An American Airlines passenger tried to storm into the cockpit, leading a flight attendant to bash him on the head with a coffee pot while subduing him with other flyers, terrified travelers said.
The flight was headed from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, on Sunday when mayhem involving the “unruly passenger” caused the plane to be diverted to Kansas City International Airport in Missouri, FBI officials said.
“The flight was diverted due to an unruly passenger interfering with the flight crew,” FBI Kansas City said. “As this is an ongoing matter, the FBI is unable to comment further.”
Mouaz Moustafa, a passenger, told the New York Times that the unidentified man tried to enter the cockpit and open the plane’s main exit door before several others intervened.
“Other passengers and flight attendants subdued and had to use force to disable the individual,” he wrote on Twitter.
Moustafa said a courageous group of passengers and a flight attendant armed with a coffee pot sprang into action and took the man down.
“A flight attendant ran to the back of the plane and got the coffee pot and continues to bash the guy on the head,” he told the New York Times.
As the terrifying incident was unfolding, the plane descended roughly 30,000 feet in less than eight minutes, according to flight data posted by Moustafa.
Moustafa said he and everyone else on board immediately thought of the worst-case scenario; that “it was the end for everybody.”
“It felt like the plane was free falling and many feared the worst because people weren’t fully aware of what was unfolding,” Moustafa recalled.
Footage posted by Moustafa from inside the plane shows the man being held down in the middle of the plane’s aisle as curious and relieved passengers look on.
FBI agents interviewed other passengers on the plane, footage posted by Moustafa shows. The man involved in the incident was “bleeding profusely,” Moustafa said.
One of the brave passengers who stepped up, Air Force reservist Carlos Rojas, said the irate passenger appeared to be middle-aged, distraught and paranoid.
“When I went up, it looked like the guy was trying to open the exterior door of the plane to the outside,” Rojas told the newspaper. “So we were kind of keeping him from doing that and just trying to subdue him and make sure that he was taken down and everybody was OK.”
The incident marks the latest report of unruly passengers in the skies, where such conduct surged 500 percent last year amid passengers who refused to don masks during the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Aviation Administration reported in June.
FAA officials reported an average of 12 “inflight disturbances” per 1 million screened passengers, compared to just 2 incidents per 1 million in 2019.
Some 394 reports of unruly passengers have been tallied thus far in 2022, including 255 related to face masks, according to FAA statistics through Feb. 8. Travelers can face criminal charges and fines up to $37,000 per violation.
American Airlines confirmed the plane landed safely in Missouri and thanked the fearless flyers who stepped up after the man’s “erratic” behavior.
“We’re grateful to our crew members, who are consistently dedicated to the safety and care of our customers and who handled the circumstances with the utmost skill and professionalism,” the airline told The Post in a statement. “We also appreciate the customers who stepped in to assist our crew.”
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, meanwhile, denounced the attack as a “dangerous, life-threatening” incident.
“This violent behavior must stop,” the organization tweeted Sunday.
APFA said it will work with other flight attendant and customer service agent unions and the Department of Transportation to ensure the man and other similar suspects are prosecuted to the fullest extent and face possible flying bans.
