A KLM 777 bound for Amsterdam never made it off the ground in Atlanta on Tuesday night. A passenger thought he saw a gun on board, called 911 from his seat, and opened an emergency exit while the aircraft was taxiing – deploying the emergency slide. Everyone else on the flight wound up rebooked. He wound up in jail.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers responded to a “person armed” call.
KLM flight 622 returned to Ramp 9, where officers boarded and arrested the caller. The man was charged with:
- Reckless Conduct
- Criminal Damage to Property
- Interfering with Security Measures
The man was loudly claiming someone had a gun on board, loud enough for nearby rows to hear. Crew told air traffic control some version of “the easiest solution is to get rid of the psychotic passenger here with police” as the aircraft headed back in. Before anyone could fully contain him, he ran to the exit, and by the time people “pounced on him,” the door was already open and the slide was out. No weapon was found on board.
Accidental slide deployments are not rare, and they are not cheap. Repacking an undamaged slide alone can run up to around $12,000. Inspection, repair, or outright replacement can push the parts and maintenance bill much higher. When you factor in taking a widebody out of service, rebooking a full long haul flight, putting passengers in hotels, and dealing with crew other knock-on effects, total costs for a single deployment can hit six figures. Yet we do tell passengers if they ‘see something, say something’ (but we don’t tell them to pop the slide).
So, EU261 compensation, or is this an ‘extraordinary circumstance,’ oof…
Also, for the Business Class passengers, can they still get their delft blue house as a consolation prize, or do they actually need to complete the flight… double-oof.
The inevitable result of constant liberal fearmongering about Americans having guns combined with brainwashed but provincial and uneducated yuropoors being exposed to an actual developed country.
@aj90x — Woah, that’s a lot of ‘hate’ and ‘ignorance’ for a comment on here; where’s @Walter Barry, @Not Scott, @Coolio, and our other resident bigots? You’re giving them all a run for their money. Tell us how you really feel.