A man on board a flight that landed Thursday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago pulled an emergency exit door and slid off its wing, police said.
Randy Frank Davila, 57, was charged with one misdemeanor of reckless conduct. The United Airlines Flight 2478 from San Diego was approaching a gate at Terminal 1.
Davila opened the door and exited the airplane, walked onto the wing of the aircraft and jumped onto the airfield, the Chicago Police Department said in a press release sent to USA TODAY.
“Our ground crew stopped the individual outside of the aircraft, and the person was met by law enforcement,” United Airlines said in a statement sent to USA TODAY. “The plane then arrived at the gate and all passengers deplaned safely.”
Davila was arrested at about 4:37 a.m. CDTentral time, police said.
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The incident comes amid an increase in reports of unruly passengers on flights. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration had a record number of unruly passenger incidents (5,981) – 4,290 of those involved masks – and investigations started (1,113).
And the agency last month issued its “largest-ever fines” against two unruly passengers. As of May 3, the FAA had 1,311 reports of unruly passengers so far in 2022, with 415 investigations initiated.
