A scary and frankly odd incident onboard a Jet2 flight after a woman stripped and rushed for the cockpit, claiming to have explosives that would detonate if she was not allowed in. Allegedly unable to stop her, flight attendants stood by and watched as a passenger leaped up to address the incident.
Half-Naked Woman Storms Cockpit Shouting “Allahu Akbar” And Warning Of Explosion
All seemed well as a full plane of travelers headed from Larnaca, Cyprus (LCA) to Manchester, England (MAN). The flight took off. Time to lean back, and rest.
And then she made her appearance. She ripped her clothes off. She ran for the cockpit and screamed “Allahu Akbar.” That phrase, known as the Takbir, means “God is the greatest.”
Demanding to be let into the cockpit, she said if she was not let in there would “be an explosion and everybody is going to die.” She also claimed her parents were members of ISIS, a militant Sunni group also known as The Islamic State or Daesh.
Flight attendants advised her to stop, but apparently could not stop her. A passenger named Phillip O’Brien jumped to the rescue and secured her to a chair (a flight attendant helped). O’Brien later explained:
“Everything was normal, and then shortly after take-off a woman walked up the aisle naked and banged on the cockpit door shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’. As you can imagine everyone was sh*ting themselves.
“I spoke to staff and said, ‘Why have you not put her to the floor?’ They said, ‘We’re not able to.’ I said, ‘Well I am’.
“So when the woman went to the cockpit again I took control, took her to the ground and at that point the pilot did an emergency landing to Paris.”
Why did O’Brien jump up? One reason was because he was traveling with six family members.
Pilots diverted to Paris (CDG) where the woman was offloaded and plane searched for explosives. None were found.
Jet2 confirmed:
“We can confirm that flight LS944 from Larnaca to Manchester was unfortunately diverted to Charles De Gaulle Airport in the early hours of Tuesday morning so that a disruptive passenger could be offloaded.”
The woman now faces a prison sentence of up to five years as well as a hefty fine.
No video of the scene has yet emerged.
CONCLUSION
Such an odd incident. Was it alcohol or drugs that prompted this woman to act? Why take off her clothes? Does she have any idea what kind of trouble she is in? Why was the crew unable to stop her? In any case, well done Mr. O’Brien.