Unruly man subdued on jet heading to Hawaii

Associated Press

HONOLULU

Two U.S. fighter jets were summoned Friday to escort a flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii after an unruly man was subdued by passengers and flight attendants, who used a drink cart to block him from the front of the plane.

The man, identified by law-enforcement officials as Anil Uskanli, 25, of Turkey, was duct-taped to his seat until the plane landed in Honolulu and federal agents boarded the plane and arrested him, passenger Lee Lorenzen said.

“The flight attendants just were really heroic,” Lorenzen said. “By the time we landed and the FBI took him into custody, he was very mellow.”

As authorities Saturday investigated what happened, it was not clear whether Uskanli intended to harm anyone. He now faces a possible federal charge of interference with a flight crew, Paul Delacourt, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Honolulu office, told reporters in Hawaii.

The trouble with Uskanli actually began about eight hours before the flight departed. He was arrested before dawn at Los Angeles International Airport for opening a door that led onto an airfield ramp, according to Los Angeles Airport Police, who provided Uskanli’s identity to The Associated Press.

Police say Uskanli was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, given a date to appear in court and allowed to take the flight to Honolulu.

Bob Ross, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, on Saturday said attendants who represent the last line of air-travel defense managed to “defuse a high-risk situation”