A teenager has been detained after opening the emergency door of a Copa Airlines plane and sliding down a wing onto the tarmac in San Francisco.
A 17-year old boy opened the emergency door after his Copa Airlines plane landed at San Francisco International Airport.
The teenager slid down the left wing and onto the tarmac where he was confronted by construction staff and held until the police arrived to arrest him.
Although the boy, a US citizen, was not harmed in the incident, he was taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation.
Here is where the teen jumped out of @CopaAirlines @flySFO. Fellow passengers say he was anxious & fidgety. More @ 11 pic.twitter.com/PtVuSEEv8Z
— Lisa Amin Gulezian (@LisaAminABC7) 2 August 2017
Other passengers on board Copa Airlines flight 208 from Panama City described the boy as fidgety and nervous throughout the flight.
The following is the conversation between the air traffic controller and the pilots in the cockpit:
Tower: “Copa 208, go ahead.”
Pilot 1: “Sir, we are in the cockpit and the flight crew told us that we have an over-wing exit that is open and a passenger trying to get off through the wing.. that’s correct? Can you see that from the tower?”
Pilot 2: “1638, we can confirm that, there was a gentleman approximately on the Tango taxiway there, when we exited with no vest on.”
A San Francisco International Airport spokesman said that no runways or flights were affected by the teenager’s actions.
Copa Airlines released a statement confirming “the incident occurred a few minutes after landing, while the aircraft was taxiing to the gate.”
A Copa crew member closed the exit door, and the aircraft proceeded to the gate where all other passengers and crew disembarked safely.”
[adblockingdetector id="638efa67113bf"]