Man On 50-Day Drinking Binge Makes Unwise Decision To Open Plane Door During Landing

There are some doors that are not meant to be opened by the average person, and airplane doors are a prime example. But one man who’d reportedly been drinking for 50 days straight threw all those rules right out the window (or door?) when the Delta flight he was on from Boston landed in Salt Lake City last night. According to witnesses, he tried to pry open the plane’s rear door during the landing process.

According to the FBI affidavit filed last night (via ABC News 4), the man had been visiting the Ukraine to build a house, but when that plan didn’t pan out, he got rip-roaring drunk instead.

[The man] stated that he was visiting family in the Ukraine for the past  fifty days attempting to begin construction on a house he plans to build.’ Unable to begin construction, [the man] stated that he got drunk and stayed drunk for the entire fifty days. [He] stated, “I never sobered up.”

So that was his state of mind while flying from Boston to Salt Lake City. After falling asleep, he suddenly awoke during landing and apparently thought the plane was on fire. He awoke and shouted to the passenger next to him in Russian that he thought the plane was on fire, but that person didn’t happen to speak Russian and thus, didn’t understand him. That’s when he took matters into his own hungover hands.

The FBI says a few seconds after the plane touched down, the man ran from his window seat to the back of the plane and found the emergency exit door. He struggled to open it while a flight attendant told him to stop. When he ignored those instructions, the flight attendant tried to restrain him but was unable to do so, and called on passengers to help stop the man.

An ex-police officer was able to get the man in a wrist lock and force him to the floor. The plane taxied safely to a gate and was met by the FBI, who took the man into custody.

Just one more reason to never go on a 50-day bender.

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