Man Jumps From Moving Jet

[ORAC]

Tuesday January 24, 2006 5:33 AM

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - An airline passenger bit a fellow traveler Monday, then jumped out of a jetliner as it was moving to take off, authorities said. He was later subdued with a stun gun. The man was taken to a hospital from the Fort Lauderdale airport, the Broward County sheriff's office said. It was unclear whether he was injured. The other passenger suffered minor injuries from the bite.

The Continental Airlines flight had been delayed for about 30 minutes, and as the Boeing 737 began to taxi, the man started yelling to get off, the sheriff's office said. He ran to the front of the plane and banged on windows and the cockpit door, authorities said. As passengers and crew members tried to restrain him, he bit a passenger. When the pilot depressurized the cabin, the man opened a door, jumped to the tarmac and ran toward the terminal. Deputies said they zapped him with a stun gun after he resisted arrest.

Troy Rigby, 28, will be charged with criminal mischief, criminal trespass, battery, resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer, in addition to an outstanding warrant for marijuana possession, the sheriff's office said.

The plane, set to fly from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Newark, N.J., was carrying 116 passengers and five crew members. It was rescheduled for later Monday, a Continental spokesman said.

[OzExpat]

I s'pose it's a bit late to be adding more chlorine to the gene pool eh? :}

Wonder how long it'll be before SLF will be screened for this sort of behaviour huh?

[d192049d]

De-pressurised the cabin???? Surely the cabin is at ambient pressure at this point and therefore no diferential?

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

The pressurisation schedules to go slightly below airfield elevation after engine start, to avoid passenger ear discomfort on takeoff. The differential is 0.125 psi , if my memory serves me right. This means that over a big surface area such as a main door - plug type on the 737 - opening it would be surprisingly difficult.

[stue]

A 737 is fairly high off the ground? I wouldnt like to jump from one and expect to have my legs intact? How high is the door on a 737?:confused:

[avoman]

High off the ground but not impossibly high. If I jumped it I would break my ankles, burt i am in my mid fifties. A 28 year old in reasonable shape should get away with it usually. Keep clear of the engines!

[sinala1]

Would be interesting to know exactly at what stage of pushback/engine start/taxii etc this was going on - one would have presumed the slides would have been armed by that stage, and therefore deployed when he opened the door? Unless the a/c was taxiing back onto stand to offload the passenger and the slides had just been disarmed? :confused:

[P.Pilcher]

Further to Ozexpat's comment: It isn't SLF that the authorities will insist on extra screening for, but you can bet your sweet bippy that they will expect us aircrew to undergo further rigorous testing! What is that going to do to our report times??

P.P.

[Rainboe]

Is this yet another manifestation of marijuana induced psychosis? It seems to be implicated in more and more adverse reactions and it is accepted it has a significant effect of psychotic behaviour. It's disturbing that it is becoming increasingly accepted, especially by the young. Add a bit of alcohol to that, and no wonder people do a berserker!

[SaturnV]

Rainboe, according to the local Fort Lauderdale newspaper, the man complained of claustrophobia as he struggled with flight attendants and passengers. So it seems this may have been more of a panic attack. Panic attacks are often successfully treated with anti-depressants, and marijuana is generally viewed as an anti-depressant. In the U.S., the medication of choice for panic attacks is Zoloft, not cannibis (legal or otherwise).

[fernytickles]

I am not presuming to be an expert in any way, but puzzled as to why they couldn't have used a stun gun for the guy last month who went berserk and ran off the plane? Why didn't they use a real gun with this guy (apart from the not wanting to kill him factor)?

[aeroBits]

... but are you referring to the chap who did not take some meds and then ran off the aircraft claiming to have a bomb? I imagine that they have different rules of engagement in that scenario compared to a "normal" panic attack.

[hobie]

How high is the door on a 737?

I would say a touch over 9ft ...

(in old money!!!) ;)

[seacue]

Re: not using a real gun From reading online version of their local newspaper, the Sun-Sentinel, I get the impression that police thereabouts are pretty gun-happy. Maybe not the county police, but it seems that the police in the cities or towns within the county shoot one or more people per week.

[Rolling-Thunderbird]

What an end to this story.......sad


http://www.local6.com/news/6797346/detail.html