Man Breaks Into American Airlines Cockpit, Vandalizes Plane Set To Leave For Miami

A man in Honduras has been arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 11, after he was caught by the flight crew of an airplane to have been damaging the flight controls, with his attempt to escape through the cockpit’s window proving unsuccessful.

The event happened at the Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport in Sao Pablo, Honduras, in a Boeing 737 airplane that was supposed to take passengers back to Miami that afternoon, according to NBC News.

The man, who has yet to be identified, had broken into the cockpit by charging from the back of the plane to the front, damaging the controls heavily before the pilot of the plane attempted to stop him from continuing. The man tried to escape by the window but was kept on the plane by the crew, the New York Post reported.

“We applaud our outstanding crew members for their professionalism in handling a difficult situation,” American Airlines, the owner of the plane, said in a statement.

The man was later arrested by the local police force. It is not known at this time what his motivation for damaging the plane was. The original flight had over 121 passengers in it, with six crew members who were supposed to fly the plane.

After several hours American Airlines sent over another airplane to replace the damaged one in Honduras, and the passengers and crew were able to fly safely back to Miami.

The man has yet to be publicly charged for his actions.

This event comes as the Federal Aviation Administration cracks down on passengers who are willfully being violent against the crew of the airplanes they ride, mainly due to the federal mask mandate, according to Forbes.

Millions of dollars in fines have been given to unruly passengers, and the Department of Justice is reportedly chasing down some of these passengers with criminal charges to appease the airline labor unions bearing the brunt of the passengers’ behavior.