Ranchi: AirAsia passenger attempts to open exit door midair, handed over to police

An unruly passenger on AirAsia flight I5-546 risked the lives of all onboard when he tried to open the aircraft door just before landing in Ranchi on Tuesday. Aftab Ahmed, the man responsible for the reckless and potentially life-threatening incident has been handed over to the police, according to a Times of India report. The incident which took place at around 9.50 pm. Some passengers and the in-flight crew were injured trying to stop the man. Luckily, the unruly flyer was unable to open the Airbus A-320 emergency gate and the plane landed safely, the report added. “Aftab Ahmed, a 32-year-old resident of Ranchi, tried to open the emergency door at about 9.50pm on Monday 10 July. After landing at Ranchi Airport, he was handed over to the local police,” said a CISF spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.

The unruly passenger handed over to local police.

— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2017

The incident, though strange, is not a first for civil aviation. There have been multiple such cases in the recent past that point to a lack of air-safety and disregard for regulations. In February, a passenger onboard an IndiGo caused a security breach on a Mumbai-Chandigarh flight. [caption id=“attachment_3207280” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image.[/caption] According to a News18 report, the passenger opened the emergency exit door of the aircraft before take off and inflated the slide. “Just after the boarding got completed, while the aircraft was stationary, a passenger seated on seat number 12C suddenly opened the emergency exit door and inflated the slide. IndiGo staff on board immediately observed this and alerted the Captain-in-Command,” the airline was quoted as saying in the report. The statement added that the man got injured in the process and that the Captain took stock of the situation and immediately informed medical authorities and police officials at the airport about the incident. The man was taken into custody. Similarly, on Saturday, a 23-year-old US man onboard a Delta Airlines flight tried to open an exit door after leaving the lavatory. According to a PTI, the man used the lavatory twice one hour into the flight and lurched towards an exit door after leaving the lavatory the second time, grabbing the handle and attempting to open the door while the aircraft was above the North Pacific Ocean near Vancouver. As two attendants struggled with him, the suspect punched one of them twice in the face and hit a passenger who was trying to assist the attendant in the head with a wine bottle and then again tried to open the exit door. A passenger who tried to pull him away from the door was punched multiple times, the report added. Eventually, the man was subdued by flight attendants and passengers and later taken into police custody after the plane returned to Seattle’s Tacoma International Airport. The man, if convicted, faces up to 20 years in prison and a penalty of $250,000 for his actions.