Military jets escort Hawaii flight after fracas involving Turkish man

THE US military scrambled two Air Force fighter jets to escort an American Airlines flight into Honolulu International Airport after a disturbance involving a Turkish passenger aboard the plane was reported, officials said.

The nature of the fracas was not immediately disclosed by the FBI, the military or American Airlines, but local news media reported a passenger had tried to force his way into the cockpit of Honolulu-bound Flight 31 from Los Angeles.

The man was subdued by an off-duty law enforcement officer and others aboard the aircraft, and the flight landed safely at 11.35am Hawaii time, officials said. No injuries were reported.

Federal authorities were preparing a criminal complaint to charge Turkish national Anil Uskanil, 25, with interference with a flight crew, FBI special-agent-in charge Paul Delacourt said at a Honolulu news conference.

Delacourt, when asked by a reporter if Uskanil tried to break into the cockpit, said the Turkish man was in the aisle of the plane and it was ‘unclear what his motivation was’.

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) police said separately that Uskanil had been detained, questioned and released hours earlier after he was caught by security there going through a terminal concourse door leading out to the airfield. — AFP