American Airlines Flight Escorted By Air Force Fighter Jets After Disruption On Board

Two U.S. military jets were required Friday to escort an American Airlines flight to Honolulu airport, Hawaii from Los Angeles after a Turkish man, identified as Anil Uskanil, caused disturbance for the second time by trying to breach the cockpit of the flight and detained by authorities.

According to a passenger seated in first class named Lee Lorenzen, 25-year-old Uskanil from Turkey was duct-taped to his seat until the plane safely landed in Honolulu and the FBI boarded the aircraft to arrest him.

"The flight attendants just were really heroic," Lorenzen said. "By the time we landed and the FBI took him into custody, he was very mellow."

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Police officers said Uskanil was impaired by drinking alcohol. However, he did not meet the criteria for being arrested on the charge of drinking in public.

The first disturbance the Turkish man caused happened about 8 hours before the flight. Other passengers and eye witnesses said he had tried to open a door leading to an airfield ramp, following which he was detained immediately by a contractor until police officers arrived.

He was however, still allowed to board his flight to Honolulu after being arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing and given a date to appear in court .

Later, onboard the flight, Uskanil tried to get to the cockpit door but was stopped by one of the flight attendants jamming her serving cart in the doorway that separates the first class from coach .

Another passenger named Grant Arakelian said, "He was very quiet, moving very sluggish. He was trying to approach the cabin, like where the captain is."

Lorenzen and his wife Penny Lorenzen, of Orange County, California, who were sitting in first class, said they saw a "really serious look" on the flight attendant's face, who obstructed Uskanil from reaching the cockpit and said “You are not coming in here.”

Lorenzen said the man tried with all his force to push against the cart. At that point, several other passengers came up from behind and helped grab him. He was then restrained with duct tape for the rest of the flight.

Uskanil had a laptop with him and that too raised concerns more than usual, due to the events of the past few weeks when U.S. and European officials talked about the possible threat of bombs hidden inside laptop computers.

Laptops have already been banned on a handful of international flights, and are expected to be outlawed on far more.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly was aware of the midair disturbance on the American Airlines flight 31, according to a statement from the department. There haven’t been any other reports of disruption since this incident, however the department specifiedthey were still monitoring all flights Friday out of caution.

After the disturbance on the flight, pilots and other flight attendants called for help. Federal agents were sent to wait for the plane and two F-22 Raptors from the Hawaii Air National Guard escorted the plane till it landed at the Honolulu airport.

According to flight spokeswoman, Katie Cody, the American Airlines Flight 31 had a total of 181 passengers and six crew members aboard.