A Frontier Airways flight from Cincinnati to Tampa needed to land early in Atlanta on Friday attributable to an alleged risk to a passenger from a fellow traveler, a person with a field cutter.
The airplane was diverted to Atlanta at round 9:30 p.m. Friday “after a disturbance involving a disruptive passenger in possession of a field cutter was declared,” the Transportation Safety Administration stated in a Twitter thread.
The passenger within the window seat subsequent to the field cutter-wielding man advised a 3rd passenger Ben Mutz that the person “flashed a field knife at [them] and stated, ‘I wish to kill or I wish to stab individuals,’” in response to ABC Information.
One other passenger, previously with regulation enforcement, ultimately calmed the field cutter-wielding man down, and the plane was capable of land and deplane in Atlanta, in response to ABC Information.
Neither vacationers nor crew members had been injured within the incident, Frontier Airways spokesperson Jessica de la Cruz advised the Atlanta Journal-Structure.
After the unnamed man was taken into custody by authorities, a second field cutter was present in his baggage.
The TSA is now investigating how the 2 field cutters had been allowed into the cabin; the implements are allowed in checked baggage, however not in carry-ons attributable to post-911 laws.
“The state of affairs with the Frontier flight is underneath investigation with the US Lawyer’s Workplace [for the Northern District of Georgia], as they’re the lead federal company on this matter … TSA has began an inside assessment of the incident by viewing CCTV, airport safety checkpoint processes/operations and can proceed to offer updates as they’re accessible,” the TSA continued within the Twitter thread.
The remaining passengers got in a single day lodging in Atlanta and flew out of the town’s airport to Tampa at round 9:35 a.m. Saturday, in response to the Journal-Structure.