Federal Aviation Administration plans investigation of incident aboard United flight with 46 passengers
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested a 34-year-old man who reportedly told crew members aboard a United Airlines flight that he had a bomb, the office said Tuesday. The man was not identified, and the sheriff’s office did not provide any additional information.
The man was then transported to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center and booked on charges of communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said the man began acting irrationally late in the evening while the flight was in the air. The airplane, a Boeing 737 Max 9 carrying 46 passengers and six crewmembers, departed Newark, New Jersey, and landed safely at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, where the man was taken into custody without incident.
In a statement, United Airlines said the airplane landed safely “following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard” and that law enforcement “met the aircraft upon arrival.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said it plans to investigate what took place aboard the United Airlines flight.
The booking and the aviation regulator’s announcement place two separate processes in motion: criminal charges handled by Jefferson Parish authorities and a federal review of what happened aboard the flight. The sheriff’s office described the allegation that the man told crew members he had a bomb but did not provide any additional information about what he said or what prompted the arrest.