegedly breached security at Australia’s Canberra Airport and dashed onto the tarmac in an attempt to halt a departing flight, 9News reports.
The incident occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. and caused brief delays as the woman reportedly evaded airport personnel and ran under the Adelaide-bound QantasLink plane, gesturing to the pilot to let her on board, according to 9News.
“People were a bit flat-footed, they didn’t seem to know what to do, that was the weird part,” Dennis Bilic, who captured the event on video, told the outlet.
Well, that’s one way to walk the runway. 😬
A woman has been arrested following a bizarre security breach at Canberra Airport around 7.30pm last night.#9News pic.twitter.com/ylC7VFgUY2
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) November 2, 2023
“[We were thinking] ‘Is anyone gonna stop her?'” Bilic added. (RELATED: Man Allegedly Crashes Car Through Fence At Maine Airport And Starts Driving Next To Runway)
Another witness, Simon Hales, said the woman had missed her flight and pushed past the staff at the gates to run onto the tarmac.
“Luckily the pilot was warned or spotted her and killed the engine,” Hales told 9News.
Flight operations resumed normally after a 10-minute interruption, and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has launched an investigation into the incident, per the outlet.
The incident paralleled scenes from two Jim Carrey movies. In “Liar, Liar,” Carrey’s character commandeers a set of mobile stairs to chase a plane carrying his wife and son on the runway, eventually hurling his shoe at the cockpit window to stop the aircraft. Meanwhile, in “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey’s character storms past airport staff by claiming to be a limo driver, only to tumble from the jet bridge after the plane had already left.