Passenger Opens Emergency Slide After Opening Exit Door on Moving JetBlue Plane at Logan
In a startling incident, a passenger pulled open an emergency exit while a JetBlue plane was moving at Boston’s Logan Airport. The January 7 event set off the emergency slide, leading to major disruption.
At 7:30 p.m., panic broke out on Flight 161 heading to San Juan. Massachusetts State Police spokesperson Tim McGuirk said the exit door opened “suddenly and without warning.”
Other passengers jumped in to hold down the disruptive passenger until police arrived at Terminal C. No one was hurt in the incident.
Police arrested the suspect but aren’t releasing their name before a Wednesday court date.
What should have been a 6:55 p.m. takeoff turned into a long delay. Staff had to get another plane ready, and the flight finally took off at 10:30 p.m.
The replacement plane made it safely to San Juan. JetBlue thanked passengers for putting up with the unexpected delay.
Police are still looking into why the suspect did it. They stayed on the plane until officers came.
The plane sat grounded for four hours while teams dealt with the situation. The airline’s quick switch to another plane kept the San Juan flight mostly on schedule.
Police rushed to secure the open door area. The terminal followed all regular safety measures.
Safety teams will do their usual review of what happened as the case goes through local courts this week.