A man was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for attempting to storm the cockpit of a United Airlines flight, assaulting a flight attendant, and then activating the emergency slide before jumping to the ground and breaking his leg while the plane was taxiing at Los Angeles International Airport.
Following the June 25, 2021 incident, Luis Armando Victoria Dominguez, 34, of La Paz, Mexico, was sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a single count of interfering with a flight attendant.
Dominguez had been facing a max sentence of 20 years in jail.
When Dominguez got out of his seat and “sprinted” towards the front of the plane, United Airlines flight UA5365, operated by SkyWest Airlines under the United Express name, had pushed back from the gate and was taxiing to the runway.
Dominguez began banging on the locked cockpit door and “manipulating” the doorknob, according to an FBI document. Dominguez went past a flight attendant and attempted to unlock an emergency exit when he realized he couldn’t get inside the cockpit.
Dominguez was able to partially open the cabin door, and the slide partially inflated because the exit was ‘armed’ for departure.
One of the other passengers attempted to detain Dominguez at this moment, but he managed to release himself and leap out the open exit door.
Dominguez missed the slide and landed face-first on the tarmac below.
“He began crawling away from the aircraft. His right leg appeared broken,” the FBI affidavit explained.
His “unruly conduct damaged the plane, taking it out of commission for four days,” the affidavit continued.
