Mechanical issues and bad weather –– these are just some of the reasons why pilots decide to make an emergency landing. Rarely is an emergency landing made due to an unruly passenger but that’s what happened on a JetBlue flight traveling from the Dominican Republic to New York City this past week.
The flight was forced to land at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after a female passenger started shouting that the plane was going to “crash.”
A cellphone video taken from inside the plane, which was diverted during a flight from the Dominican Republic to New York City Tuesday night, showed a woman being escorted off by a Federal Air Marshal as she screamed about the plane crashing into the water even though the plane was already on the ground at the airport, as reported by WSVN in Miami.
“You don’t believe me! It’s gonna crash! You guys, believe me, it’s gonna crash! Look at your monitors! We’re in the water!” she screamed.
Flight crews take outbursts from passengers seriously and making an emergency landing in order to eject the disruptive passenger is standard procedure.
The woman on the JetBlue flight was allegedly triggered by something on the plane’s TV monitors. She continued to scream about the plane being in the water even after it had landed in Florida, WSVN reported.
After landing in Fort Lauderdale, federal air marshals escorted her off the flight, the New York Post reported. She was later taken to a mental health evaluation. It is unclear what the results of the evaluation are.
This is not the first time JetBlue has responded to an unruly passenger.
A woman identified as Sabrina Rey Thomas was filmed yelling and attempting to jump over the JetBlue service counter at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Screaming “Get me out of this f—d up place, you rapists!” Thomas said.
The California native was finally taken to Broward General Hospital under the state’s Baker Act, which allows involuntary institutionalization and examination of a person after the sheriff’s deputy wrote in his report that Thomas appeared to be delusional and mentally unstable.