Southwest Breaks Silence On Passenger Who Climbed Onto Plane Wing
By Kelly Coffey-Behrens on November 28, 2023 at 11:00 AM EST
Yesterday, The Blastreported on a passenger who climbed onto a plane wing. Southwest Airlines is now speaking out on that incident.
A passenger on a Southwest flight at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport opened the emergency door and climbed onto the plane's wing. The 38-year-old was not arrested but was taken to the hospital for a psychological evaluation.
Deputies noticed he was “incoherent and not fully aware of his surroundings,” per a press release. The passenger’s behavior appeared to be the result of a “mental health emergency."
Southwest Comments On Recent Incident
The incident occurred around 7:41 p.m. CT at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The flight did eventually depart for Atlanta before reaching its final destination of Baltimore.
In a statement to PEOPLE, a representative for Southwest Airlines said, “We commend our flight and ground crews for their swift action and apologize to our customers for their inconvenience.”
This is not the first time Southwest passengers witnessed something out of the ordinary as earlier this year, a flight departing from José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba was forced to turn back and make an emergency landing. It was later revealed that a fire started in the engine due to a bird strike.
"The pilots safely returned to Havana where the 147 customers and six crew evacuated the aircraft via slides due to smoke in the cabin," a spokesperson for the airline told PEOPLE at the time. "The customers and crew were bussed to the terminal and are being accommodated on alternative flights to Fort Lauderdale."
POV Of Southwest Emergency Shared To Social Media
A bystander who was on the plane at the time of the incident last weekend began recording after realizing what was happening.
“Isreal American jumped out the exit door right before the plane took off and allegedly threw something on the plane, I started recording because they were arguing, this was a very traumatic event. Flight 3172 from MSY – ATL,” the TikToker captioned the video. It has been viewed more than 1.2 million times.
https://www.tiktok.com/@zedweb08/video/7305973402836290859?referer_url=theblast.com%2F558444%2Fsee-tiktoker-pov-as-southwest-passenger-jumps-out-of-airplane%2F&refer=embed&embed_source=121355058%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_share&referer_video_id=7305973402836290859
The video shows the passengers’ POV as they realize that the man just jumped out of the plane. They initially thought this was a possible terrorist attack as bystanders stated “Well, he put something down, and then he jumped off the,” the man said in the video. “Looked like a bomb or something.”
Another is heard saying, “He put something on the plane and jumped off the plane!"
After they got off the plane safely, they saw the guy in the airport. “There he is. Oh my God, there he is,” the passenger said. “They got him!”
https://www.tiktok.com/@homewithhann/video/7305972580207332650?referer_url=theblast.com%2F558444%2Fsee-tiktoker-pov-as-southwest-passenger-jumps-out-of-airplane%2F&refer=embed&embed_source=121355058%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_share&referer_video_id=7305972580207332650
Another video showed that the bag the man put on the plane was taken off and police were searching it. At this time, it is unclear if anything was inside the bag or the reason behind this incident. The man remains in the hospital as he is undergoing a psychological evaluation.
