Investigators try to figure out reason for disruption on Hawaii flight

HONOLULU — Soon after they boarded a flight to Honolulu, Mark and Donna Basden of Albuquerque found a laptop computer in a seat pocket in front of them.

The couple assumed someone on a previous flight left it there. But a flight attendant said it probably belonged to a man who was in the bathroom.

A man Donna Basden described as a “disheveled looking fellow” emerged and Mark Basden gave him the laptop. The man scowled, took the laptop and opened it and closed it and then tried to sit in another firstclass seat, Mark Basden said.

Authorities say that moments later, the man — identified as Anil Uskanli, 25, of Turkey — had created so many problems Friday on American Airlines Flight 31 from Los Angeles to Honolulu that he had to be immobilized with duct tape until the plane landed in Honolulu. Uskanli was taken into custody after the plane, escorted by two fighter jets, landed.

As authorities on Saturday investigated what happened, it was not clear whether Uskanli intended to harm anyone. He now faces a possible federal charge of interference with a flight crew, Paul Delacourt, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Honolulu office, said.

Halfway through the flight, the Basdens saw Uskanli again holding his laptop with something over his head that they thought was a towel or a blanket.

At that point, a flight attendant ran down the aisle with her serving cart and blocked the entrance to first class, said passenger Lee Lorenzen.

The man pushed the cart, trying to get through but passengers came up behind him and grabbed him. He spent the rest of the flight restrained in a seat with duct tape.