An explanation in court for the disruptive behavior:
Man in flight disturbance case was hallucinating butterfly
October 4, 2017 3:29pm
A MAN whose allegedly disruptive behaviour caused him to be escorted off a flight by the FBI has a particularly original excuse.
A TURKISH man who pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew on an American Airlines flight, which had to be escorted to its destination by fighter jets, blamed his in-flight behaviour on hallucinating that he was chasing a butterfly.
A butterfly suddenly came out of the front pocket of the seat in front of him, Anil Uskanli said in a Honolulu federal court on Tuesday in describing what he did during the May 19 American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
“The butterfly went crazy ... flew into the toilet,” he said. “I followed it. I tried to kill it by punching it.”
Uskanli, 25, said he now realises that he was ill and hallucinating.
Uskanli raised other red flags while still at Los Angeles International Airport, but experts said a lack of communication and an airline’s hesitancy to be caught on video booting a passenger played a role in allowing him to fly.
In April, a United Airlines incident in which a passenger was dragged off an overcrowded plane drew widespread attention.
American Airlines LA to Honolulu passenger blames butterfly for antics