PPRuNe Forums - QANTAS get caught Pants Down

Naked man holds up flight from LA
By Liz Gooch
THE AGE
November 4, 2004

A naked man ran across the tarmac of Los Angeles International Airport and climbed onto the wheel of a Qantas plane bound for Melbourne.

Airport authorities saw the man running towards flight QF94 on Tuesday and sent police, security and paramedics to investigate.

The plane's captain was notified and he shut down the engines, Qantas spokeswoman Jodie Taylor said.

Authorities spoke to the man, who peacefully climbed down after about 45 minutes. The plane, which was due to leave at 11.15pm on Monday, Los Angeles time, eventually took off an hour later.

A Melbourne passenger told The Age that the plane was towed away from the terminal and "then all of sudden all the lights and the air-conditioner went down".

"The captain came on and he said 'we've got a stowaway, he appears to be in our wheel-housing area, so we've had to turn all the systems off'," said the passenger, who wanted to remain anonymous. She said the captain asked people to remain seated.

Airport security and police put the man, who appeared to be in his early 40s, in a padded wheelchair before taking him to a police car, the passenger said.

"I don't know whether they gave him something or sedated him," she said.

"The captain came on and said it appeared that there was a drug issue with this man."

The aircraft was then inspected and cleared for take-off. Ms Taylor said airport authorities were investigating the incident.

The passenger said everyone on board remained calm and followed instructions, adding: "The pilot handled it extremely well."

:8 :8 :8