Man, 25, Subdued After ‘Terror’ on DC-10 Flight

A man who attempted to gain access to the cockpit and then tried to open a cabin door of a United Airlines DC-10 en route to Los Angeles from Honolulu at a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet was subdued by crew and passengers, FBI and airline officials said Wednesday.

Eric Reed, 25, of Philadelphia was arrested by FBI agents at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday night and booked on federal charges of interfering with a flight crew, an FBI spokesman said.

Reed, who was unarmed, was hospitalized for psychiatric observation after he was handed over to agents at the airport in “a semi-catatonic state,” FBI Agent Fred Regan said. Regan said there was no immediate explanation for Reed’s actions.

The incident aboard United’s Flight 188 took place about 800 miles and 90 minutes from arrival in Los Angeles when Reed told a flight attendant “someone was trying to kill him” and asked her to request the plane’s captain to radio the airport to have police meet the flight, United spokesman Chuck Novak said.

Reed then ran through the cabin of the jet and knocked on the cockpit door in an approximation of the coded knock flight attendants use, according to witnesses aboard the flight.

Apparently Opened Door

Members of the cockpit crew apparently opened the door, allowing Reed to gain partial access briefly, but quickly pushed him back through the door, passengers said.

“They (the cockpit crew) unlocked the cockpit door, but he didn’t enter,” Novak said. “He spoke to the captain.”

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington said the agency had not yet received a report of the incident, but added that airline crews are supposed to keep the door between the cockpit and cabin locked at all times.

Passengers said Reed later attempted to open a cabin door, setting off a loud evacuation alarm.

“Everyone on the plane was absolutely terrified,” said Marvin Goren, 63, of Encino. “We were one scared bunch.”

The cabin door cannot be opened in flight since the air pressure inside the pressurized cabin is greater than the air pressure outside and keeps it firmly in place, Novak said.

Passengers and crew subdued Reed, binding his arms and legs with ties, belts and the wires from passengers’ audio headsets. There were 247 passengers and 11 crew members aboard the flight.