After a United Airlines aircraft landed in Chicago early Thursday, a passenger was detained for opening an emergency door and sliding down a moving plane’s wing, according to officials.
According to the airline, Flight 2478 from San Diego arrived at O’Hare International Airport about 4:30 a.m. and was taxiing to the gate when the man yanked the door open and stepped onto the wing.
“Our ground crew stopped the individual outside of the aircraft, and the person is now with law enforcement. The plane then arrived at the gate and all passengers deplaned safely,” a United rep said in an email.
The bizarre image on the tarmac was reported by one of the passengers on the red-eye aircraft.
“I think everybody on the plane was just surprised and kind of shocked as he was going out,” Maryellen Eagelston told WGN News.
“I heard everybody yelling, ‘No, no, no’ and he just went out the exit door and onto the wing. … Even the stewardesses came back and said, ‘What just happened?’” she recalled.
The exit the unidentified individual took to escape the plane was captured in a photo taken by Eagelston.
According to her, the rogue passenger did not even depart through the emergency exit door next to his seat.
“He crawled over one person and then three people on the other side and went out that door,” Eagelston told the outlet.
Chicago police said the man has been arrested.
“A male subject was onboard a plane that was approaching the gate when he pulled the emergency exit and walked out onto the wing of the plane,” police spokesperson Kellie Bartoli told The Post in a statement.
“The subject then slid down the wing and onto the airfield. CPD arrived and placed him into custody. Charges are pending,” Bartoli added. “As charges have not yet been finalized, we cannot release any further information about the offender.”
