This is not what crewmembers mean when they say pull the slide in case of an emergency.
A flight in Spain was evacuated after a panicky male passenger deployed the emergency slide while the plane was idling on the runway in stifling heat.
“At the moment, it has been very difficult for all of us, there are people here who missed their connection to other flights,” a fly-witness, who wished to remain anonymous, told Jam Press.
The Iberia Express flight was slated to fly from Ibiza to Madrid, but got delayed after the cabin crew informed flyers that they’d have to sit on the runway for 30 minutes before getting cleared for takeoff.
To make matters worse, crew members switched off the engines to refuel, leaving passengers without aircon in the sweltering heat.
The unknown man reportedly reacted angrily to this setback and began to exhibit signs of extreme nervousness.
“People started to get very nervous in general,” recalled the eyewitness, who was scheduled to stop off in Madrid before continuing on to Alicante.
Things came to a head when the captain was prepping for takeoff and the passenger leaped to his feet and said he couldn’t “stand it any longer” and wanted off the plane.
When crew members declined his demand, the hellion accused them of enacting a “full-fledged kidnapping.”
Crew members subsequently alerted the authorities, who arrived on the scene shortly thereafter.
That’s when the mischief-maker decided to activate the emergency chute, sparking panic throughout the airplane.
“The pilot told us that the plane was stuck and we couldn’t leave,” recounted the eyewitness, who had to be evacuated from the plane along with the other passengers.
This absolute chute-show forced many travelers to miss their connecting flights, including one who was traveling to Colombia, and another who was “going to South Africa,” per the eyewitness.
“In their case, they will have to sleep in a hotel in Madrid tonight and they still don’t know if it will be paid for by the airline or out of their own pocket,” they said. Following the exodus, passengers were forced to go to the Iberia Express counter and rebook their flights.
However, the eyewitness commended the airline for being “very good” following the ordeal, explaining that they provided “vouchers to eat at the airport and an information sheet explaining our rights and how to make a claim.”
Meanwhile, the suspect was apprehended and could be charged with disturbing the peace and damaging the aircraft — charges for which he will likely have to pay a steep fine.
With his brazen act, the passenger joins the recent spate of people caught monkeying with emergency equipment, including a passenger last month who attempted to open the emergency exit on a South Korea-bound flight.
