Man in flight disturbance claims he was hallucinating

HONOLULU: A Turkish man pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew and blamed his inflight behaviour that prompted fighter jets to escort the plane to its Honolulu destination on hallucination that he was chasing a butterfly.

A butterfly suddenly came out of the pocket of the seat in front of him, Anil Uskanli said in a Honolulu federal court on Tuesday in describing what he did during the May 19 American Airlines flight from Los Angeles.

“The butterfly went crazy ... flew into the toilet,” he said. “I followed it. I tried to kill it by punching it.”

Uskanli, 25, said he now realises that he was ill and hallucinating. To flight crew and passengers, Uskanli’s behaviour was cause for concern, including when he walked to the front of the plane with a blanket wrapped around his head and carrying a laptop crew members feared contained explosives, Assistant US Attorney Thomas Brady said.

After Uskanli returned to his seat and with an off-duty officer sitting with him, the laptop remained on a drink cart, which prompted the captain to initiate bomb-threat procedures, Brady said.

The Hawaii National Guard scrambled two fighter jets to escort the plane to Honolulu.

Uskanli raised other red flags while still at Los Angeles International Airport, but experts said a lack of communication and an airline’s hesitancy to be caught on video booting a passenger played a role in allowing him to fly.

Uskanli had purchased a ticket at an airline counter in the middle of the night with no luggage and was arrested ahead of the flight to Hawaii after opening a door to a restricted airfield. Airport police said he smelled of alcohol but was not intoxicated enough to be charged with public drunkenness, so he was given a citation and released. — AFP

The butterfly went crazy ... flew into the toilet. I followed it. I tried to kill it by punching it.

Anil Uskanli