MELBOURNE, Fla. - Channel 9 spoke with the airport maintenance worker Friday who stopped a man as he boarded an American Airlines jet that was undergoing maintenance.
"I knew right away -- I mean we're trained," said airport maintenance worker Shayne Graves. "No badge. Looked down -- no shoe on that foot. This isn't right. Nothing's right about this kid."
Melbourne airport officials said that Trinidad and Tobago native Nishal Sankat breached airport security around 1:30 a.m.
Authorities said Sankat tried to steal the airplane.
Graves confronted Sankat while he was on the plane. Graves said he didn't hesitate to act because he thought about the 9/11 attacks.
"I said this isn't going to happen again," Graves said, sobbing.
He was looking around, and I said, 'You’re coming with me. You're coming off this airplane.' I put him on the ground at the entrance door, got him on that golf cart, and we went into the hangar," Graves said.
"I really think he's a guinea pig, testing airport security. I really do," Graves said.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the FBI, is now investigating, but Sankat already faces state charges of violation of a visa, criminal trespassing and criminal theft of an aircraft.
Officials said Sankat is being cooperative. He is being held at the Brevard County Jail.
Graves said the suspect appeared to be on drugs.