An Alaska Airlines passenger has been arrested after he allegedly tried to open the plane’s cabin door as it left Prudhoe Bay last week.
Kassian William Fredericks, 36, was arrested on Sunday by federal agents, charged with interfering with a flight crew, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
According to the complaint against him, witnesses said Fredericks had been behaving erratically from the beginning on December 10. Flight attendants refused to serve him alcohol. Shortly afterward, a passenger reportedly came out of the lavatory and saw him trying to open the rear cabin door. Several passengers jumped into action and restrained him.
The plane continued its flight to Anchorage, 20 minutes away, and landed safely. Officials said it wouldn’t have been possible for Fredericks to open the door, but the incident was of concern to the pilots, who were notified of the attempt to open the door by automated systems. His continued manipulation of the door could have triggered deployment of the plane’s emergency slide inside the cabin, the affidavit said.
Fredericks, an employee on the North Slope oil fields, was shaking and agitated as the flight got under way, the affidavit said. He commented that he thought he was overdosing and needed air, then was heard saying “stop the plane, stop the plane” before taking a pill.
The witness said Fredericks said he needed to call his mother and asked, “How do I break the window? I don’t know how to break it,” according to PEOPLE.
A passenger on the plane told investigators it was good thing many of the passengers were “North Slope workers who were bigger in stature to be able to help” restrain Fredericks, the affidavit said.
He was reportedly calmer by the time the plane landed and even apologized to the flight crew.
Alaska Airlines officials said the company has banned him from the airline.
Fredericks was “intercepted and restrained until the aircraft landed safely in Anchorage, where it was met by law enforcement and EMTs,” the company said in a statement. “We thank our crew for their professionalism in handling this situation, and we apologize to our guests for any concern this incident caused.”
He was taken to Providence Alaska Medical Center after the plane landed.
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