Lufthansa Passenger Tries To Open Plane Door Midflight

A passenger on a Lufthansa flight on its way from Frankfurt
to Belgrade on Sunday was detained after he threatened to open the plane door
and bring down the aircraft.

Banging on a cockpit door, the man reportedly threatened to
down the Lufthansa plane as it was flying over Austria. He was quickly restrained
by the crew and some passengers on-board.

“A passenger got up and tried to do something at the
door, but was stopped by crew members and other passengers,” said
Lufthansa spokesman Andreas Bartels.

Flight 1406 eventually landed in Belgrade, its planned
destination, where the troublemaker was handed over to local police and
arrested.

The man, who turned out to be an American citizen of
Jordanian descent, is currently being interrogated by the police and will spend
48 hours in detention before facing trial, according to Serbia’s public
prosecutor, as reported by the Blic daily.

Milan Djukic, a Serbian handball team player who was also on
the same plane, said the man had looked suspicious even before they boarded the
plane.

“About halfway into the flight he tried to open a plane
door, but the cabin crew stopped him,” Djukic told Blic. It was a normal door,
which of course cannot be opened in-flight… it was not the cockpit
door,” Bartels added.

Assistant coach Milan Mirkovic and handball player Aleksej
Rastvorcev calmed the man down, while other passengers had no idea what was
going on, he said, adding that two players kept an eye on the rowdy, who was in
business class, for the rest of the flight.