LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A passenger holding a shoe punched a flight attendant and opened the rear door of a Southwest Airlines jet as it was about to take off for Las Vegas, authorities said.
"His words were that everybody on the plane was going to hell,'' passenger Michael Fitzhugh said. "You could see the panic of the passengers.''
Police at the Los Angeles airport arrested David Boone, 36, of New Orleans, on Monday for investigation of interfering with a flight crew. He was jailed without bail for a federal court appearance Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, a 20-year-old man was charged in federal court in Chicago with trying to bring four pocket knives, a box cutter, two flares and a bottle of lighter fluid onto an airplane out of Midway Airport.
Security screeners found the items in Steven Paul Johnson's carry-on bag along with a one-way ticket on an American Trans Air flight to Orlando, Fla. He was arrested without incident.
Authorities said they had no explanation for why Johnson, whose hometown police said was Marshalltown, Iowa, was carrying the items.
In California, authorities said the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Boone stood up on the Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas flight as the Boeing 737 was pulling away from the terminal with 142 people aboard.
"He approached the rear of the aircraft with a shoe in his hand and as a flight attendant tried to prevent him from opening the rear door, he hit her in the head with his fist,'' FBI spokesman Matthew McLaughlin said.
The attendant suffered minor injuries. No one else was hurt.
Boone then allegedly opened the door but surrendered when two male passengers moved to subdue him. He was believed to have been drinking.
The shoe contained no trace of explosives, authorities said.