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A view of the Baton Rouge, La., airport on Wednesday.
Updated at 6 p.m. ET: An unarmed passenger who locked himself in the cockpit of a vacant American Eagle plane Wednesday afternoon at the Baton Rouge, La., airport was taken into custody, officials say.
Police had been negotiating with the passenger who boarded the Embraer 145 that was supposed to leave for Dallas as Flight 2795, NBC station WVLA reported.
The FBI identified the suspect as Andrew Alessi, who faces charges of interfering with a flight crew.
The man was distraught but his motive was unclear, the FBI told NBC News.
American Eagle canceled the flight.
The passenger apparently had a ticket for the flight and boarded the plane at the gate after passing through security, they said.
The plane had landed from its previous flight and passengers and crew had left, officials said. The plane was being serviced when the man around noon forced his way past the gate agent, locked himself in the cockpit and tried to communicate with the tower, they said. However, he apparently did not know how to operate the radio or fly the plane, they said.
Power to the plane was cut off, so it was inoperable.
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The man was unarmed and was not on any no-fly lists, officials said.
The Baton Rouge Police Department and the FBI dealt with the incident, which was not considered a terrorist threat, WVLA reported.
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Leave a Comment:
Ignoring how horrible an idea this was I've gotta say it is kind of funny he was able to accomplish it. Going to be on the now fly list now.
Ambien.
Or some other Big Pharma poison.
.
Why do they keep saying he was unarmed? Once he was in the cockpit, does it really matter? At least there was no power to the plane so he could not attempt to move it, let alone fly it. That would have been a bigger disaster had he been able to just move the plane.
He should have been beaten on the Tarmac for all to see in the terminal. I am curious, was is the orgin of the name Aleffi?? Could it be Al-Hodji Aleffi?
Alessi is an name of Italian origin which any reasonably educated person (clearly not Seven2Seven) would surmise.
"This is not your captain speaking. On behalf of the flight crew, I invite you to sit back and relax while we find out just how good these cabin security doors are."
Can you say 'nutbag'?
Got in there with Voter-ID?
IMO many of these "incidents" are staged for training purposes. Not complainin', just sayin'.
Usually training exercises are announced to be training exercises after they've concluded. Since the media got ahold of it, you bet your behind they would have been quick to correct the record if that was the case!
No, they are not training exercises. Operating an airliner is expensive and you do not take one out of regularly scheduled line service, on short notice, to conduct exercises.
I'm thinking his next flight will be to Guantanamo!
f'n idiot ....
probably a democrat
I dunno, most of the batsh** crazy people I know are conservatives.
I think it has to do with all the paranoid "they're coming to get us!!!1" rhetoric coming from the right. Your guns! Your "religious [Christian] freedums!" Your patriarchy! Your junk food! Your medicare! ....heh.
But, is he a "legitimate" conservative?
Usually the door to the gate is locked until boarding. It takes a special password to open it. Wonder why it was left unlocked?
Baton Rouge-? go figure
Good insight, wahoo2.
The aircraft was being serviced, so the gate was open. The man pushed past the gate agent and ran onto the aircraft.
I bet he is now.
Since he was not identified, he escapes scrutiny - by the General Public.
Alert passengers/people prevented TERRORIST attacks = The Christmas Day bomber - The Times Square bomber, etc.
I believe there is more to the story - and this is just a Fluff piece. Too many details - of the situation - without identifying the culprit - who was not successful in whatever he was attempting to do.
I believe this was a trial run for something......to see how far he could get.
Reminder: a Hollywood actor had reported to the FBI = a group of men of Middle Eastern descent acting suspiciously - on his flight - that turned out to be some of the 911 hi-jackers - taking a trial run - to clock the flight path - a week before 911.
The man was unarmed and was not on any no-fly lists, officials said.
The Baton Rouge Police Department and the FBI dealt with the incident, which was not considered a terrorist threat, WVLA reported.
*
No name, not identified? Why?
US citizen, Illegal Alien or WTF?
"...when the man around noon ...." [article]
I'm going to assume he was accompanied by the "cow who jumped over the moon"?
Perhaps it's time to set a limit at the airport bar.
What a Stupe
If he thinks he was "distraught" then, wait until he meets his cellmate "Large and Lonely Larry".